The moment He Ningzheng left the bedroom, he went straight to his father’s study. Father and son shut the door and talked all morning. By noon, both the He and Duan families knew that He Ningzheng intended to divorce Duan Mingyi.

Both families were greatly shocked. Old Master Duan and Mrs. Duan received a call from their daughter, and in order to mediate and secure their daughter’s interests, immediately abandoned their two sons still in the hospital and flew to Chongqing that very night.

With the Duan family strongly opposed, the matter dragged on in a stalemate for nearly half a month. But with Shanghai continuing to press for accountability over the gold bars, and He Ningzheng’s attitude remaining just as firm, Duan Mingyi finally gave up the fight late one night, half a month later. She signed her name to the agreement drawn up by He Ningzheng’s lawyer, and taking the check He Ningzheng had signed over to her along with a dozen or so pieces of luggage, she left the He residence together with Old Master Duan and Mrs. Duan by rickshaw.

The next day, the Duan family formally declared bankruptcy. Combined with news of the divorce, the story caused quite a stir once it got out — both families were prominent and well-known, and inevitably became fodder for gossip. But given the extraordinary times, bigger news broke every day, and within a few days the talk had faded from public attention.

During this half-month, Hongdou split her time between caring for He Yunqin and visiting her mother and brother. Since no one knew how long this war would last, Mrs. Yu and the others had no plans to settle permanently in Chongqing. Mrs. Yu put up the money to have He Yunqin ask a friend to rent them a residence — not too far from the He mansion, for the convenience of looking after both households.

Everything about the place was fine, except that the house had been unoccupied for a long time and was somewhat run-down; when they first arrived, dust had settled thick in every corner.

Fortunately, the several old servants the Yu family had brought to Chongqing were all quite capable. Under Mrs. Yu’s direction, within a few days they had the whole house, inside and out, spruced up until it looked brand new, and had all the luggage they’d brought properly sorted and settled into place.

Uncle’s family had come to Chongqing on the same flight. Having no acquaintances of their own in the area, and having already troubled He Yunqin several times before, they felt embarrassed to ask for his help finding a place again while he was recovering from his injuries. Unable to find lodgings right away, they had no choice but to squeeze in temporarily with Mrs. Yu and her brother.

Mrs. Pan’s neck wound had not yet healed and she was supposed to be resting quietly, but once things had settled down, with the sound of gunfire now far away, her old habit of petty, worldly nagging flared up the moment she had time on her hands — she couldn’t help finding fault with something from morning till night, making herself unwelcome for no good reason.

Though Mrs. Yu didn’t hold it against her, the two of them inevitably bickered every day. Pan Maosheng, caught between fearing his wife and being wary of his sister, was left awkwardly stuck in the middle. It fell to Yu Chongyi and Yuyuan to spend their days pulling the two apart, and the new household was consequently lively and full of commotion every single day.

After these days of quiet recuperation, He Yunqin’s leg wound had improved noticeably. Compared to when Duan Mingyi would finally be willing to move out of the He mansion, he clearly had far more important matters on his mind. Every day upon waking, the first thing he did was have Steward Yu bring the newspapers to his room, then go through them together with Hongdou over meals.

He was concerned about the progress of a certain matter within the organization. For safety’s sake, whether it succeeded or not didn’t require a comrade to call specially — the newspapers would tell the story.

Yet day after day passed, and he and Hongdou still hadn’t received the news they were waiting for.

That morning, several clusters of frost-touched autumn chrysanthemums in the front courtyard swayed unceasingly in the wind; the weather had turned noticeably colder still. The servants brought the newspapers to the room early, then went on their own initiative to light the fire in the Western-style hearth in the corner of the room.

Hongdou was still washing up. He Yunqin, leaning on his cane, paced slowly about the outer room. The moment he took up the newspaper, he stood rooted to the spot, reading.

Hongdou came out from the inner room and immediately saw He Yunqin standing before the sofa, one arm braced on his cane, the other holding a newspaper, his expression shifting unpredictably as he stared at it.

Something stirred in Hongdou’s heart; she hurried over. Hearing his wife’s footsteps, He Yunqin looked up at her, tossed aside the cane, and pulled her down to sit beside him.

Just then the servant closed the door and left. Hongdou kicked off her slippers, tucked her legs up onto the sofa, and leaned against He Yunqin’s shoulder to look at the paper — and understood at once. Every single newspaper was flooded with the news that the traitor Wu Ruhai had been assassinated in Shanghai.

It read: Mr. Wu had recently taken up with a certain mistress and had lately taken to lodging frequently at her residence. Early this morning, just as Mr. Wu emerged from the said mistress’s residence, he was ambushed. Though he narrowly escaped under the escort of his armed guards, he took a bullet to the back and lost consciousness on the spot.

At the end of the article, the writer offered his own conclusion regarding Wu Ruhai’s condition, stating that even should this villain wake up in the future, he would most likely be left permanently unable to walk.

Such thoroughly satisfying news made Hongdou’s heart pound as she read. Counting the previous two attempts, this made the third attempt on Wu Ruhai’s life — the earlier ones he had escaped by sheer luck, but this time, it had finally succeeded.

Unable to contain her excitement, she asked He Yunqin, “The mistress the paper mentions — is that Chen Baidie?”

He Yunqin was clearly not much calmer than she was. He was silent for a few seconds before nodding. “The earlier assassination attempts failed. This time we shifted our approach and focused specifically on the Western-style house Chen Baidie had been openly putting up for sale in the papers. The house had already stood empty since before the fighting began. On the surface, Wu Ruhai kept Chen Baidie elsewhere, but in fact, to avoid drawing attention, every time he came to Shanghai to meet her in secret, he chose that residence. We waited a whole month before we finally caught Wu Ruhai’s movements.”

Hongdou tipped her head back and let out a breath of pure joy — this alone had eliminated two great sources of worry.

Ever since learning that Chen Baidie was involved with Wu Ruhai, though her father-in-law had shown no outward action and He Yunqin had remained remarkably composed, the matter had remained, in the end, a lingering threat. Now that something had happened to Wu Ruhai during a rendezvous with Chen Baidie, given how suspicious the man was by nature, even if he did wake up someday by sheer luck, he would surely never let Chen Baidie stay by his side again.

She patted her chest, about to speak, when a servant knocked outside the door. “Young Master, Young Mistress — the foreign doctor who’s been examining Young Mistress has arrived.”

He Yunqin said, “Show her in at once.”

Since coming to Chongqing, the He family, through Dean Cheng’s introduction, had engaged a middle-aged doctor from the local Red Cross to regularly examine Hongdou. The doctor’s name was Anna; she had practiced medicine with the International Red Cross for many years and had extensive clinical experience in gynecology.

Since becoming pregnant, Hongdou had been eating and sleeping well. Anna had come to examine her once before and had found something puzzling about the size of her uterus and abdominal measurements — this visit was a follow-up.

Hongdou’s own cycle had never been regular to begin with, and Anna’s questions left her thoroughly confused — even the wife herself wasn’t certain, so He Yunqin was even more at a loss.

He Yunqin braced himself up on his cane and stood, and seeing that Hongdou hadn’t yet risen, pulled her up. “This time we should be able to pin down the timing more or less exactly.”

Hongdou took his arm and walked with him toward the inner room. “When we left Shanghai, Dean Cheng said it wasn’t even sixty days yet. Going by that, it should be at most seventy or eighty days by now — but Doctor Anna says that date doesn’t add up either—”

He Yunqin glanced back at her. “Who told you to eat so much.”

Before Hongdou could retort, a servant came in. “Young Master, several professors from the university have arrived.”

He Yunqin was startled for a moment, then said hurriedly, “Show the gentlemen to the study — I’ll be right there.” He looked at Hongdou. “I’ll go on ahead, then. I’ll be back shortly.”

He also asked the servant, “Is Mother not home?”

“She went out early this morning.”

He Yunqin said, “Have Fourth Miss come keep her sister-in-law company.”

“Yes, sir.” The servant went off to fetch her.

Before long, He Zhuyun came out of her room, wearing a white wool dress, her curled hair swept up into a high ponytail. She smiled as she walked. “What did you need me for, Second Brother?” She had always loved spending time with her second brother and sister-in-law, though lately she’d taken to shutting herself in her room to make phone calls, coming out each time with a face full of spring sunshine.

He Yunqin looked at her. “The doctor’s here to examine your sister-in-law. I still have matters to attend to — come keep her company.”

Hongdou knew He Yunqin had specially invited several local scholars to discuss engineering matters, and said to him, “Go on, then, tend to your business.”

Only then did He Yunqin amble slowly away.

The discussion, before anyone realized it, went on for a full hour.

With Hongdou’s examination on his mind, he headed straight back to their room the moment he left the study.

Just as he rounded the corridor, he saw that the door to his and Hongdou’s room stood open, with servants going in and out, every face wreathed in smiles. His mother’s voice, raised in pleased delight, drifted faintly out from the room.

Since he disliked being helped along by servants, he made his way slowly on his cane. He was only halfway there when Fourth Sister, supporting Hongdou, emerged from the room. Catching sight of He Yunqin, her eyes lit up at once. “Second Brother, you’re finally here — I have good news to tell you.”

He was startled. “What is it?”

Hongdou watched the tall man limping toward them, the corners of her mouth curling upward.

Lately, whenever he had a spare moment, he’d been poring over books researching names for their child, drafting one after another, never quite satisfied. Now, as it turned out, he’d need to come up with two names at once.

Author’s Note: The International Red Cross was founded in 1863, just so you know.