Chapter One: Dreams Come True

“Sigh…”

Watching a donkey cart pass by, its owner calling out to it as it kicked up a cloud of dust behind, Li Yancheng, who had been squatting by the roadside, stood up and took a few steps backward. He let out a deep sigh, lit a cigarette, and scratched his head in frustration.

He never would have thought that simply dreaming at night could lead to such a thing. And they always say dreams are the opposite of reality, so why did his dream about traveling through time actually come true?

What was this? Dreams becoming reality? Wishes fulfilled?

Fine, if I’m going to be sent back, at least I have my older siblings at home and don’t have to worry about my parents. But why on earth did I have to be transported back to the eighteenth year of the founding of the nation? That’s a bit much, isn’t it?

The two words—poor and chaotic—made him shudder involuntarily, even though he had been here for two days already.

The original owner of this body shared his name and was twenty-five years old—a discharged soldier. For the past two days, Li Yancheng had been racking his mind trying to piece together the memories he’d inherited, but he still couldn’t figure out why this guy had left the military. No, more precisely, why he had transferred out, because this man was an officer, a lieutenant military doctor to be exact.

Whether enlisting or transferring out, these memories all seemed strange.

First of all, the original owner had only graduated from middle school but was admitted to a medical vocational school. Upon finishing, instead of being assigned a job as expected, he went straight to enlist in the army.

He was a skilled professional, so of course the military accepted him. After training with the field forces for a year, he was assigned to the field hospital, initially as a second lieutenant, then promoted to first lieutenant three years later.

Two years after that, just last year, he suddenly transferred out and was assigned to his current workplace, the First Hospital of Jing City, as an internist. According to the national health technical personnel salary standards, Jing City was classified as a level six area, and the hospital placed him at level twelve, earning seventy-nine yuan and fifty cents a month.

That salary was much less than the one hundred and thirteen yuan he earned in the military.

But it wasn’t a big problem—after all, he was only responsible for himself and could manage with what he had.

Indeed, the original owner was an orphan. According to the grandfather who had adopted him, it was around 1945 when he was brought back from outside Jing City. At the time, he was barely alive, surrounded by several corpses, possibly his parents.

Last year, after seeing him get married, the old man passed away with a smile, leaving him utterly alone in this world.

However…

He had actually gotten married. But there was a big problem with his wife’s family—no, not just a small problem, but a serious one.

They had met through the local street office director, where he lived. After two months of knowing each other, they registered and got married.

Then trouble struck. Right after the New Year, his wife ran off with her family!

When Li Yancheng came across this part of the memory, he clenched his teeth in anger.

If you’re going to run away, fine. But why leave me here alone? What kind of betrayal was that?

Her family abandoned him and left all the trouble to him. Luckily, the street office director had vouched for him and helped clear things up, or else…

Who knew what might have happened to him by now.

Because of this, the first hospital where he worked, to avoid further trouble, sent him and another colleague to Mulin Town in Yishun County, under Jing City’s jurisdiction, for a three-month medical support assignment.

By the time they returned, everyone would have probably forgotten about that mess, which was a form of protection for him.

Today was December 15th. In a month, just before the lunar New Year, they would be back in the city.

“Sigh…”

Li Yancheng sighed again, flicking the cigarette butt to the ground and stepping on it a few times.

He was now wandering outside the gate of the Mulin Town Health Clinic. It was bitterly cold in the dead of winter, and unless it was the big market days on the second and seventh of the lunar month, the streets of the town were usually sparsely populated.

He tightened his issued military cotton-padded coat, glanced left and right, and headed east toward the supply and marketing cooperative, planning to buy a pack of cigarettes.

A pack of non-filtered Da Qianmen cigarettes cost thirty-two cents, and required a cigarette coupon. After buying them, Li Yancheng started back.

It was already eleven a.m., almost noon. He planned to return to the clinic, chat briefly with his colleague, and then have lunch.

“Whoosh.”

The pack of cigarettes that had been in his hand suddenly vanished. Anyone who saw this would surely think they were hallucinating.

That pack had been stored inside a spatial warehouse within his mind.

This spatial warehouse appeared out of nowhere after his soul’s transmigration. Most likely, the great deity who sent him here worried he wouldn’t survive in this era and gave him this little gift.

It was quite handy. Except for living creatures and buildings, anything he could touch could be stored inside.

The deity also gifted him another treasure: a book imprinted directly in his mind—a medical text, the “A-B Classic of Acupuncture,” consisting of twelve volumes and 128 chapters, along with a wealth of experience in treating various illnesses.

The book covered causes, mechanisms, symptoms, diagnostics, acupoints, needling techniques, prognosis, and a vast array of prescriptions for treating numerous ailments.

Having this medical text in his mind puzzled him, because the original owner had studied Western medicine in vocational school. Although he could take pulses, relying on pulse diagnosis was a fool’s dream.

Of course, the original owner’s Western medical skills were mediocre at best. After only three years of medical training, he could handle common colds, headaches, diarrhea, or stitch wounds, but beyond that… he didn’t trust himself.

Now things were different. All he needed was to absorb and master the knowledge imprinted in his brain. Calling him a miraculous doctor might be an exaggeration, but he could certainly become a top traditional Chinese medicine practitioner.

It seemed this lifetime he was destined to fight tooth and nail in the medical profession. Not bad at all—whether Western or Chinese medicine, it was a respectable career, enough to get him through these years. As for the reforms and opening up in seven or eight years, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Wandering leisurely, he returned to the clinic.

Inside the consultation room, his colleague Zhou Guotao, also an internist and in his thirties, was engrossed in reading the medical texts they had brought along.

The original owner had brought several medical books, including one on traditional Chinese medicine, which suited Li Yancheng perfectly. He couldn’t suddenly know TCM without a trace; at least there had to be some visible learning process.

Fortunately, he had another explanation. The grandfather who adopted him was a doctor skilled in both Western and traditional Chinese medicine.

How good the old man’s medical skills truly were, Li Yancheng couldn’t say, but he had a small reputation in their area. People often sought him out for minor ailments.

If anyone questioned why he knew traditional Chinese medicine, he could simply bring up the late grandfather as a shield: “If you don’t believe me, go ask the old man yourself.”