Chen Meilan sat up and turned on the light, glancing at the clock. It read 4:44 AM - an eerily ominous time.
"Is she really about to die? Where is she?"
Little Lang was clinging tightly to her in his sleep, and she had to gently pry his arms loose.
The little one had recently developed a habit of trying to warm his mother at night, feeling her body was cold. He would drape himself over her like a small heater.
The weather was bitterly cold, especially in their concrete house. Chen Meilan's room was a bit better with the stove.
Yan Zhao's room had no stove - he relied on his inner fortitude to get through winter. When he opened the door, a blast of frigid air rushed in.
"She's at the district hospital. They say she's in surgery now," Yan Zhao said as he stoked the stove to get a fire going.
It was currently the twelfth lunar month, just after New Year's Day on the Western calendar. The Spring Festival would be coming soon.
Zhou Xueqin and Lu Jingyu had been busy all year trafficking in treasury bonds across provinces. Word was they'd made quite a profit.
But how had she suddenly ended up on death's door?
Chen Meilan felt little sympathy - after all, Zhou Xueqin had chosen her own path.
She wondered what Yan Xishan's reaction would be when he heard the news, given how envious and resentful he'd been of Zhou Xueqin's newfound wealth. He'd never been stabbed himself, but Chen Meilan mused that he might actually welcome it at this point.
The thought almost made her laugh, but she held it back. Another time traveler was about to die, and she felt a pang of empathy. "Did she ask for the children to come see her?"
"She said she wanted to see them. But what do you think - do you want them to go?" Yan Zhao asked.
As expected, Zhou Xueqin hadn't bothered with the children when times were good. Now that death loomed, she suddenly wanted to see the two she'd given birth to.
But Chen Meilan was their mother now, and Yan Zhao needed her approval.
"Let's go. They have to see her," Chen Meilan said.
Just as she helped Lu Dabao and Lv Erniu pay respects to their birth mother each year, she knew this was important.
If she didn't let the children see their dying birth mother, Little Wang and Little Lang would resent her for it when they grew up.
Yuanyuan had also woken up, squinting at the light. She looked warily at Yan Zhao - while he was her father, in her young mind he never came into this bedroom at night. Timidly, she asked, "Daddy, is it morning already? You should go to work. Bye bye!" hoping he would leave.
"Not yet," Yan Zhao replied.
Chen Meilan sat her daughter up and handed her some clothes. "There's a lady who's sick - Little Lang and Little Wang's mother. We're going to visit her. Want to come along?" She couldn't leave Yuanyuan home alone.
As Chen Meilan dressed the children, Yan Zhao stepped out.
Just as she finished, she heard Yan Zhao asking Little Wang, "Are you a big boy?"
"Yes," Little Wang mumbled sleepily, but sat up straight with his hands raised. "Daddy, are we doing push-ups?"
Occasionally doing push-ups wasn't so bad, because it meant his father would sleep in his room that night.
Little Wang hadn't had that privilege in a long time - his father always slept alone in another room now.
"If you're a big boy, then no crying. I have some bad news to tell you," Yan Zhao said, trying to preemptively prevent tears.
But his words only frightened the child more.
It was already cold with the stove out, and Little Wang's thin shoulders began to tremble.
Chen Meilan pulled him close. "I need to tell you something. Your birth mother is very sick and in danger. We need to go to the hospital to see her. It's okay if you cry, don't be afraid."
Little Wang didn't dare cry with his father watching.
Zhou Xueqin was his birth mother, and though she had hit him before, he'd forgotten the pain. He only remembered how she used to take him out, where he was often bullied by unsavory characters - having his head shoved between legs, being forced to eat snapped fingers, having his privates pinched. Little Wang had felt humiliated, but he didn't hate Zhou Xueqin for it.
Even when he grew up and had the power to seek revenge, he would never do so against Zhou Xueqin.
To Little Wang, if his birth mother wanted a better life, he would choose to stay with his father and never bother her. He knew she didn't love him, preferring money and other people's children instead.
To her, he was just an unwanted burden.
But now, should he cry or not?
"Don't cry," said one parent.
"It's okay to cry," said the other, the adults at odds.
Only Yuanyuan noticed something else: "Big brother forgot his gloves." She went back to her room to find them.
All the children had leather gloves they kept warm on the heated kang bed at night, so they'd be toasty in the morning for the walk to school.
Little Wang often forgot his gloves, so Yuanyuan always looked after them for him. She was more considerate in this way, and as she helped him put them on, she whispered, "It's okay if you cry a little, big brother. I won't tell anyone."
In the frigid air, hands aching from cold, Yuanyuan clumsily helped him into the small gloves. Once on, both his hands were enveloped in warmth. She held his hand tightly in hers.
The district hospital was some distance away, so Yan Zhao urgently called their driver, Little Liu, to come pick them up.
In the car, Chen Meilan and Yan Zhao tacitly avoided discussing anything.
Only Little Lang, unused to being up so early, piped up from Chen Meilan's arms: "Tie tubes, tie tubes!"
This was because the village women had been arguing with family planning officials about tubal ligation lately, often calling the police to intervene.
It wasn't just Yanguan Village - women in many villages were refusing the procedure, and it was all anyone talked about on the streets.
Little Wang remained worried the whole trip, but not surprised.
From a young age, seeing Zhou Xueqin run with a crowd that got into drunken brawls at restaurants and nightclubs, he thought it natural for her to meet with misfortune.
The child simply kept everything bottled up inside, never speaking of it.
He was also concerned about the coming end of the school term. His teacher had praised Little Wang for his neat, tidy handwriting despite being a slow writer, and often held up his homework as an example.
The principal had met him once and complimented him, saying he was truly Yan Zhao's son - it didn't matter if he wasn't the best at first, as long as he kept working hard he would catch up.
Why did news of Zhou Xueqin have to intrude on his life now?
He didn't wish for her death, but he disliked her disrupting his peaceful, happy existence.
He hoped never to hear any news of her again.
But some things can't be helped. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the district hospital. The smell of disinfectant permeated the empty, cold emergency corridor. Not a soul was in sight.
His father's long legs carried him swiftly ahead. Little Lang was fine in his arms, but Little Wang and Yuanyuan struggled to keep up, running as fast as they could.
Suddenly, Chen Meilan stopped and called for Yan Zhao to wait: "Captain Yan, let's have the children wait here while we check things out first."
If Zhou Xueqin truly was at death's door, they needed to prepare the children mentally. The sight of someone near death could be terrifying.
Yan Zhao hadn't considered this, but Little Wang quickly nodded: "I'll listen to Mom."
He hesitated, not feeling ready to see Zhou Xueqin so soon.
"Alright, you three wait here. We'll go take a look first," Yan Zhao said.
As they entered the hallway, a tall, thin policeman ran up to them. "Captain Yan."
"Ma Bo, what's the situation? Have you gotten the details of the incident?" Yan Zhao asked.
The case had been reported to the Jindong Road police station, where Ma Bo happened to be on duty. He shook his head, saying: "Zhou Xueqin doesn't want us investigating. She's refusing to cooperate. We'll have to question her more thoroughly once she's out."
They were standing outside the operating room. Just then, a nurse called for Lu Jingyu to come help move the patient. They would be coming out any moment.
As Ma Bo finished speaking, the operating room doors swung open.
Lu Jingyu pushed the gurney, with Zhou Xueqin lying on the bed, clutching a blood-stained handbag tightly.
"We missed the liver by just 3 millimeters. You're incredibly lucky, Xueqin," the doctor said, holding Zhou Xueqin's hand as they walked. "We've stitched you up. After two days on an IV drip, you'll be ready for discharge."
Lu Jingyu kept nodding. "Thank you so much, Doctor. You saved my dearest. I simply must send you a banner of gratitude another day."
"Saving lives is our duty. No need for that," the doctor said with a smile.
Zhou Xueqin had been stabbed on her way out to deposit money, near her home in Yanguan Village.
Initial exams suggested her liver might have been pierced, and she thought she was dying. She had Lu Jingyu urgently pay 300 yuan to bring in the chief surgeon for the operation.
For some reason, neither she nor Lu Jingyu had chosen to report the incident to the police.
The hospital had reported the case, but just before entering the operating room, she suddenly thought about what would happen if she died.
Despite her current struggles to earn money outside, if she were to die, she would give most of her money to her biological mother and brother, leaving some for Little Wang and Little Lang. Even if they were useless, even if Lu's children might become big shots in the future, she wouldn't give a penny to Lu's children.
However, this was just a thought when facing death. After all, she was a woman, and Little Wang and Little Lang came from her womb - they were flesh of her flesh.
But when she heard she was fine, her thinking changed.
After all, besides her, no one knew that Little Wang wasn't just a complete waste.
Although he hadn't studied much as a child, he could earn a lot of money just by running small businesses and playing the stock market as an adult. He might seem to always be in the hospital taking care of Little Lang, and his father might keep him in check to prevent him from breaking major laws.
But he would hire people to break his uncle's legs, and cause his uncle's children to be unable to find work.
Several of her former friends had been driven to bankruptcy by him.
Little Wang was a white-eyed wolf who only knew how to harm others.
"Director Wang, am I really okay?" She suddenly reached out to grab Lu Jingyu, saying, "Call the children here. Where's Dabao? I ended up like this because of him."
She wanted Lu Dabao to see her current state, so that when he grew up to be a big shot, he would remember her kindness and be grateful to her.
Little Wang had quietly sneaked over and heard his mother say this in the corridor. His footsteps faltered.
Standing there, with the brownish-yellow corridor light enveloping the child's forehead, he stretched out his arms and pulled back the curious Yuanyuan and Little Lang, who also wanted to join in the commotion, and retreated to the stairwell corner.
Lu Jingyu, pushing the cart out, first saw a broad chest, then looked up to see a slightly dark, stern face.
Of course he recognized Yan Zhao. On the day Meilan entered the city, he had followed her on his motorcycle all the way to the station and personally saw her and Zhaodi leave with Yan Zhao.
Zhou Xueqin saw Chen Meilan and Yan Zhao at the same time.
"Yan, Squad Leader Yan?" Lu Jingyu said with a smile, "I never thought we'd meet in such a situation."
He wanted to shake hands with Meilan, but Zhou Xueqin, with a guarded expression, pulled his other hand back.
She rolled her eyes from afar. If looks could skin a person, Yan Zhao's skin would have been completely peeled off by Zhou Xueqin.
Instead, when she saw Chen Meilan, she finally managed to squeeze out a smile.
Zhou Xueqin, who was usually domineering, didn't dare to be overbearing in front of Meilan. This was someone she couldn't afford to offend under any circumstances, because she was now the mother of Little Wang and Little Lang, two white-eyed wolves who depended on her to raise them.
"Meilan, you didn't bring Little Wang and Little Lang, did you? I'm fine. Jingyu, you really shouldn't have, I'm perfectly alright, why did you call Meilan?" Zhou Xueqin said.
Lu Jingyu was a bit stunned: Wasn't she the one who told him to quickly call their two biological children?
"Hurry and call Dabao, let him see me. Oh, I miss Dabao so much," Zhou Xueqin said with a long sigh.
Chen Meilan saw that Zhou Xueqin was fine and couldn't be bothered to acknowledge the fawning smile on her face, let alone respond. She was preparing to leave.
It was the middle of the night, and she had to drag the children out of their warm beds, only for it to be a false alarm.
However, at this moment, Yan Zhao stopped Chen Meilan and said, "Zhou Xueqin, since you're fine, we should have a good talk, shouldn't we?"
Yan Zhao definitely wanted to clarify the matter of the two children being mistreated.
But Yan Zhao's tone was very calm, while Zhou Xueqin appeared extremely agitated. After all, it was the first time the ex-husband and ex-wife had met since the divorce. Zhou Xueqin, whose anesthesia hadn't fully worn off, suddenly reached out and lifted her blanket, exposing her bandaged waist: "Yan Zhao, are you disappointed that I didn't die? Eight years of marriage, two sons, and you, a respected police officer, can't wait for your former wife to die!"
These words caused many people in the hospital corridor to rub their eyes in disbelief.
Lu Jingyu quickly grasped Zhou Xueqin's hand: "Don't get angry, don't get agitated, it'll be troublesome if the wound opens up."
The situation was a bit awkward, so Yan Zhao said to Chen Meilan: "You take the children down first and wait for me. I'll ask a few more questions about the case and then come down."
Zhou Xueqin held Lu Jingyu's hand, resting her head on the back of his hand, looking as if she was about to die from sorrow.
Judging by this scene alone, Yan Zhao might as well have had "Chen Shiming" (a notorious unfaithful husband in Chinese literature) written in large characters on his forehead.
Lu Jingyu and Zhou Xueqin's hands were clasped together, and of course, Lu Jingyu's face-saving skills were unparalleled. One moment he was asking Zhou Xueqin if she was still in pain, where it hurt, the next moment asking if she felt uncomfortable anywhere, and then asking if she wanted water.
He kept tucking in her blanket to prevent her from getting cold.
This kind of incessant chatter, like the character Tang Seng from "Journey to the West," was completely different from Yan Zhao's economy with words.
Zhou Xueqin gazed at Lu Jingyu, constantly saying thank you, you're so kind, leaning her head against his chest, and occasionally casting a vigilant glance at Chen Meilan. After all, she had snatched this quality husband from Chen Meilan.
Chen Meilan found it extremely amusing.
Could it be that Zhou Xueqin was still afraid she would snatch Lu Jingyu away?
It was both a comparison and a way to give Zhou Xueqin a peace of mind.
For the safety of their family, Yan Zhao always deliberately kept his distance from her in public. Except when they were alone, she had never been too intimate with Yan Zhao either.
Reaching out to wrap her arm around Yan Zhao's, Chen Meilan leaned against him and looked up at him with a smile.
Yan Zhao's whole body stiffened, as they had never held hands in public before.
Chen Meilan glanced at the dumbfounded couple across from them, then said softly to Yan Zhao, "You talk first, I'll wait for you in the spicy soup shop outside."
Then she turned and left, feeling as if her back was on fire. When she looked back, Yan Zhao was watching her.
Dumbfounded, right? She had helped him save face in front of his ex-wife.
His ex-wife had someone to care for her, and he had someone who loved him too.
"Ma Bo, follow your sister-in-law," Yan Zhao said.
Even if Zhou Xueqin didn't want to report the case, Yan Zhao would definitely investigate thoroughly after such an incident.
Just as Yan Xishan's file would affect Yuanyuan, Zhou Xueqin's file would also affect Little Wang and Little Lang. If she committed a crime, the future of the two children would be ruined.
Not to mention them.
The spicy soup night snacks in Xiping City had been around since the early 1980s.
In the cold, biting wind of the early morning, a bowl of hot meatball beef soup in the small shop, actually made with ordinary ingredients - potatoes, cabbage, carrots, with the soul being the beef meatballs. This spicy soup shop at the entrance of the district hospital only opened at one o'clock in the morning and closed at six o'clock the next morning. Chen Meilan had heard of it but had never tried it.
Chen Meilan had heard Yan Zhao mention that Ma Bo was a company-level cadre in their unit, and his family wasn't originally from Xiping City, but after he came, his wife would probably transfer her household registration over as well.
The young man was very enthusiastic, just that his skin was too dark, even darker than Yan Zhao's.
"Sister-in-law, one bowl each, or...?" Ma Bo asked.
Yuanyuan raised her hand: "My mom and I will share one bowl."
Little Lang raised his hand: "I want one bowl."
This heartless little fellow could eat three bowls if given the chance, his little belly now bulging like a small spider. As for Chen Meilan, she still hadn't found a way to make him voluntarily lose weight. The weight loss relied entirely on her, as a stepmother, rationing the child's food.
The large pot for brewing the spicy soup was outside. They ordered four bowls, which Ma Bo couldn't carry in by himself. It was too cold outside, and the soup would cool quickly if left for a while, so Chen Meilan went out to help him carry the spicy soup.
As a result, Ma Bo looked at Chen Meilan and said with a half-smile: "Sister-in-law, you really haven't changed at all since you were eighteen."
Last time, there were two people who said they had seen her photo from when she was eighteen. How come Ma Bo was saying the same thing?
"Where did you see it? Where's my photo now?" Chen Meilan asked.
Where exactly had the photo she once sent to the army unit ended up? All these young men seemed to want to say something but held back.
"Afraid that Captain Yan might deal with us, can't say," Ma Bo said with a smile.
"It's just saying that I thought the men in your army unit had dark skin, what's there to deal with?" Chen Meilan knew what it was about.
When Ma Bo heard this, he felt that Chen Meilan had misunderstood, and quickly said, "The main issue was that Xiong Dapao couldn't accept it when he found out. His family background is quite good, and he has the fairest skin in our unit. He had even written home asking his family to prepare the rings. He insisted on taking leave to go home and find out why others were willing to meet in person, but his match refused because she thought he was too dark. In the end, there was a big argument, and Captain Yan disciplined him. Your photo was also confiscated by Captain Yan. After that, we weren't allowed to mention your photo anymore."
While other female comrades' photos were only seen by their soldier boyfriends, Chen Meilan's photo had been seen by all the young men in the unit because of Xiong Dapao's outburst.
Everyone was curious about who eventually married the woman who thought even Xiong Dapao was too dark.
To everyone's surprise, after being discharged, they discovered that Chen Meilan had become Captain Yan's wife.
Yan Zhao was several shades darker than Xiong Dapao!
Chen Meilan didn't want to hear any more.
Xiong Dapao - just hearing the name was enough for her.
Ma Bo went in first with two bowls of meatball soup, large bowls with plenty of broth. Chen Meilan only dared to carry one bowl. Just as she was about to enter, she saw Little Wang coming out.
"Come on, let's go in and eat some meatball soup," Chen Meilan said.
Little Wang stood motionless. In the early morning street, only the meatball soup vendor was tending to his steaming pot. The skinny little boy tilted his head up, his eyes brimming with tears.
"The meatball soup is nice and hot. Yuanyuan and I can't eat too many meatballs. How about I give you three?" Chen Meilan said, bending down.
Little Wang looked up at the sky to keep his tears from falling: "Once when Yuanyuan ate eight dumplings, you kissed her eight times."
Such a big child now, surely he couldn't be wanting her to kiss him too?
Little Wang was the skinniest in their class, though not particularly short. His skin wasn't as fair as Little Lang's. He had big eyes and a pointed chin. Looking at him, Chen Meilan was always reminded of a movie character, Fang Qiangqiang from "Little Red Flowers."
Quiet, timid, but with a streak of stubbornness.
Chen Meilan bent down: "Three meatballs, so I'll give you three kisses, okay? Come on, let's go eat meatballs."
Little Wang didn't dodge, and even raised both his hands as if he'd been electrified.
She kissed him a few times on his forehead and his "silly little head." As she turned to leave, Little Wang suddenly lunged forward and hugged her from behind.
"Mom," Little Wang tried calling out. Seeing that Chen Meilan didn't object, he said softly, "Will you be my mom from now on? And be my mom forever, okay?"
...
"I'm really good at making money. When I earn money, I'll give it all to you in the future," the child added.
Little Wang had never indulged in fantasies, nor did he ever expect to gain anything from Zhou Xueqin. But in the moment when Chen Meilan protected him, not letting him go upstairs until he was ready, he suddenly understood. This is what a mother is. Even if she didn't give birth to him, she was willing to protect him. And isn't that what a mother does - protect her child when they're young, and then be protected by them when they grow up?
He was willing to love this mother for a lifetime. He would give her all the money he treasured most.
Regardless of whether she truly loved him in her heart.
