Amy continues the story of the medicine woman who’s medicine stopped the mothers bleeding after a difficult childbirth. Amy was curious to learn more from the woman, and curious why she lives far from the village as a punishment. Amy was visiting her often to learn how to treat various conditions, including malaria and leprosy. She visited with a few “barefoot doctor” friends, hoping she would join their team, but the CCP had labeled her as a “class enemy”. The villagers loved her, because she saved peoples lives.
Amy asked her why she spoke Mandarin and she explained that she was from a different province. She explained that her father was a herbal doctor and their family owned quite a bit of land. Because her father had saved many lives, he was given a warning by a local CCP official that upcoming land reform would take their land away and they would be executed. So they evacuated to Yunnan province, hoping to eventually leave China. A local land lord had given them some land to farm when they arrived.
After not too long, land reform came to Yunnan as well. The family explained to the CCP that they had recently arrived to Yunnan. But when the Cultural Revolution arrived, the Red Guard the family was interrogated and forced to denounce each other. The family was facing execution. The father and mother chose suicide by poison. The daughter was allowed to live.
At some later point, a Liberation Army officer was sick with malaria. The medicine woman treated him, but it was too late. The officer died. The soldiers decided to send her to a leper village as punishment where she was put in a cage to die. However, the lepers let her out in exchange for medicine, which she provided. They then helped her survive and make a home on the hillside.