After seeing Gu Shaoting off, Xiao Mandong’s room had warmed up nicely. She let Diandian out of her space, then prepared dinner for herself.
Knock, knock, knock.
She had just finished eating when someone knocked on the door again.
“Mandong, are you home?” It was Gao Huizhi.
Xiao Mandong got up to open the door. Gao Huizhi came in carrying a packet of pastries.
“I heard you talking while I was at home, so I thought I’d come check on you. How’s your arm recovering?”
Gao Huizhi had originally promised to help her cook, but she had never gotten the chance. She felt terribly guilty about it.
As soon as she heard that Xiao Mandong had returned, she hurried over with the pastries she had prepared earlier.
“It’s been fine for ages.” As she spoke, Xiao Mandong even raised her arm to show Gao Huizhi.
The moment Gao Huizhi entered, she noticed there wasn’t much firewood left in the room. She put down what she was carrying and went into the backyard to bring in more firewood and coal briquettes.
Xiao Mandong tried to stop her, but it was already too late. After carrying in the firewood, Gao Huizhi even wanted to sweep the floor.
“You don’t need to do all this. My arm is completely fine now, and it wasn’t anything serious. Come sit and chat with me for a while.”
With that, Xiao Mandong pulled Gao Huizhi down into a chair, poured her a cup of sweetened water, and sat down across from her.
“I have an acquaintance named Feng Qiaohui. She’s also doing rural service in the Northwest. Do you know her?”
Xiao Mandong had been wondering how to find out what was happening in the Northwest. Since Gao Huizhi had just returned from there, she decided to ask her, hoping to learn whether there was any news of Zhu Nanchao and Feng Qiaohui.
“Of course I know her. We were assigned to the same commune. Her husband treats her incredibly well. For her sake, he even transferred his work position in the capital to the Northwest. She’s already left the educated youth settlement and is now a cadre’s wife. Just before I came back, she gave birth to a baby boy. He’s absolutely adorable.”
Gao Huizhi’s face was filled with envy.
“She had a boy?” Xiao Mandong clenched her back teeth. She hadn’t expected Zhu Nanchao to have gone to the Northwest by this point.
Did that mean Xiao Ailin was already pregnant?
If so, she had to make a trip to the capital as soon as possible and find Cousin Ailin. She couldn’t let her remain deceived and follow the same tragic path as in her previous life.
“Yes, a six-and-a-half-pound boy. They named him Zhu Jiabao. You know her husband too?” Gao Huizhi shifted her uncomfortable leg.
“That young man is refined and cultured. I hear he’s even a teacher. He really does treat Feng Qiaohui well. Everyone at the educated youth settlement was a little jealous of them.”
In truth, Gao Huizhi was envious too. At her age, who didn’t long for a warm, loving family? But then she thought of her leg, and a trace of bitterness caught in her throat.
“Yes, we’re very familiar with each other. I happen to have something to discuss with him, so I want to write him a letter. When did Zhu Nanchao go there? Where is he living now? Do you know where he works? Do you have his address?”
Xiao Mandong wanted to take her cousin to the Northwest and catch Zhu Nanchao and that shameless woman in the act, so the two of them would never be able to clear their names.
Whenever she thought of Xiao Ailin lying in the funeral home in her previous life, Xiao Mandong’s heart felt painfully constricted.
Gao Huizhi thought for a moment. “She’s been gone for a little over a month. When she moved out of the educated youth compound, she even treated us to a meal. They live in the cadres’ family housing now. I’ll write down the address for you in a moment.”
Xiao Mandong immediately went inside to fetch paper and a pen.
“Huizhi, if you get in touch with any of your friends from the educated youth compound, don’t tell them that I’m looking for someone…”
Gao Huizhi glanced at her crippled leg and gave a bitter smile.
“How could a place like that possibly have friends? More often than not, the people closest to you are the ones who hurt you the most…”
She took the pen and wrote down Zhu Nanchao’s address on the paper.
Xiao Mandong carefully tucked it away, already calculating when she could leave. This could not wait any longer. If Cousin Ailin did not want the child, she could still terminate the pregnancy sooner rather than later.
That afternoon, Xiao Mandong first took Xiaoli to the hospital’s logistics department to obtain a coal purchase permit. Then she called the Red Flag Brigade again and asked the brigade leader to bring a cartload of firewood when he came the next day.
After that, she went to the dean’s office and took two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes from her pocket.
Dean Cao narrowed his eyes at her. “What is it?”
When Xiao Mandong asked for leave, Dean Cao let out a long sigh. In the end, he agreed and wrote her a letter of introduction.
She had just reached the end of the corridor with the letter in hand when Auntie Gao caught hold of her wrist.
“Doctor Xiao, you’re finally back. I need to tell you something…”
Before she could finish, there came a loud crash. A large flowerpot fell from upstairs, striking Auntie Gao squarely on the head. The earthenware pot then hit the ground and shattered into pieces.
Auntie Gao gave a muffled groan. Xiao Mandong instinctively reached out to catch her, but failed. Auntie Gao’s body went limp and collapsed. Blood seeped through her hair and ran down her forehead.
Xiao Mandong came to her senses. “Auntie Gao! Auntie Gao!” She looked up and saw a shadow move past a second-floor window…
“Help! Somebody, come quickly!”
Hearing Xiao Mandong’s cry, Gao Huizhi was the first to rush out. The moment she saw what had happened, she immediately began shouting too.
“Come quickly! Somebody come!”
Before long, the neighbors heard the commotion and several people ran outside. Seeing Auntie Gao’s face covered in blood, they hurriedly found an old door panel, laid her on it, and carried her to the hospital.
“Could someone please report this to the Public Security Bureau? Auntie Gao was hit by a flowerpot thrown from upstairs. Huimin and Zou Yan, you two keep an eye on the scene and don’t let anyone disturb it. I’ll go to the hospital with them.”
With that, Xiao Mandong hurried after the others toward the hospital.
The emergency-room doctor examined her, using forceps to part her hair and expose the wound. There was a gash in her scalp, still packed with dirt. It was a horrifying sight.
The doctor lifted Auntie Gao’s eyelids and checked her pulse. His expression eased slightly.
“Her skull is fine, but she’ll need to stay in the hospital for observation.”
He asked a nurse to bring a razor and shaved away all the hair around the wound. After repeatedly rinsing it with saline and disinfecting it with gentian violet, he put on sterile gloves and stitched it closed with eight sutures.
Just then, the emergency-room door was pushed open, and Doctor Fu from pediatrics walked in.
“Mom…” Doctor Fu hurried to Auntie Gao’s side. Seeing that she was still unconscious, she turned to Xiao Mandong. “What happened?”
Xiao Mandong briefly explained the situation. “A flowerpot fell from upstairs and hit her. I’ve already reported it to the police. Don’t worry yet—the doctor said there’s no damage to her skull.”
Looking at Auntie Gao, Xiao Mandong felt a complicated ache in her heart.
If Auntie Gao hadn’t pulled her aside, the flowerpot would have struck her on the head instead.
For now, she had no way of knowing whether the person upstairs had done it accidentally or deliberately. They could only wait for the police investigation. In a sense, Auntie Gao had saved her life.
After hearing Xiao Mandong’s explanation, Doctor Fu’s expression darkened. She turned, picked up the emergency department phone, and dialed a number.
“Gao Zhuangxu, get off work early today. Pick up the child on your way home, and stop by the supply cooperative to buy some groceries…”
No one knew what the person on the other end said, but Doctor Fu did not mention that Auntie Gao had been injured.
After giving him a few more instructions, she hurriedly hung up.
The young nurse beside her asked, “Doctor Fu, why didn’t you tell your husband that his mother was hurt?”
Doctor Fu sighed. “He doesn’t earn much to begin with. Besides, it’s nothing too serious. If I tell him now, he’ll definitely take leave and come back. Then he’ll lose his perfect-attendance bonus too…”
