Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"...We're Yun Shu's parents," He Qiuxia said.

Her eyes kept lingering on Wang Wanru's face, as if trying to place her. After looking for a while, she suddenly stepped forward two paces, her voice uncertain: "You... are you surnamed Wang? Sister Wang?"

Wang Wanru froze, raised her hand to wipe away her tears, looked carefully at He Qiuxia for a moment, and also froze.

"You're... that sister from the nursery back then?" Wang Wanru's voice trembled. "The one in the bed next to mine... the commander's wife?"

He Qiuxia's eyes welled up instantly: "Yes, it's me."

She walked over and took Wang Wanru's hand. "It was so chaotic that day. The refugees swept us apart, and I looked for you for so long and never found you. I never imagined we'd meet again. You look so much better than when you first came to the nursery..."

Wang Wanru started crying again. She grabbed He Qiuxia's hand and held it tight: "I'm fine, I'm fine... If it hadn't been for you back then, I'd be dead."

The two women stood at the courtyard gate, facing each other, tears streaming down their faces.

Ji Haiguo and Meng Guangze exchanged a glance, neither speaking. Ji Haiguo's expression shifted from wary to complicated.

Ji Yunshu stood behind He Qiuxia, looking at Wang Wanru's face—so nearly identical to her own—her heart in a tangle, feelings she couldn't name.

Wang Wanru's gaze moved from He Qiuxia to Ji Yunshu, studying her over and over, her lips trembling before she finally got the words out: "This child... she is..."

He Qiuxia turned to Ji Yunshu and pulled her to her side.

"This is Yun Shu," He Qiuxia said, her voice hoarse. "The girl I raised for nineteen years. The child I took back then... it was her."

Wang Wanru reached out, wanting to touch Ji Yunshu's face, but her hand stopped halfway and pulled back, as if scared she'd spook her. She looked at Ji Yunshu, tears streaming uncontrollably, her voice broken: "She... she looks just like me when I was young..."

Ji Yunshu's heart ached watching this woman cry so hard. She opened her mouth, not knowing what to say, and finally whispered: "...Mom."

At the word "Mom," Wang Wanru cried even harder, but she didn't say anything—just nodded hard.

Meng Guangze walked over, wrapped his arm around Wang Wanru's shoulders, and said softly: "Don't cry. The girl's fine—this is a good thing." He looked up at Ji Haiguo. "Comrade Ji, let's find somewhere to sit and talk. Both girls are grown now, and we've got a lot to talk about."

Ji Haiguo nodded: "Let's go to our home."

So the group turned around and headed back.

Meng Li walked between Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru, head down, not saying a word. The young woman named Meng Yunzhen walked at the back, occasionally glancing at Ji Yunshu, her face still shocked.

The policewoman who'd come to help search saw the girl was found, had Meng Guangze sign a receipt, and left.

Ji Yunshu watched the police officer's retreating figure, her mind a mess. She knew—she might really be leaving this place.

What was Su City like? Ji Yunshu didn't know. She'd read about "small bridges over flowing water" and knew Su City was beautiful. But if she went back to Su City with the Mengs and became a capitalist's daughter, her future seemed set in stone.

Ji Yunshu didn't want to end up like the her in her dreams—dying of a broken heart.

Back home, He Qiuxia had the Mengs sit in the main room and poured them water. Ji Yunting hadn't expected his parents and sister to come back with three extra people. But seeing how much Meng Yunzhen and Ji Yunshu looked alike, Ji Yunting's heart sank.

They set up chairs. Ji Haiguo took the head seat, Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru sat across from him, Meng Yunzhen sat beside Wang Wanru, and Meng Li sat at the far end.

Ji Yunshu didn't know where to sit, so she stood behind He Qiuxia.

He Qiuxia tugged her arm: "Sit by Mom."

Ji Yunshu sat down beside her.

Meng Guangze spoke up first and explained everything.

Turns out Meng Li had been saying she felt sick in Su City, but the hospitals there couldn't figure out what was wrong. Meng Li then insisted on coming to Beijing to get checked out. Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru, thinking their eldest daughter was in school in Beijing and it'd be a chance to see her too, got travel permits and came with her.

They found a guesthouse near the hospital and accompanied Meng Li for her examination. But after going in for the exam, Meng Li snuck off. When the doctor called her back in and couldn't find her, they realized she'd taken off. They searched everywhere in the hospital without success, worried she'd gotten lost in the big hospital, and panicked and filed a police report. They also went to the medical school to find Meng Yunzhen to help search. Luckily, the area around the hospital was busy, and the police helped ask around all afternoon. Finally, a bus driver said he'd given a ride to a girl matching the description, so they followed that lead all the way here and found her.

"This child," Meng Guangze sighed, glancing at Meng Li, "has always had a mind of her own. She didn't even talk to us about it—just took off on her own."

Meng Li kept her head down and said quietly: "I was afraid you wouldn't agree."

Wang Wanru wiped her tears and said: "Is there anything you can't talk to your family about? If you wanted to find your birth parents, we wouldn't have said no. But you should've told us. You're a young woman in a strange city alone—what if something happened to you?"

Meng Li went quiet.

Ji Haiguo cleared his throat and took over the conversation: "Since we're all here, let's get this straight. Nineteen years ago, two babies got switched at the nursery, but that wasn't the kids' fault. The question is: what do we do about the two girls now?"

Meng Guangze nodded: "That's what we were thinking. Lizi is our adopted daughter—we raised her for nineteen years, and we truly love her. But her birth parents are here, and if she wants to find them, we won't stop her. As for Yun Shu..."

He glanced at Ji Yunshu and spoke tentatively: "She's our own flesh and blood, and of course we want to claim her. But she's lived with your family for so many years—we can't just snatch her away. It's got to be her choice."

Ji Yunshu kept her head down, fingers twisting the hem of her shirt, saying nothing.

He Qiuxia spoke up, her tone firm: "Yun Shu has lived in my home for nineteen years—she's my own daughter. Her household registration can't be moved. She has to stay with me."

At that, the room went quiet for a few seconds.

Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru exchanged a look, both looking troubled.

Meng Li's face fell completely, but she quickly put back on her usual sweet, friendly smile.

Wang Wanru said softly: "Sister, I know you've been good to Yun Shu, and I'm grateful from the bottom of my heart. But she's my own flesh and blood. When I gave birth to her, I nearly died—I was at death's door to bring her into this world. She weighed barely four jin when she was born. Before I could even see her, the nursery got bombed, and then the babies got switched... All these years, I never knew she was alive. I thought she was..."

She couldn't go on, covering her mouth and sobbing.

He Qiuxia watched her cry, her own eyes getting red, but she didn't give in.

Ji Yunshu knew deep down why He Qiuxia didn't want her to move her registration. The Mengs had a bad class label—they were capitalists, and that was no good in these times. He Qiuxia not letting her move her registration was her way of protecting her.

Ji Haiguo saw both sides stuck and stepped in to smooth things over: "How about this—let the two girls say if they're willing to swap their registrations back."

In those days, your household registration was tied to who you were. A Su City registration and a Beijing registration were definitely treated differently, not to mention one family was capitalist and the other was a solid military family with a clean record.

Meng Li didn't hesitate at all: "I want to move my registration back. This registration was always supposed to be mine."

"Of course, of course," Wang Wanru murmured, head down, looking heartbroken.

"I'll move mine back too," Ji Yunshu nodded. She could tell He Qiuxia wanted to stop her. "Mom, don't worry. Even if we swap registrations, I'm still your daughter."

"Well then, let's do what the girls want," Ji Haiguo said.

He Qiuxia wanted to say more, but Ji Haiguo shot her a look, and she shut her mouth.

Meng Yunzhen had been quiet most of the time, but now she suddenly spoke up: "How's Yun Shu's health? Did she have any serious illnesses as a kid?"

Ji Yunshu was caught off guard—she hadn't expected that question.

He Qiuxia answered for her: "She was never in great health as a kid—catching colds every few days. At fourteen, she suddenly got really sick, had two surgeries, and needed blood transfusions... She's gotten better slowly since then, and luckily there don't seem to be any lasting problems."

Meng Yunzhen nodded, pulled a little notebook out of her pocket, and carefully wrote it down. Then she introduced herself: "I'm a med student. My name's Meng Yunzhen. My parents are getting older now, Sister Yunshu—if you have any hobbies or foods you can't eat, just tell me, and I'll remember."

Ji Yunshu watched Meng Yunzhen's earnest demeanor and thought, no wonder she got into college—she's really serious about her studies.

Wang Wanru, upon hearing He Qiuxia's words, felt both heartache and guilt. She looked at Ji Yunshu, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she pulled a cloth-wrapped bundle from her pocket and clutched it tightly in her hand.

Meng Li recognized it—it was a small cloth pouch that Wang Wanru had sewn by hand to hold money.

Meng Li watched Wang Wanru with a dark look, but Wang Wanru didn't notice her gaze, still looking at Ji Yunshu with a pained expression.

Meng Li was boiling with anger.

The two families then chatted about their kids' childhoods. Ji Yunshu listened and figured the Meng family had been pretty good to Meng Li.

Just by looking at Meng Li's clothing and appearance, she was the best-dressed and most put-together of the bunch.

Even though the Meng family's class status was a mark against them, they were honest people. When the country was founded, they turned in everything they were supposed to, and after the public-private partnership, they lived off the government's monthly interest payments and lived pretty comfortably.

The Meng family had three children. The eldest son, Meng Xiangpeng, was already married, and he and his wife worked at a pharmacy—their wages weren't high, but it was still an income. The eldest daughter, Meng Yunzhen, had gotten into a medical university in the capital, threw herself into her studies, and did really well. The youngest daughter, Meng Li, had also been supported through high school, but she hadn't gotten into college. Meng Guangze wanted her to take a job as a private-school teacher in Su City, but Meng Li didn't want to, so she just stayed home for now—the Mengs could afford to keep her.

Then one day, Meng Li suddenly felt unwell. After visiting several hospitals in Su City without finding the problem, she was the one who suggested going to the capital to see a doctor. Meng Guangze figured that since his eldest daughter was in the capital and it was easier to get a referral letter there, and if something really was wrong with the girl, he'd never forgive himself, so he and Wang Wanru followed Meng Li to the capital.

Even though by then he already knew Meng Li wasn't his biological daughter, after nineteen years of living together, a daughter who wasn't his own had come to mean more to him than one who was.

Meng Guangze even said he'd long given up hope of ever meeting his biological daughter, and had already planned to split the family estate three ways among the kids after he passed. The Meng family had substantial assets—the monthly interest payments alone came to over a thousand yuan—and they had many antiques and cultural relics at home. There were even several boxes of porcelain, passed down from their ancestors, but unfortunately, nobody in their generation had any interest in that stuff, so it was all stored away in the warehouse. It was only when Meng Li suddenly developed an interest in these antiques one day that he decided to leave them all to her.

Ji Yunshu listened and suddenly realized that the Meng family's monthly interest was nearly three or four times Ji Haiguo's salary! But in her dream, the Meng family seemed destitute and impoverished—she wondered what had become of all that stuff...

Meng Li showed little reaction to Meng Guangze's words, but Ji Yunshu felt that, according to his account, Meng Li must have had a good life in the Meng family. Her parents were loving, her brother and sister treated her well, and there were no financial difficulties. Perhaps only the label of "capitalist's daughter" had truly troubled her.

Being a capitalist's daughter did indeed invite scorn, so her desire to return was only natural.

As they talked, the sky had grown dark, and any later and they might miss the last bus.

Since things couldn't be wrapped up that fast and the two families would need to keep in touch, Meng Guangze suggested taking Meng Li back first, as she needed to see a doctor at the hospital the next day.

Ji Haiguo then spoke up: "Li Zi said she's staying at the Navy General Hospital. Tomorrow, let Yun Shu go for a check-up too. Since both families are going together, we can all care about the children's health."

Meng Guangze nodded in agreement.

As they were leaving, Wang Wanru quietly leaned in and pressed the cloth bundle she'd been clutching into Ji Yunshu's hand.

"Child, take it," she said in a low voice, her eyes reddening again. "I... I didn't bring much with me, but take this to spend."

Ji Yunshu tried to push it back, but Wang Wanru held her hand firmly. He Qiuxia saw what was happening but said nothing, so Ji Yunshu had no choice but to accept it.

Author's note:

None