“Shiye, do you like the tunic suit I have bought for you? I purchased it according to the measurements you gave. I hope it fits well.”
Yu Zhaozhao held the brand-new garment out before him, her eyes bright with gentle anticipation and a soft smile upon her lips.
“It is perfect. It shall fit perfectly indeed. The fabric is of the finest quality. The cut is most handsome, and the color is precisely one I have always favored.”
Lu Shiye’s eyes shone with immediate delight. He reached out and caressed the fabric, lifting the suit to admire it. The more he looked, the more he admired it. Since enlistment, his wardrobe had consisted almost entirely of uniform and training attire. Though he possessed a few sets of civilian clothing, he had never before owned a formal wool tunic suit such as this.
“Let me hold it against you to gauge the fit. You may wear it properly once you have fully recovered.”
Lu Shiye’s head bandages had been removed, yet his body remained swathed in dressings. Those were changed every two or three days as his wounds healed.
“I shall manage,” Lu Shiye said, the tips of his ears flushing pink. He looked away in slight embarrassment. “My body bears many scars. They are not a pleasant sight.”
“They are medals of honor earned in service,” Yu Zhaozhao replied softly.
“Well spoken indeed,” a voice called out from the doorway. “You have chosen a fine wife, Shiye.”
Yu Zhaozhao turned to see a middle-aged man standing there. He bore a distinct resemblance to her mother-in-law Madam Bian Lan and to Lu Shiguang.
Lu Shiye’s face lit up with joy. “Uncle Bian has returned.”
“Zhaozhao, this is my maternal uncle Bian Zhenqi,” Lu Shiye explained. “He is also Vice President of the City Hospital. He was the chief surgeon who performed my operation. One month after the surgery, he was seconded to the capital on temporary assignment.”
“Greetings, Uncle Bian,” Yu Zhaozhao said respectfully. “I am Shiye’s wife, Yu Zhaozhao.”
Yu Zhaozhao had heard Lu Shiye mention that his uncle was Vice President of the Hospital and had been assigned to the capital, yet she had known little beyond that. Now seeing Bian Zhenqi and hearing his name, her heart gave a sudden leap. In her past life, Lu Shiye had once given her a calling card bearing the name of a renowned medical authority. It had been none other than Bian Zhenqi.
“Greetings, Shiye’s wife,” Bian Zhenqi said warmly. “I have returned in such haste that I have brought no proper gift. Accept these ration and supply coupons instead. They shall serve you well as you establish your new household.”
He drew a large envelope from his briefcase and placed it directly into Yu Zhaozhao’s hands.
“Uncle, this is far too generous,” Yu Zhaozhao protested. “I cannot accept such a gift.”
“Keep it,” Bian Zhenqi insisted gently. “It is a wedding gift from me. I shall be unable to attend your wedding ceremony. I have returned only to complete administrative procedures. My train departs for the capital this very evening. I scarcely know whether I shall have time to share a meal with my elder sister.”
“Uncle, this is far too hasty,” Lu Shiye said, dismayed that his uncle must depart so soon after arriving.
“Rest well and heal,” Bian Zhenqi said, placing a steadying hand upon his nephew’s shoulder. “This posting to the capital is a great opportunity.”
Bian Zhenqi felt his pulse and examined his injuries with professional care. Then he smiled with evident satisfaction. “Your recovery proceeds remarkably well. I had expected at least a year before full restoration of health. Your condition is excellent. In three months you shall be entirely healed. That said, to regain your former peak of strength and vigor, you must allow one full year. Throughout this period, you must not subject yourself to excessive exertion or training.”
Bian Zhenqi tapped Lu Shiye gently upon the forehead with his knuckles.
“Do not push yourself beyond all reasonable measure, nephew. You have cheated death many times already. Luck however is not inexhaustible. It runs out in the end. Now that you are married, you must think of your wife, your future children, and your family. I know the weight of duty you bear. I do not ask you to shrink from danger. But you must henceforth find wiser, safer means of fulfilling your service.”
“Uncle, I understand,” Lu Shiye replied earnestly. “I shall be more cautious in all things. I shall think thrice before acting.”
Lu Shiye had long since ceased to fear death once he had learned the truth of his origins. Rather than be hunted down and exposed, he had always felt it nobler to fall in honorable service. That fearlessness had driven him to perform one great deed after another. Now however he had a wife, and she was the girl he had secretly cherished since childhood. His outlook had shifted. He had grown more deliberate, more measured.
Bian Zhenqi observed this change with quiet satisfaction. He turned his gaze to Yu Zhaozhao.
“Shiye’s wife,” he said solemnly. “I leave him in your care. He is a stubborn young man. He sets his mind upon a course and nothing turns him aside. He holds his own life cheap. Speak to him with firmness. Should he refuse to value his health and safety, come to the capital and seek me out. I shall find you a better husband.”
“Uncle!” Lu Shiye protested loudly. “Do not even speak of such things! That shall never happen in all this lifetime.”
Lu Shiye looked genuinely aggrieved. He did not mind being scolded himself, yet he would not have his wife spoken of in such fashion nor ominous suggestions offered.
Bian Zhenqi’s gaze fell upon the wool tunic suit laid across the bed. Learning that Yu Zhaozhao had chosen and purchased it, his approval deepened. His nephew had chosen well indeed. She possessed excellent taste, far superior to his own.
“Shiye’s wife,” he instructed kindly. “Prepare warm, damp cloths and wipe his body gently. The weather grows warm and he perspires freely. It would not be well for his wounds to remain damp and covered.”
“I shall do so at once,” Yu Zhaozhao agreed readily.
As Bian Zhenqi departed the room, a faint, relieved smile touched his lips. This reckless, fearless nephew had long been his greatest concern. He had come expressly to impress upon him the value of his life, lest one day news of his loss should arrive.
The moment Bian Zhenqi had gone, Lu Shiye reached for Yu Zhaozhao’s hand and would not let go.
“Zhaozhao, pay no heed to my uncle’s words,” he said earnestly. “I shall never give you cause to…” He paused, swallowing the unlucky phrase before it could pass his lips.
“I believe you,” Yu Zhaozhao said softly. “Your uncle speaks only from deep concern for you.”
She opened the envelope he had left behind. Inside lay an abundance of coupons. There were vouchers for major purchases such as bicycles, wristwatches, sewing machines, and even television sets. Her eyes widened in astonishment. Such coupons were extraordinarily rare and precious. She felt as though she had stumbled into a household of extraordinary standing. She had thought herself comfortably well off with her own savings of more than two thousand three hundred yuan. Only upon marrying Lu Shiye had she truly begun to understand the scale of privilege and generosity within his family.
Lu Shiye shook his head in quiet wonder. “My uncle has emptied nearly everything he possessed into this envelope. As for his posting to the capital, I scarcely know whether it bodes well or ill.”
“Is a transfer to the capital not a matter for rejoicing?” Yu Zhaozhao asked, perplexed by the shadow of concern in his voice.
“Some years ago, my uncle was the subject of serious accusation and investigation,” Lu Shiye explained. His first wife had published notice of divorce in the official gazette. She had taken their son and daughter and remarried a childhood sweetheart. The children too had been given the new husband’s surname.”
Yu Zhaozhao stared in shock. “Are the children truly his own?”
“They are,” Lu Shiye said with certainty. “They bear a striking resemblance to him.”
“Had your uncle and his first wife been happy together?”
“By all accounts, deeply so until the day of their separation.”
Yu Zhaozhao could not understand. Had their affection been genuine, how could she have remarried immediately upon divorce and suffered her children to bear another man’s name? She must have harbored deep resentment toward Bian Zhenqi. Otherwise, even in separation, she might have given the children her own surname rather than that of a stepfather. It reminded her of Wen Zhihua. Upon being widowed and harshly treated by her late husband’s family, she had remarried into the Yu household and changed Yu Zhaodi’s surname as well. Even now, whenever she spoke of her former husband, she referred to him with nothing but bitterness and contempt.
“My uncle’s first wife pursued him and courted him,” Lu Shiye continued. “Now she too resides in the capital. My uncle has been transferred there as well. Should their paths cross and she appear with her husband and children, I fear he shall suffer greatly.”
Lu Shiye could scarce bear to imagine the scene. Yu Zhaozhao too understood his concern. The capital was vast, yet if former husband, former wife, her children, and her new husband should all meet by chance, the encounter would be painful beyond all description.
“Perhaps she acted under great constraint or hidden hardship?” Yu Zhaozhao suggested gently.
“Whatever hardship may have befallen her,” Lu Shiye replied, “the fact remains that she remarried and gave his children to another man. And in the years since, she has borne two more children by her second husband.”
Yu Zhaozhao fell silent. She fetched the basin of warm water and knelt beside him. “Let me wipe your body now.”