Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Lin graduates from medical school and comes to the Muji City military hospital as a doctor. The hospital also runs a small nursing school, where Lin teaches anatomy and Manna enrolls as a student a year later. Manna is an energetic, athletic young woman, although at twenty-five, she is older than most of her classmates. Since the young women are nurses as well as soldiers, and not accepted for service without an exam to prove their virginity, they are considered "good girls" and young officers seeking a suitable girlfriend or wife often seek them out.

Manna meets young lieutenant Mai Dong and they begin a bashful courtship. Manna staunchly defends her virtue against her boyfriend's advances and he proposes marriage, but she is uncertain, since she does not know where she will be stationed after she graduates. She worries about people...