Seventies Countryside Medical Romance

Jiang Nian, the sole inheritor of the legendary Poison Doctor Valley, dies after being betrayed and besieged by those she once trusted. She awakens in 1972 Su City, inhabiting the body of a girl with the same name who has just died of distress. The original Jiang Nian was the beloved daughter of Jiang Qinghe, a garment factory deputy director, and Zhu Xianglan, a stepmother who had raised her since infancy. The family is a blended unit; Zhu Xianglan brought her own daughter, Zhoudie, into the marriage. A policy mandate requires one child from the household to relocate to the countryside for manual labor. While Jiang Qinghe and Zhu Xianglan argue over who should sacrifice their own child, the original Jiang Nian, unable to bear the family conflict, takes her own life. The transmigrated Jiang Nian, possessing a free-spirited and ruthless personality distinct from the original owner, decides to fulfill the deceased girl's final wish: to leave for the countryside so her father need not suffer, while secretly ensuring her stepmother and stepsister do not discover her true identity.

Simultaneously, Zhoudie has also been reborn. In her previous life, she had gone to the countryside, endured years of hardship, and returned to the city only to find Jiang Nian living a luxurious, successful life while she had withered into a rural peasant. Driven by jealousy and a desire to avoid suffering, Zhoudie manipulates the family dynamics to ensure Jiang Nian is the one sent away. Jiang Nian, aware of the political necessity of the assignment, accelerates the process by secretly signing up at the Youth League office, leaving her father furious but unable to revoke the application. Before her departure, her brother Jiang Wan Zhou gives her a blood-red jade pendant, a memento from their deceased mother. Upon touching it, Jiang Nian discovers the pendant has merged with her palm, granting her access to the spatial realm of Poison Doctor Valley, a sanctuary filled with rare herbs and medical knowledge from her past life.

As Jiang Nian prepares to leave, she encounters Qin Mingyu, a man from a powerful military family, at a supply cooperative. His childhood sweetheart, Cheng Yi Rou, misinterprets Jiang Nian’s presence as romantic interest and, in a fit of jealousy, uses her family’s influence to have Jiang Nian’s work assignment changed from a nearby location to the remote and impoverished Zhoujia Village in Jianglin City. Upon learning this, Jiang Nian visits the Qin family to plead her case but is met with arrogance and dismissal by Mrs. Qin. Refusing to submit, Jiang Nian uses her knowledge of poisons to shave the heads of the Cheng family and induce temporary aphasia in Mrs. Qin, delivering a humiliating lesson that forces the families to back down, though the assignment remains unchanged.

On the train to the countryside, Jiang Nian travels with other educated youth, including Niu Aixiang, Li Rui, and a sullen young man named Zhao Heping, who is suffering from untreated internal injuries. When Zhao Heping collapses with a high fever, Jiang Nian intervenes, using acupuncture and herbal pills to expel the blood stasis and save his life. Her medical expertise earns her the respect of her fellow travelers and establishes her reputation as a skilled practitioner. Upon arriving at Zhoujia Village, she is assigned to stay with Village Chief Zhou’s family. She quickly identifies an opportunity to secure her status by offering to cure the Village Chief’s eldest son, Zhou Shitou, who has been paralyzed since being gored by a wild boar. After examining him, she promises to restore his mobility within two months in exchange for the right to practice medicine in the village, thereby securing her independence and a comfortable position among the locals as she begins her new life in the rural collective.