this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
Summer in Beijing was unbearably hot. Sweat poured down in buckets, only to be chilled and dried by the laboring air conditioner. The machine wheezed and groaned like an old man struggling for breath, yet the private room remained stifling, offering no relief.
As Lin Xuejun stepped inside, the mingled scents of evaporating sweat from different bodies filled her nostrils with each breath.
“Dr. Lin is here!” The class monitor, seated inside, was the first to spot her and greeted her with a smile.
Hearing this, the old classmates gathered for the reunion burst into laughter.
“Xiao Gao, didn’t you just say your stomach was bothering you? Quick, let Dr. Lin take a look at you!”
“Go to hell!”
Lin Xuejun was a postgraduate student in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine at an agricultural university. Though her dream was to become a “real” doctor, she had followed her parents’ advice and chosen the noble path of veterinary medicine so she could help manage the family ranch.
Thus, the phrase, “Let Dr. Lin treat you” became an inevitable joke at every gathering.
At first, she would protest, insisting, “Veterinarians are doctors too!” or “Medicine is all interconnected!”
But now, she had given up trying to resist. Plopping down into an empty seat, she grinned and said, “Hey, no need to rush, everyone. I’ll treat you one by one.”
Her words drew another round of laughter, filling the room with a lively atmosphere.
Yet, after the hearty meal, a faint melancholy still lingered in Lin Xuejun’s heart. Should she have chosen human medicine after all?
As the gathering ended, the group trickled out of the restaurant, the old classmates drifting apart once more to walk their separate paths in the city.
Lin Xuejun stood by the roadside, waiting for her Didi ride. Gazing up, she took in the orange-tinted night sky under Beijing’s glowing lights.
There were no stars dotting the night sky. She tightened her jaw and exhaled a long sigh through her nose. If only she could go somewhere where veterinarians were more respected.
Suddenly, the wind around her grew louder. The bright lights seemed to dim, and the bustling city noises blurred into a distant hum, as if a chill were creeping in from all directions.
In the depths of her mind, she thought she heard the voice of a frail girl, praying to the heavens for a warm, comfortable place where she could eat whatever she desired.
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
1960s. A station in the most northern part of the country—Lesser Khingan.
A young female educated youth, her hair tied in two braids, dashed into the thick snowfall, her military coat flapping wildly. The icy wind choked her breath, but she gritted her teeth and pressed on.
Only when she spotted the lone, battered green mailbox by the platform did she turn her head to shield herself from the storm, gasping for air.
Regaining her composure, she hunched her shoulders and, with trembling, frozen fingers, pulled out the plea for help she had written to her father. As she slipped the letter into the mailbox’s slot, she pressed her ear close, straining to hear the faint sound of the envelope dropping amidst the howling wind and the distant wail of a train. Satisfied, she straightened up.
Squinting through the snow-buried platform, she stamped her feet to shake off the cold and clumsily began her retreat.
No one could tell how many layers she had stuffed beneath her military coat. Her figure was as round as a ball, and her silhouette charging through the snow looked like a giant sphere rolling away.
Toot—toot—toot—
The old train, discarded by another country, emitted a low, aged groan, as if urging passengers to board quickly.
The young female educated youth, bundled up like a ball, clutched the train’s handrail with one hand while awkwardly squeezing her way up, the other arm wrapped tightly around herself.
The conductor standing by the door anxiously scanned the platform, urging people to hurry. Glancing at the girl, he gave her a firm push on the back, finally helping her scramble into the carriage.
Passing through the icy connecting area between cars, the girl slipped inside. The sudden rush of warmer air inside made her pause involuntarily, though she still shivered.
Most of the passengers on this train were passionate young people answering the nation’s call, heading to the borderlands to dedicate themselves to the vast frontier.
The oldest among them were only twenty-three or twenty-four, while the youngest were barely fifteen or sixteen.
Returning to her seat, the girl noticed the neighboring educated youths tightening their military coats. They glanced at her listlessly before closing their eyes again to doze off.
A minute later, the train hissed and wheezed, creaking and clanking before finally lurching out of the station with labored breaths. The slow, rhythmic clatter of the tracks grew faster as the snow-covered Lesser Khingan platform faded behind them.
Once the new passengers found their seats, the carriage lights dimmed once more. The dark train plunged into the dense forest, the world outside swallowed by the darkness. It seemed like even the snow had been stained by night.
Wind seeped through the frost-sealed window cracks, and occasional coughs punctuated the darkness.
The girl wrapped herself tighter in her military coat but still felt no warmth. Even in thick cotton boots, her feet ached from the cold. She stomped them lightly, careful not to disturb others, softening each motion just before her soles hit the floor.
The bread her parents had packed for her was long gone, and the money in her pocket had dwindled. Worse, until the train restocked at Yakeshi Station, there was nothing to buy even if one had money. They could only endure.
Amid the symphony of snores, teeth grinding, chattering shivers, and the growling of her own stomach, the young female educated youth gradually slipped into a groggy half-sleep.
Time blurred and she became disorientated. Was it dawn already? Has it grown warmer? Or was the outside still pitch black? She alternated between chills and fever, her lips parched, craving water but unable to wake fully. She whimpered in discomfort, her ears sometimes filled with silence, sometimes with a deafening buzz, and sometimes with distant, indistinct calls.
Straining to listen, she finally recognized what the voice was calling out—
“Lin Xuejun… Lin Xuejun…”
Oh, right. Her name was Lin Xuejun.
Between alternating waves of hot and cold, she tried to wipe the tears from her face but found she lacked even the strength to lift her eyelids. Before sinking back into darkness, she still longed to sob uncontrollably.
She hoped the letter she’d mailed to her father’s workplace in Beijing would arrive quickly and safely. She regretted her decision. She didn’t want to go to the countryside anymore. She just wanted to go home.
Wuwu… How she longed to go to a warm, comfortable place where food and drink were never scarce…
At Hailar Station, a medic gave the bundled-up Lin Xuejun an injection before wrapping her in a woolen blanket and loading her onto a cart bound for Husehe Commune.
The truck carrying several educated youth set off overnight, rumbling out of the city and plunging deep into the snow-covered wilderness—to the vast grassland where the herders “valued their livestock more than their own lives,” where veterinarians were rarer than oases in the desert, and where animal husbandry was so crucial it could sway the nation’s development and future.
this is one of my fav novels! it’s a very uplifting story as it’s set in the 60s during a time when china was still learning how to stand. super heartwarming and has tropes of found family, pets, farming. a very slice of life read!
the author also drew up her own character profiles so if you’d like to check them out they’re also linked in the table of contents! enjoy ^^
haven’t decided on the update frequency yet so we’ll see!
any typos or broken links, pls comment or dm me on discord!
support mio on kofi! ◡̈
