After lulling Yaya to sleep, Shen Zhiqiu noticed the family portrait on the bedside table. She picked up the frame, her fingers lightly tracing Yue Mingyuan’s face.
When she was busy, she didn’t dwell on it, but the moment she had a spare second, his face would float into her mind, making her recall everything about him.
It had been over a week since he returned to his unit, and he still hadn’t called home. He must have been swamped with work.
She wondered if he missed Yaya… or her.
Ring—
The phone suddenly rang. A flash of intuition struck her, and she hurried to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Zhiqiu, it’s me. Mingyuan.”
Hearing his voice after so long, Shen Zhiqiu instinctively tightened her grip on the receiver, her throat tightening. “I… I know.”
Yue Mingyuan’s soft chuckle came through the line, making her cheeks flush. “What are you laughing at?” she asked, feigning annoyance.
“Just happy to hear your voice.”
The corners of her lips lifted uncontrollably. “Are you doing alright?” she asked softly.
“I’m fine. And you?”
“I’m good. Yaya’s doing well too.”
She told him about formally recognizing Dong Hesong as her god-grandfather. “I asked Grandpa to prepare some medicine for stopping bleeding and treating bruises. I’ll bring them when I visit you with Yaya.”
“Good. Just let me know when you’re coming.”
“Mm.”
For a moment, only their quiet breaths filled the silence.
“Mingyuan.”
“Zhiqiu.”
They spoke at the same time, paused, then laughed in unison.
“You go first.”
“You go first.”
Again, their words overlapped, and they burst into laughter.
“What did you want to say?” Shen Zhiqiu asked, amusement coloring her voice.
“Just… be careful in everything you do,” Yue Mingyuan said gently. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too.” She wanted to tell him she missed him, but the words stuck in her throat.
He had someone he liked—it wasn’t her place to say such things.
Glancing at Yaya, she bit her lower lip and whispered, “Mingyuan, Yaya misses you.”
And what about you?
The question hovered on the tip of his tongue, but Yue Mingyuan didn’t dare voice it. Some words, once spoken, might change everything between them.
He looked down at the family photo in his palm—he’d asked his sister to make an extra copy, which he now kept close to his heart. His fingers brushed over Shen Zhiqiu’s face in the picture as he replied softly, “I miss Yaya too.”
After hanging up, both Shen Zhiqiu and Yue Mingyuan found their hearts racing, unable to calm down for a long time. Thoughts of each other filled them with quiet sweetness.
The next day, armed with the information Yue Mingyuan had provided, Yue Mingli led a team to track down Xu Lai, who now went by the name Sun Zhihou.
He lived in the same alley as Wang Fengqin’s maiden family and often drank with her eldest brother, Wang Yuelong.
“Sun Zhihou, you’re coming with us,” Yue Mingli said, slinging an arm around the man’s neck.
Sun Zhihou struggled violently. “Who are you? You can’t just drag me away! This is a new society—you can’t act like this!”
“Xu Lai, don’t pretend you don’t know what you’ve done!”
At Yue Mingli’s sharp rebuke, Sun Zhihou’s face paled with panic. He ducked his head, stammering, “You’ve got the wrong guy! I’m not Xu Lai—my name’s Sun Zhihou! I don’t know any Xu Lai! You’re arresting the wrong person!”
“You’re exactly who we’re after!”
They took him to an empty room, where he sat trembling like a leaf.
Yue Mingli slammed his palm on the table and pointed at Xu Lai. “Xu Lai, confess, and you’ll be treated leniently. Resist, and the consequences will be severe!”
“Comrade, you really have the wrong man! I can go home and get my household register to prove it—I’m Sun Zhihou, not Xu Lai!”
“Stop lying to yourself. We’ve already arrested the man who forged your fake identity, and he’s confessed.”
Yue Mingli waved a file folder. “This is his testimony.”
“Xu Lai, we don’t wrong the innocent, but we won’t let the guilty escape either!”
“If you confess now, you can still get leniency. If you don’t, we have enough evidence to convict you—but then it’ll be much worse for you. Think carefully!”
“I… I have nothing to confess.”
Xu Lai shook his head frantically, his voice desperate. “After their rehabilitation, I was already punished! Why are you still coming after me?”
“Why did you change your name to Sun Zhihou? What were you hiding from?” Yue Mingli stood and slowly circled him.
Xu Lai’s fear was unmistakable. “I was afraid they’d come back for revenge! I didn’t mean any harm—I was just following orders!”
“After attending the Worker-Peasant-Soldier University, you were assigned to the Chinese Medicine Hospital but were later fired for prescribing the wrong medication. Yet you continued writing prescriptions for people. Is that true?”
“No, no!” Xu Lai waved his hands wildly. “I knew my skills were lacking—I wouldn’t dare keep practicing!”
“Then did you write this prescription?”
Yue Mingli handed him the prescriptions Xu Lai had written for Ye Yunshuang. Xu Lai squinted at them, then nodded. “Yes, these are mine.”
“But Comrade, look at the dates—those were from when I was still at the hospital.” He pointed at the written dates.
Yue Mingli then showed him the later prescriptions. “These were after you left.”
“Comrade, let me explain—I told the patient’s family I couldn’t prescribe anymore, but they insisted I was effective and begged me to keep treating her. I couldn’t refuse their sincerity.”
Frowning, Yue Mingli found no obvious issue so far.
After a moment’s thought, he stepped out and brought Shen Zhiqiu in.
Dressed in plain clothes like Yue Mingli, Xu Lai assumed she was also an officer.
“Why did you prescribe Taohong Siwu Tang to a woman who had just given birth?”
Shen Zhiqiu’s gaze was sharp as a blade, making Xu Lai shrink back. “Comrade, I would never do such a thing! Prescribing Taohong Siwu Tang to a postpartum woman is outright harmful!”
“My skills might be lacking, but I know better than that!”
“That patient wasn’t postpartum—she had irregular menstruation. That’s why I prescribed it.”
Yue Mingli realized the discrepancy. “Did you personally examine the patient?”
“Yes.”
“What was her name?”
“She said her name was Ye Yunshuang.”
“And it was always her?”
“Yes.”
Shen Zhiqiu thought for a moment, then pulled out the photo Yue Minghui had taken of Wang Fengqin. “Do you recognize this woman?”
Xu Lai nodded. “Yes, she’s Dalong’s younger sister. Sometimes she’d discreetly ask me about gynecological issues.”
“In fact, she was the one who first brought that ‘Ye Yunshuang’ to me.”
