Further Studies
After the New Year, Zhan Aiping returned to work at the hospital, bringing her two children along. The post-holiday hospital was lively, with a new row of staff housing completed, and several healthcare and administrative staff had recently moved in. Only one more building was needed for the family courtyard envisioned by Director Hao to be complete. For now, the area had fruit trees growing on one side, which the children loved; the older kids climbed the trees with the younger ones, even risking a scolding for the chance to pluck fruit.
“Deputy Director Zhan, you’re finally back!”
“Deputy Director Zhan…”
As she walked through the halls, Zhan Aiping greeted many people along the way, with her two little “ducklings,” Guobaorou and Tangyuan, waddling unhappily behind her. They were starting to dislike their mom because, to their dismay, she hadn’t allowed them to bring toys to her workplace.
What was the point of going to work without toys?
Both siblings wore pouting expressions—Guobaorou was without his toy car, and Tangyuan’s panda was left at home, replaced by a bag of dull, overplayed building blocks.
“Want my car!”
“You can have it when we get home,” Zhan Aiping replied.
“Want my panda!”
…
Zhan was wary of them bringing new toys to the hospital only for other kids to snatch them away. Other kids weren’t shy; if they liked something, they’d just grab it. And if her children lost their toys and started crying, it would be one thing, but she worried they might get hurt in the tussle.
These two little toddlers wouldn’t stand a chance!
“When we get home, you can play with Daddy.”
She patted her children’s heads. They each had their cherished items that even accompanied them to bed; especially little Guobaorou, who wouldn’t sleep unless all his toy cars were accounted for. He couldn’t even count yet, but if he was missing a single car, he’d know!
And his sister Tangyuan, despite her wild sleeping positions, couldn’t sleep without her panda. Even if it ended up kicked under the bed by morning, she’d be grumpy if it wasn’t there when she woke up.
So now, stuck at work with mom and no panda or car, the day felt utterly dull. The two siblings spent half the day sulking.
Guobaorou clutched his chest dramatically, saying it hurt.
Wearing her white coat and holding a stethoscope, Zhan pressed the small diaphragm to his chest, listening to his heartbeat, which made him flinch.
“Your heartbeat’s fine. You’re just trying to guilt-trip mom.”
“Want my car!” Guobaorou’s gaze shifted to the stethoscope, suddenly fascinated by it.
Zhan Aiping sighed. “No car. I’ll make you paper airplanes and boats.”
She folded some white paper into cute little boats and planes to distract them from their toys at home.
Later, in the office, Zhan Aiping contacted Guangzhou Medical College. The college had conducted clinical trials for antivenom serum, so she brought it up during the call. The person on the other end sounded surprised. “How did you hear about that?”
“I’m the deputy director at a township hospital,” she explained, expressing interest in promoting the use of antivenom serum at their facility.
“Well, that’s a first—usually, we struggle to get anyone to work with us. Our team went to Huxi for promotion, but the hospitals there wouldn’t cooperate; they preferred their own methods and didn’t trust it at all. We still haven’t managed to promote it widely.”
While the antivenom serum had proven effective, scepticism among doctors and patients alike meant it wasn’t widely accepted; many believed that traditional herbal medicine was still the best solution. Plus, a key challenge was the need to know exactly which snake had caused the bite in order to administer the appropriate antivenom. Currently, their most effective serum was for the Five-Step Snake.
“Why don’t we send someone over to guide you?” Given that Guangdong wasn’t too far from Yunnan, they offered to send a representative to help with the implementation.
If the antivenom serum were successfully applied, it could save many lives.
After the call, Zhan Aiping shared the idea with Director Hao, who remarked, “If this serum really is effective, do you think they’ll develop an antibacterial serum next?”
As medicine advanced, it was hard to imagine what else could be achieved in the future.
Zhan Aiping laughed, “Those two aren’t really comparable.”
As they chatted, Director Hao brought up another matter. “There’s a new young woman in the pharmacy, Xiao Jiang. I’ve heard her work ethic isn’t great; maybe you could have a talk with her.”
Zhan Aiping nodded.
She found Xiao Jiang, a young woman in her early twenties with braided hair who had just recently graduated. In the pharmacy, she was handling medicine distribution. Unlike later, when medications would come pre-packaged, patients now brought prescriptions to the pharmacy, where the staff would dispense the medicine from sealed glass jars, carefully measuring out the correct amount into long white paper bags and folding the tops into triangles for easy distribution.
Though Xiao Jiang was working slowly, she seemed focused and didn’t make any mistakes.
When Zhan Aiping asked her about her work, Xiao Jiang sighed, “I don’t want to be in the pharmacy. I want to be a doctor.”
But, having failed to pass the medical exams, she had ended up in the pharmacy.
Zhan replied, “If you can’t even take dispensing medicine seriously, do you think your work ethic will improve if you become a doctor?”
Xiao Jiang admitted, “I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was young, to save my family money on treatment. But once I started studying medicine, I realized it’s so demanding. There’s so much to learn, and working in a hospital is exhausting—day shifts, night shifts, always on the go…”
“Then if I have kids, I’d have to bring them to work, too… Maybe I’d be better off staying in the village, cooking and taking care of the kids.” In the village, communal living was the norm, and many people took a relaxed approach to their work, which wasn’t as stressful.
Zhan Aiping replied, “If you want to go back to the village, get married, and stay home, then there’s no need for you to stay here.”
“Oh, I’m just saying that,” Xiao Jiang said quickly. “Deputy Director, you’re so serious. We’re all young; who doesn’t feel lazy sometimes? It’s not like we’re machines.”
“I just regret it a little. I heard that working in city factories is much easier.”
Back during the most chaotic times, students stopped attending classes, and workers paused production—education, efficiency, and productivity all ground to a halt. People enjoyed the unexpected relaxation. But for doctors, there was no choice to stop—patients still needed treatment, and medical care couldn’t be delayed.
“I used to love medicine and found it fascinating,” Xiao Jiang confessed, “but once it became my job, it felt exhausting and even made me resent it.”
“Deputy Director Zhan, how do you manage to love your work so much?”
Zhan Aiping replied, “Work always brings its share of pain and frustration. But without it, life starts to feel empty and unfulfilling.”
“Even the things we’re most passionate about can become tiring when they turn into work,” she added. “If you’re feeling worn out, take a few days to rest and reflect.”
Not everyone could be as enthusiastic about work as SpongeBob; in reality, most people leaned more toward Squidward, wanting to avoid work whenever possible. In the past, Zhan Aiping held herself to strict standards, never allowing herself breaks. While she achieved a lot, she found herself far from happy.
Now, she let herself relax a bit. After all, who truly enjoys getting up early every day if they aren’t forced to?
In the future, people might value late nights because, for many, that’s the only time of day when they can enjoy a bit of peace after a hectic day.
“This work isn’t all that exhausting yet,” she said with a smile. “Cherish this time while you can.”
As technology advances and life speeds up, people will look back on these slow-paced years of the ’70s and ’80s with nostalgia. There’s no pressure to buy a house or make a fortune—people are just beginning to live a bit more comfortably. Hunger is becoming less common, and soon, thanks to hybrid rice, food shortages will be a thing of the past.
“Did Xiao Jiang really think I’m someone who loves work?”
When she returned home with the kids, the thought lingered in her mind. She didn’t see herself as exceptionally hardworking; after all, there were many others who put in just as much effort.
“Car!” Guobaorou was already focused on his cars. The moment they got home, he lined up all his little toy cars to count them.
Tangyuan went to retrieve her panda, her bunny, and her stuffed tiger, creating her own little animal kingdom.
Guobaorou carefully arranged his cars in neat rows on the floor, and Zhan noticed a hint of perfectionism in her young son. At barely over a year old, he squatted down, meticulously arranging his twelve cars into three perfectly straight rows.
Focused and serious, he adjusted the spacing between two cars so that all the wheels lined up precisely.
Zhan Aiping blinked, a bit startled. At his age, she and Gu Sheng used to play in the mud without a care in the world.
Once Guobaorou had arranged his cars, his sister Tangyuan was less than considerate—she gave a swift kick to the car rows, scattering them just as casually as she kicked her panda off her bed in her sleep.
Zhan Aiping sighed inwardly, realizing that the perfect toy for her two kids would probably be a set of dominoes—one loved arranging, the other loved kicking them down.
She looked over at Guobaorou. Who would end up in tears?
Her son glared, holding back his frustration, but instead of crying, he grabbed his sister’s hand and, with a firm tone, demanded, “Play! Play!”
Tangyuan’s face crumpled, and she looked back at her mom.
Unmoved, Zhan Aiping replied, “You kicked over your brother’s cars; now help him set them back up.”
There was no room for spoiled behaviour here.
So with mom and brother watching, Tangyuan reluctantly started arranging the cars. She quickly abandoned her panda and seemed to enjoy it, even if her cars were haphazardly placed all over.
Guobaorou, meanwhile, trailed behind her, fixing the placement of each car, making sure everything was perfectly aligned.
Tangyuan looked ready to cry. “Mom!”
“Ugly!” she said, pointing at her brother, using the limited vocabulary of words she knew. To her, “ugly” was her way of expressing dislike.
“You shouldn’t call your brother ugly,” Zhan Aiping chided. “Keep arranging—do it properly.”
With a grumble, Tangyuan got back to work, determined to improve. As she arranged the cars, Zhan saw that both her children had an eye for detail.
“Could they both grow up to be perfectionist workaholics?” she wondered, suddenly realizing that, compared to her diligent husband and focused kids, she might be the laziest one in the family.
When Gu Sheng came home, Zhan Aiping smiled and said, “I’ll cook dinner tonight. You go play with the kids.”
Although Gu Sheng’s work was demanding and stressful, he rarely brought his exhaustion home. Despite the strain, he helped with cooking and laundry whenever he could, never asking to be waited on.
It was a stark contrast to how she used to boast, before marriage, that she’d handle all the housework herself.
Gu looked surprised. “You want me to take care of the kids?”
“Of course! It’s time they got a taste of mom’s cooking, while you spend some time with them,” she said with a grin.
Gu Sheng smiled gently, “Alright then.”
Zhan Aiping said, “Don’t let the kids walk all over you!”
It had been a while since Zhan Aiping had cooked, and she was delighted to pick up the spatula again. Recipes filled her mind like medical prescriptions, each with specific ingredients and proportions. To her, cooking was just like “preparing medicine” — as long as the process was right, it would taste good enough.
When Zhan Aiping finished cooking, she came out to find the three of them carefully arranging toy cars. It was just twelve cars, but they, as a family, had managed to turn it into a whole activity.
— Three perfectionists.
What surprised Zhan Aiping even more was that Gu Sheng had crafted a cute little “gas station” out of some leftover wood.
She had known he was skilled at drawing and drafting, but she hadn’t expected his woodworking to be so impressive too.
“Dad’s craftsmanship is amazing!” Not only could he sew toy tigers, but he could also do woodwork and make a toy gas station.
Gu Sheng said, “Even if your suggestions to the toy factory aren’t taken, at least our home has a gas station. Here, go ahead and fuel up your cars.”
The two little ones were overjoyed.
Zhan Aiping, full of ideas, suggested, “Why don’t we make some roads with wooden boards? Maybe even an overpass… Gu Sheng, you could make a few wooden cars for the kids!”
As she spoke, her eyes lit up more and more. With Gu Sheng’s woodworking skills, they could make unique handcrafted wooden cars for the children, far better than the factory-made ones. They could create fun designs: wooden jeeps that the kids could paint green, ancient siege vehicles, excavators, convertibles, transport trucks…
And sleek race cars too.
It might still be the year 1973, and things seemed backward, but in a few more years — around 1977 — the “Star Wars” movies would be coming out.
“Gu Sheng, have you read any sci-fi novels? You could make some of those futuristic vehicles…”
Gu Sheng replied, “I’ll make a jeep.”
Comrade Gu admitted he didn’t have Zhan Aiping’s imagination.
After deciding to make toy cars, the two spent the next few days working on their project together. Gu Sheng’s carving skills and strong drawing abilities made his jeep incredibly lifelike, with Zhan Aiping chiming in with ideas. The two little ones watched in awe, not just at the jeep and gas station; Gu Sheng also carved out an ambulance and a small hospital.
With these, they could play games rescuing “injured” stuffed animals.
For example, they could use the wooden ambulance to take an injured panda to the hospital…
As the little “camp” took shape, Zhan Aiping thought to herself, “We are definitely a hardcore family.”
“Gu Sheng, when the kids turn two or three, let’s make them a little pedal tricycle.”
She pictured a tricycle perfect for a small child. Instead of buying one, they could make it themselves, saving money and having fun. Plus, if it broke, they could fix it themselves. Perfect!
Gu Sheng asked, “Do you think we can pull it off?”
Zhan Aiping raised the family’s shovel, “We’re soldiers — what can’t we do?”
It was just a little DIY.
“Ding ding!”
Guobaorou hoped to add two lights to his wooden convertible.
With their new wooden jeep and convertible, Zhan Aiping let the kids take the cars out to play.
Zhan Aiping said to Gu Sheng, “Honey, if our handmade wooden cars break, I feel like I’ll be even more heartbroken…”
Gu Sheng replied, “We should work at a toy factory.”
They had made a little car and a small slide for the kids and placed it in the yard. The siblings, Little Guobaorou and Little Tangyuan, happily played on the slide. When Commander Jiang saw it, he was envious, “You two are quite the hands-on couple.”
An unconventional soldier and a doctor with an unusual hobby.
“Why not make it bigger?”
Commander Jiang examined the slide, imagining his own son might get stuck on it.
Zhan Aiping said, “It’s enough, enough for the little ones to play on.”
Commander Jiang held up a hand, “This isn’t nearly enough.”
His child might still be young, but soon enough, he’d outgrow it.
“In the future, make it bigger.”
Gu Sheng watched as Commander Jiang walked away and said to Zhan Aiping, “Honey, just wait and see.”
Zhan Aiping asked, “See what?”
Gu Sheng replied, “He’ll have to deal with his kid’s demands sooner or later.”
“Today, I saw the neighbour’s kid riding on his dad’s shoulders, pretending to be on horseback.”
Zhan Aiping: “…”
Imagining that scene, she couldn’t help but laugh.
In May, a medical team came from Guangcheng Medical College to promote anti-venom serum. They brought several types of serum and successfully saved a few patients. Now, with the temperatures rising in summer, there would be more snakebite cases, so the serum was incredibly useful.
The person from Guangcheng, Zeng Song, was a slim young man with dark skin who liked wearing white shirts. When Dr. Zhao offered him some wild mushrooms, he refused, saying he was afraid to eat them.
“One of our teachers once ate some mushrooms he dug up on campus… and he didn’t make it.” The incident left a deep impression on Zeng Song, and he avoided mushrooms altogether.
Yet, seeing how everyone at the hospital enjoyed them, he eventually joined in, adapting to the local cuisine and the taste of wild mushrooms.
…
Zhan Aiping’s science stories were now for sale in all major Xinhua bookstores. She bought over a dozen copies herself, and eventually heard that her book had sold out; it became popular among educated youth, who recognized her name.
The publishing house sent her quite a bit of royalties, totalling around 2,000 yuan. Zhan Aiping saved all the money. At that time, bank interest rates were pretty decent, and saving was reliable. Everyone loved to save, especially city folks, who ended up with a lot of savings but had nowhere to spend it, as there wasn’t much to buy, even with money in hand.
This surplus of unspent savings led to a burst of consumer desire when the economy opened up, and interest rates for savings dropped as the state started to discourage saving.
“Dr. Zhan, the higher-ups hope you can lead a team to further your training at the military hospital.”
Zhan Aiping was taken aback. “What? They want me to train at the military hospital?”
“Yes, several hospitals are collaborating on this…” The military hospital and local people’s hospitals had teamed up for joint training and exchange programs, offering a great opportunity for doctors.
Even if she didn’t go to the military hospital, Zhan Aiping would still have the chance to train for a year or two at the county or city hospital.
“You’re young and have a lot of opportunities.”
“In the future, there will be even bigger platforms for you. I knew from the moment you arrived that you wouldn’t stay in a small rural clinic forever.”
Zhan Aiping smiled, “Even if I train for a year or two, it’s not like I won’t come back.”
Director Hao laughed and patted her shoulder.
Zhan Aiping said, “To put it bluntly, I still want to aim for the director’s position one day.”
“You really are something,” he chuckled.
Zhan Aiping had been at Yanxin Clinic for two years now, and the time had flown by. The clinic’s operating room was finally complete, and beside it, the jujube tree had grown lush and green, its branches forming a shady canopy. When surgeries weren’t scheduled, the clinic kids loved playing under the jujube tree.
The little girl, Zheng Xuemei, who was born back then, was already over two years old.
When Zhan Aiping received the news about training at the military hospital, her workplace would soon change. Gu Xiangyi was especially excited about this, wishing Zhan Aiping would just move in with her. “We sisters-in-law could live together from now on!”
“Bring the two little nephews and niece, and we’ll still be a family of four!”
“Sis, don’t worry; I’ll take great care of you.”
Gu Sheng only wanted to kick her out.
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