It was Yu Zhaozhao.
She had changed. And yet she had not. Her eyes remained clear and bright like mountain spring water limpid and luminous holding the radiance of a thousand stars.
He had always seen beneath her outward softness a spine of unyielding strength. Yet around Zhou Xiangyang she had worn a mask gentle and sweet calling him Xiangyang Ge with a warmth that verged on cloying. She had been like a little sun bright smiling and cheerful lifting the spirits of everyone around her.
Lu Shiye had first seen her when he transferred to their high school. At first sight his heart had raced. She seemed fashioned precisely to his heart’s desire perfect in every way. In that single glance he had imagined their wedding the face of their future daughter even her name.
Later he asked his brother Lu Shiguang and learned the truth. She was that little girl he had met years ago at his cousin’s wedding handing out candies to guests. That lovely sweet child with twin buns thick dark lashes and great almond eyes that sparkled like black grapes. She had looked up at him and said in a voice soft and sweet Big brother Zhaozhao wants candy too.
Lu Shiye had smiled and given her a piece. When his cousin asked for some for the bride he had scooped two great handfuls into her apron. The little girl had wrapped her arms around him and announced she would be his bride. The relatives had laughed in delight. He had blushed and fled.
Now that he knew her identity he also knew what broke his heart. She was betrothed to Zhou Xiangyang. And Zhou Xiangyang was his classmate. The news had struck Lu Shiye like a bolt from the blue. The sky itself had seemed to fall.
He had thought of countless ways to win her attention to part them. Yet every time he saw her run to Zhou Xiangyang light as a swallow only to turn away from him as though he were nothing his heart had turned to ice. Then came the crushing revelation that his own parents were not his birth parents. Two blows falling together left him utterly desolate.
In those days Wang Baogen had spoken foully of Yu Zhaozhao words no man ought to hear. Unworthy as he was such slander could not be borne. Lu Shiye had seized him wrapped him in a sack and beaten him thoroughly. Unfortunately his mother had witnessed it. The next morning his father had packed him off to the army. Even then he had found comfort knowing Zhou Xiangyang stood beside her to keep her safe.
Never had he imagined that years later the pair would be torn apart by treachery. He ought to have castrated that brute Wang Baogen when he had the chance.
Yet now with her betrothal broken his heart leaped with hope. Fate had brought them together after all. He had intended to be transferred back to the military hospital yesterday until his brother mentioned her broken engagement. Upon hearing the news he had cancelled the order and remained.
Looking at himself swathed in bandages however doubt crept in. Was this truly the right moment to see her? He had dreamed of their reunion in full uniform tall and straight handsome and commanding. Instead joy warred with anxiety. What if she did not want him? Restlessness took hold of him.
Yu Zhaozhao for her part found it difficult to judge his appearance. Bandages wrapped him from head to face. Only his tall figure his eyes and his lips remained visible. Nothing else could be seen.
No wonder others had turned him down. His injuries were clearly grave.
She greeted him. “Comrade Lu how do you do. I am Yu Zhaozhao.”
“Comrade Yu.” Lu Shiye spoke steadily. “My brother has told you my circumstances. I am already able to leave bed and care for myself. If you are willing to marry me we may go to the civil office and register our union. The wedding itself must wait until I have fully recovered. After we are married should you ever wish to leave me I shall grant you a divorce without objection.”
“Brother.” Lu Shiguang protested. Such words brought ill fortune. Who spoke of divorce before the wedding had even taken place?
“Very well.” Yu Zhaozhao agreed. She too wished to marry quickly to move her household registration away from the Yu family. And imagine Yu Zhaodi’s face when her beloved Xiangyang’s ideal girl married Lu Shiye instead. The thought brought a quiet thrill.
Lu Shiguang stared wide eyed. So swiftly?
Lu Shiye wished nothing more than haste yet bandaged as he was walking to the registration office posed real difficulty. He could manage steps to the lavatory but not a journey.
“Shiguang fetch me brush and ink. I shall write a formal marriage application. Send it by express post to my unit.”
“At once.” Lu Shiguang hurried off.
Left alone Yu Zhaozhao stayed by his side. When he had finished his meal she peeled an apple for him and they talked.
“I was rather afraid of you in those days. Every time I saw you you were either fighting recovering from a fight or preparing to fight. Your face was always bruised. I never truly saw what you looked like. I imagine you must resemble your brother. He has such a round pleasant face and you were always swollen and black eyed so likely much the same.”
And he was tall and strongly built perhaps a little better looking than Lu Shiguang.
Lu Shiye fell silent. He had passed before her eyes eight times a day and more. Deliberately. And she still did not know his face?
“Did I truly seem so fearsome then?”
“You did. Your eyes held such fierceness one felt certain you might strike at any moment.”
“I had imagined myself heroic bold and upright. A warrior. And handsome.” Lu Shiye smiled only to wince as the movement pulled at his injuries.
Yu Zhaozhao leaned forward. “Are you quite alright? Does it hurt?”
“It is nothing.” Lu Shiye spoke plainly. “You were always Zhou Xiangyang’s shadow. Others called you his child bride and you would smile with delight. When your stepsister and brother bullied you you endured without striking back. Great eyes brimmed with tears yet you refused to let them fall. Though unhappy you swallowed it all. And yet the moment you turned to Zhou Xiangyang you would smile bright and sweet no matter how hurt you were.”
It had been unbearable to watch. He had admired Zhou Xiangyang’s scholarship without envy. Yet he had burned with jealousy that the girl he loved belonged to another by childhood betrothal that her eyes saw no one but him. Even when he walked past her time and again deliberately making his presence felt she had never looked. Had never even known his face. That was the bitterest blow of all.
“What choice did I have?” Yu Zhaozhao said softly. “My birth father proved worse than a stepfather. Whenever my stepbrother and sister lied and said I mistreated them Father would beat me without asking a single question. Even when he saw the truth he told me to bear it. Said they were only playing. Said if I could not adapt I would be sent back to my aunt’s home in the countryside. My Mother died when I was little. My foster Mother died in service when I was four. I was sent away to labor in the fields. Had Zhou Xiangyang not asked that I return to the city and attend school I might never have learned to read and write at all.”