In early 1974, Xiao Jiu was twenty-four years old, while Tang Cuimei, who was born in 1944, was already thirty.
Cui Mei had already completed her doctoral degree while she was at Southern Medical University.
She came here to study because she is one of the youngest expert-level professors in China, and the exchange program will last for three years.
Tang Cuimei looks exactly the same as Xiao Jiu remembers her.
Even though she is already a mother of two daughters and a son, the years haven't left any marks on her face.
Instead, they possessed a more intellectual quality characteristic of experts and scholars.
The glasses, in particular, coincidentally separated the sisters' appearances, reducing the scrutiny and comparison.
After registering on the first day, they each returned to the apartment building arranged by the school. Each of them had a standard room, which was very clean and tidy, and she was very satisfied.
Moreover, all expenses for this exchange student program will be covered by the University of Tokyo, and she only needs to cover her own living expenses.
Each exchange student from each country is provided with a corresponding laboratory and a designated hospital for their studies.
Whether by coincidence or not, China and Japan were arranged to be grouped together.
Although it was something that both of them found extremely objectionable, only the two sisters secretly applauded and celebrated in their hearts.
At first, they didn't dare to communicate at all. It was one night after the Sino-Japanese cooperation that Xiao Jiu sneaked into Cui Mei's room.
The two sisters then shared a heartfelt embrace.
"Now that you're here, what will happen to the children? I heard from my mother that you had twins. How old are they?"
Tang Cuimei immediately grasped the key point in her words: "You went back?"
Xiao Jiu nodded. He sneaked home for a few days in January 1972, but it was too short to visit you.
Tang Cuimei looked at her with heartache, "Poor child, these years must have been very hard for you, right?"
Xiao Jiu was completely overwhelmed by those words and choked up as she spoke.
"It's alright, it's just a bit lonely, but if I devote myself to studying, I get numb and used to it."
Cui Mei patted her shoulder silently. "We were all guessing where you would be sent, but we never expected it to be Japan."
"China and the United States haven't established diplomatic relations yet, so how come you have the opportunity to come here to study?"
Tang Cuimei spoke with confidence, teasingly saying, "Traditional Chinese medicine is profound and extensive; they just want to steal it!"
Xiao Jiu chuckled. "Didn't you study clinical medicine?"
"Then why did you study traditional Chinese medicine? Aren't these two different things?"
We've simply swapped places with our past lives. We understand traditional Chinese medicine, and Western medicine won't be difficult for us either.
Medicine knows no borders. This exchange is global. China is a great power. Who can ignore us?
Having conducted research on both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and possessing relatively good English skills, I was assigned to lead the team.
Xiao Jiu gave Chao Tang Cui Mei a thumbs-up in admiration.
"The team you lead is one of the best in the country, and at thirty years old, you are not the oldest among them."
"To be able to get into the middle position shows how capable my sister is. They're all either masters or PhDs, and you? You're a professor."
Tang Cuimei pouted, "You're not far behind, girl. You're only twenty-four and you're already studying at Harvard!"
"You were at the University of Tokyo before, now your fundamentals are unmatched, right?"
Xiao Jiu nodded, "It's not just the undergraduate level, I studied it all again in high school, plus my previous life, so it's been the same three times."
Although she only studied at the military academy for two years, she didn't waste any of those two years. She went to listen to the classes of the third and fourth year students, which was equivalent to going through them all.
I can recite almost anything from medical books, if not memorize it perfectly, and it's pretty much the same as what's in the textbooks.
Some professional knowledge ingrained in medical students' minds has reached the point where they can recite it backwards.
While studying Japanese and Korean medicine, she also went through traditional Chinese medicine, so in terms of basic skills, no one can compare to her.
After discussing national affairs, Tang Cuimei then explained her own situation.
"My eldest son was born at the end of 1968. When he came here, we had just celebrated his fifth birthday."
The second child has twin daughters, born in June 1970. They are three and a half years old now. We found a military wife to help take care of them, and they are usually sent to daycare.
Your brother-in-law is now a deputy regimental commander, and he's very busy. The military helps take care of the children.
Also, now that you're home, you should know about Zhou Yue's trip abroad, right?
Xiao Jiu nodded. "I heard it from my mother. How could he...?"
"Isn't it all because of you? Zhou Yue is the most eligible bachelor in his company, and so many people are eyeing him!"
He was constantly being introduced to this leader or that leader, which annoyed him. This was a good opportunity for him to go out and learn.
They passed the exam through their own efforts, but we don't know exactly where they will be carrying out their mission.
We have no idea when they will return.
Let me tell you, both of them have decided on you, and I, their own sister, also consider you my future sister-in-law.
No matter how wonderful the outside world may be, it can't compare to the excellence of our local men. You're in the prime of your life now, so don't…
Xiao Jiu's lips twitched: "My dear sister, do you think I would be interested in those Japanese bastards or these American foreigners?"
Do you doubt her aesthetic sense, or do you distrust her beliefs and principles?
Tang Cuimei laughed heartily, "It's good that you know. So, will you be able to return to China in three years?"
Xiao Jiu shrugged. "It depends on the instructions from above. I don't know either. Every step I'm taking now has exceeded their expectations."
Laying a cable is no easy task, and there's no guarantee that even more challenging tasks await me.
I'm not afraid of anything now, except for them finding me a partner.
Tang Cuimei stared wide-eyed. Both of them had watched spy dramas and read spy-related novels, so they knew very well that this was no joke.
"Wouldn't that put you and Zhou Yue in great danger? No, we can't just compromise like this."
Xiao Jiu smiled wryly, "It's not up to me. I've come this far, and now I can't just think about myself anymore."
Tang Cuimei felt both heartache and worry, and remained silent for a long time before finally looking steadily at her younger sister.
“You are great. At least, I never thought of sacrificing myself, even if my partner was a soldier.”
Because I believe that it's enough for one person in a family to make a contribution.
Xiao Jiu decided to end this heavy topic and immediately sent Tang Cuimei a large amount of supplies.
"They were all obtained from the small notebooks, so don't be shy, they cover everything from clothing and food to housing and transportation."
Also, take large and small home appliances, as well as imaging equipment. Get several different camera models; you never know when you might need them.
You should also stock up on these medicines. I reckon you don't have many medicines left in your storage space. If you can't understand something, learn Japanese on your own.
Tang Cuimei was on the verge of tears. "Just for this little bit of medicine for you, I have to learn a language myself?"
Xiao Jiu grinned, "It's not a loss. Just learn it when you have time. In our line of work, you learn until you die, so it's not like you're missing out on this one skill."
Tang Cuimei neither agreed nor disagreed with this point. Having another language does indeed provide her with a lot of convenience. At least after she learned Russian, it became much easier for her to read original texts and find information from them.
Seeing that there were quite a few Japanese books among the supplies stored in Xiaojiu, Tang Cuimei felt that she really needed to put this subject on her agenda.
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