Two days later, Mother Lin was transferred to the Military General Hospital. Under the doctors’ persistent treatment there, she finally regained consciousness.
When Lin Yuqiu saw her mother open her eyes, she could no longer hold back her emotions. She rushed to the bedside, tears streaming down her face.
“Mom, you’re awake.”
Mother Lin couldn’t move at all. Only her eyes shifted toward her daughter with difficulty. Her lips trembled soundlessly, but the shape of her mouth clearly said: Don’t cry.
Lin Yuqiu gripped her mother’s hand tightly, forcing her tears back.
Her mother had just awakened she didn’t want to upset her further.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Mother Lin’s eyes filled with tears. Her lips moved anxiously again.
Lin Yuqiu gently wiped the tears from the corners of her mother’s eyes and comforted her softly, “Mom, Father and Brother are fine. Focus on getting better. I’ll find them and bring them to see you.”
At last, reassured, Mother Lin drifted back to sleep.
Morning sunlight filtered through the blue-and-white striped curtain, carrying a burning warmth that made the person dozing by the bedside stir awake, eyelids twitching.
Lin Yuqiu had kept vigil another entire night. Every two hours she had to turn her mother over, massage her limbs, feed her water, wipe her body, and change and wash her clothes.
After several sleepless nights at the Military General Hospital, when she opened her eyes her vision was still blurry, her eyelids heavy as lead.
She picked up the thermos, poured a bowl of warm water, dipped a cotton swab into it, and gently moistened her mother’s lips.
Her mother also woke. The torment of illness had stolen her former vitality. Her clouded eyes were filled with guilt and tenderness. Broken sobs escaped her throat, as though she blamed herself for burdening her daughter.
Lin Yuqiu couldn’t bear to meet her mother’s gaze; the look in those eyes was heartbreaking.
How could the little child she had once nurtured in her arms ever see her as a burden?
Just then, the bell signaling ward rounds rang.
The attending physician, wearing a white coat over a green military uniform and carrying a red-cross medical case, entered with several interns following behind.
Seeing them approach her mother’s bed, Lin Yuqiu quickly stood aside. “Doctor,” she greeted softly.
The attending physician nodded and walked straight to the bedside.
He bent to lift the blanket, lightly tapped her mother’s paralyzed legs with a reflex hammer, checked her forehead temperature, then felt her pulse, quietly giving instructions to the interns beside him.
The interns diligently recorded notes. After finishing the examination, the attending physician turned to Lin Yuqiu and said gently, “Comrade, your mother’s examination is complete. Her condition is relatively stable.”
“Come to my office shortly to discuss her subsequent arrangements.”
Lin Yuqiu nodded. “All right, Doctor.”
As the physician led his team out of the ward, the orderly assigned to deliver breakfast came in, placed an aluminum lunchbox on the bedside table, nodded to her, and left.
Lin Yuqiu opened the lunchbox and propped up her mother’s pillow.
One of the departing interns, having finished writing her notes, glanced back and couldn’t help but remind her, “Comrade, when feeding her, it’s best to help your aunt sit halfway up. Choking is no small matter.”
Lin Yuqiu turned around. The speaker was a very beautiful young female doctor.
Dressed in a white coat, she looked both professional and graceful, her demeanor gentle and refined. A faint smile curved her lips as she spoke, her eyes soft and warm comforting at first sight.
Lin Yuqiu smiled. “Thank you, Doctor.”
The young doctor returned a gentle smile, like a breeze in spring. “I wish your mother a speedy recovery.”
A voice suddenly called from outside, “Shiyun, let’s go.”
“Coming.”
The young doctor responded crisply, nodded warmly at Lin Yuqiu, and quickly followed her colleague.
After feeding her mother the morning porridge, Lin Yuqiu was summoned by a nurse to the attending physician’s office.
She knocked. “Doctor.”
He gestured for her to enter, set down the medical record, and said calmly, “Your mother’s condition is stable for now. The next step is gradual rehabilitation and recuperation.”
“Our hospital beds are in short supply. Priority must go to emergency cases and wounded soldiers transferred from the front. You should arrange discharge soon, or transfer her to a rehabilitation facility.”
Lin Yuqiu frowned slightly, her voice tense. “Doctor, may I ask what’s required to transfer her to a rehabilitation center?”
Seeing her unease, the physician smiled gently. “Beds there are limited. If you apply under the status of a military family member, it will be much easier. You can also apply for a preferential ward for military families.”
“Those wards are near the nurses’ station and close to the physical therapy room. Doctors make rounds there first it’s much more convenient than ordinary wards.”
When Lin Yuqiu left the office and walked back toward the ward, she spotted Xiao Liu, the orderly, waiting in the corridor.
He approached with a smile. “Comrade Lin, our regimental commander asked me to check have you made your decision?”
“He has fifteen days of family leave left. He hopes you’ll consider it soon.”
“Once he returns to the island, it could be a year or more before he can come back.”
Lowering her eyes, her delicate yet resolute face carried quiet determination. “I will marry him. But I hope my mother can be transferred to a rehabilitation center as soon as possible. The conditions there are better and will help her recovery.”
Xiao Liu nodded. “I’ll inform the commander.”
In the military compound’s family housing area, Xiao Liu parked the car and hurried upstairs to report.
“Commander, Comrade Lin has agreed.”
The man seated behind the desk paused mid-stroke with his pen.
He said nothing, but a trace of warmth from the sunlight behind him softened his sharp features. From the drawer, he took out official military stationery bearing the unit’s insignia and wrote in bold, vigorous characters:
Marriage Application Report.
Xiao Liu stole a glance, unable to read any emotion on the commander’s face. He couldn’t help but marvel.
As expected of a regimental commander who remained calm even with mountains collapsing before him he was about to get married, yet his expression revealed nothing.
Still, Xiao Liu was curious how the commander would write the “courtship history” section after all, he had only formally met the young lady once.
By the time his imagination finished running wild, the commander had already signed his name, blown dry the ink, folded the letter neatly into a brown envelope, and taken out a letter of introduction from the drawer, stamping it with the regiment’s official seal before handing both to him.
“Take this introduction letter to the subdistrict office where the Lin family is registered and obtain her political record certification. Remember wear civilian clothes. Don’t draw attention.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Once the procedures are complete, send both documents by express military mail directly to Political Commissar Wang at the island regiment headquarters.”
Xiao Liu accepted the envelope and letter, then hesitated. “Commander, the final review must still pass through Director Li at the military district. I’m afraid it won’t go smoothly.”
Zhou Runqing lifted his gaze slightly, his voice deep and steady. “I’ll explain things to Director Li when the time comes.”
“Tell Political Commissar Wang to report it immediately via the division’s direct line to the military district political department specifically to Deputy Director Chen.”
“Deputy Director Chen once served under my father. He’ll help me with this.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Xiao Liu acknowledged the order, tucked the documents away, and headed out.
At the stairwell, he ran into the commander’s younger sister, Zhou Wanyi. Dressed in a light pink knit sweater and dark gray wool trousers, her hair in a single side braid, she was nibbling an apple while eyeing the envelope curiously.
“What’s that?”
She reached to grab it, but Xiao Liu quickly hid it behind his back with a sheepish grin. “Miss Wanyi, I’ve got an urgent task from the commander. I’d better get going.”
Pouting, Zhou Wanyi walked into the study. “Brother, you just got back and you’re already sending Xiao Liu out on errands again. What’s the rush?”
A rare smile curved Zhou Runqing’s lips, though his voice remained cool. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Noticing he seemed in a good mood, Zhou Wanyi leaned over the desk, elbows propped, munching her apple as she suggested brightly, “Brother, how about we pick up Sister Shiyun from work this afternoon and go to the mess hall for hotpot tonight?”
“I’ll call ahead and ask them to prepare a small stove. I heard they got fresh beef offal and tripe this morning I’m dying to have some.”
“You’ve been out all day since you came back. Sister Shiyun said she wanted to see you.”