The brigade captain of Chenjia Village shouted for Gloria Whitfield to come answer the phone. "Hurry up! That boy Victor Whitfield is calling!"

Gloria was in the back yard, tidying up the vegetable patch. The second she heard him, she put down the little hoe in her hand, washed up quick, and strode after him without wasting a breath.

At the captain’s house, she waited about five minutes before the phone finally rang.

Gloria sat down by the table, reached for the receiver neat and brisk. "Hello, is that Victor Whitfield?"

"Mom, it’s me. Helena Whitfield is pregnant. You need to come over as soon as you can."

"When’s the baby due?"

"Probably June."

"Alright."

With a sharp click, mother and son hung up at the exact same moment, smooth as if they’d planned it.

Back in Chenjia Village, Gloria went straight home and harvested every last vegetable in her plot. She gave most of it away to the neighbors and the brigade captain, kept one share for herself, and after lunch, tied a basket of greens to the back of her bicycle and took it to her daughter’s place.

When Serena Whitfield saw her mother coming, she ran over with her long braid swinging behind her and happily took the basket.

The mother and daughter sat cross-legged on the kang, eating the roasted snacks Serena brought out.

"Mom, why’d you bring over so many vegetables?"

"Your sister-in-law’s pregnant. I’m leaving tomorrow. If anything comes up on your end, we’ll keep in touch."

Serena slapped her thigh, grinning from ear to ear. "My brother’s finally going to be a dad, and he’s already thirty." She and her brother were twins, a boy and a girl. Her own daughter was already eight, while her brother had only just gotten married. For a long time, she’d honestly thought he might stay single all his life.

He’d been in the army more than ten years, only came home once every few years, and stayed unmarried the whole time. Then last year he called to say he was getting married. Who would’ve thought a baby would come this fast?

Serena practically wanted to pack her mother off to the military district that very second. "Mom, don’t worry about things here. If something happens, I can talk it over with Auntie too. You just stay there with my brother and sister-in-law and help with the baby."

As she spoke, Serena climbed down from the kang. A little while later, she came back holding fifty yuan wrapped in red paper. "This is a gift for the little one. Mom, give it to my sister-in-law for me when you get there."

"Alright." Gloria took the red packet and tucked it into her pocket. Brothers and sisters looking out for each other like that was exactly what parents liked to see.

The two of them went on talking, saying the sort of close, honest words only family could say. "If your marriage can go on, then go on. If it can’t, bring Vivienne Thornton home with you. I raised you for over twenty years. I can raise the two of you for the rest of my life too."

When Serena Whitfield gave birth to her daughter, the labor had been rough. To this day, she still hadn’t had a second child, and her in-laws had never been happy about it.

Gloria Whitfield was worried that once she left, Serena’s husband’s family might start getting bold, so before going, she made sure to warn her daughter a few things.

Serena let out a cold little laugh. “Don’t worry. They can’t do a thing to me. If one day I get fed up, then we’ll talk.”

Seeing her daughter had a clear mind and her own plans, Gloria felt a bit more at ease. Not long after that, she got on her bicycle and left.

She didn’t head straight home. Instead, she stopped by the supply co-op, bought peanut candy and canned goods, then went to Old Aunt Chen’s house, which was also the home of her closest friend.

Beatrice Harmon looked at Gloria in surprise. “Sister-in-law, what brings you here at this hour?”

Beatrice, her elder brother, and Gloria were all from Chenjia Village. The three of them had grown up together. Later, Gloria and her brother had thrown themselves into the revolution. Beatrice had wanted to go too, but the two of them had refused. They both said the Chen family had to leave someone behind to keep the bloodline going. They were not saints, not some great selfless heroes. They had joined the revolution because life had cornered them. When the fighting had already come right up to your doorstep, how could you still act like a coward? All they wanted was that if they won, their families might one day live in a world without war.

The two old friends went inside hand in hand, and Gloria told her about Helena Whitfield’s pregnancy.

Beatrice lit up at once, happy like an older version of Serena. “That’s wonderful news! The Chen family’s getting another new member.”

“My brother would be so happy he’d laugh his coffin lid clean off, hahahaha!”

Gloria laughed too. “Now that’s a scary picture.”

Right away, Beatrice pulled out two hundred yuan and tried to hand it over, but Gloria refused. “I’m not being polite with you. It’s just that this train trip is long, and who knows how messy things are on the way. I’ll take what I can this time. Once I’m settled over there, I’ll definitely need to trouble you to mail things later.”

“Alright then. But you take care of yourself over there too. If you need anything, just tell me.”

By the time Gloria got back home, the sky was already dimming. Taking advantage of the fact that the chickens and ducks had all gone back into their pens, she gave the knife a few sharp scrapes against the bottom of a bowl, then with one stroke after another, she slaughtered all twelve chickens and eight ducks. After that, she boiled water and started cleaning them.

All the salted duck eggs she had pickled before the New Year were boiled through. Every last chicken egg in the house got used up and packed to take away too. Some were mixed with flour and made into egg pancakes, and the rest were cooked into poached eggs.

She packed one bundle of clothes, and one huge sack with wood ear mushrooms, dried mushrooms, dried chilies, shredded dried radish, and all kinds of preserved sauces. To make them easier to carry, she dumped the sauces together into the big wok and fried them all once in oil before storing everything in a large tub. Even the oil in the house was used up.

Good thing it was still February and the weather was cold. Otherwise, she really would have worried about the food going bad.

Gloria split everything evenly into two big burlap sacks and packed them down tight, then tested the load on a shoulder pole.

By the time she finished it all, it was already deep into the night. Early the next morning, she called on Old Mr. Zhang from the village, the one who drove the ox cart, and asked him to help take her to the railway station in the city. There, she boarded the only train headed for Kyoto, the whole way clattering along with a ka-thunk, ka-thunk.

Meanwhile, over in Kyoto, the newly married couple had no idea Gloria could move this fast. Victor Whitfield and Helena Whitfield had been introduced by leaders from both sides. They met once, submitted their marriage application right after, got the certificate within a week, and then spent their wedding night together. The very next day, Victor left on assignment. The two of them hadn’t even had a proper wedding ceremony.

Four months later, when Victor Whitfield finally came back from his assignment and stepped into his place, he saw Helena Whitfield’s cup sitting on the coffee table. Only then did it hit him that, right, he was a married man.

He took a shower, cleaned himself up, and went straight to the hospital to look for her. The moment he saw Helena walking toward him with her belly showing, he froze on the spot. Then he watched his wife give him a casual glance, the kind you’d give a stranger, and walk right past him.

"?"

Victor gently caught her by the arm. "Helena?"

Helena had just come out of the operating room. Her mind was still full of the patient’s post-op plan.

"?"

He looked familiar. A patient from the hospital? One hand on her belly, Helena lowered her eyes to the hand gripping her arm. What was this supposed to mean?

Victor was dumbfounded too. "?"

The two of them just stood there staring at each other for a moment. Then Helena noticed the tiny red mole on his earlobe, and her head cleared with a jolt. "I was thinking about work just now. Your assignment’s over?"

Victor quietly let out a breath of relief. Good. She remembered. "You’re pregnant. Have you been feeling bad?"

Helena shook her head. "I’m doing alright."

"I’m sorry. I’ve been away from home for so long."

Helena shook her head again. Back when they got married, the two of them had made it clear: each would go after their own future, and neither would hold the other back.

Victor had no real sense of how big a pregnant woman’s belly ought to be, but twins ran in his family. He and Serena Whitfield were twins, and there had been two sets of twins further up the family line too.

He thought about it. A pregnancy lasted ten months, and she was only a little over four months along, but her belly already didn’t look small. "Did they check? Is it twins?"

Helena nodded. Looking at the man in front of her, she suddenly felt oddly amused. He was fully grown now, over six feet tall, trained all year round, yet his skin was still fair. He had thin single eyelids, but his whole face looked lively and sharp. And with that twin blood in him too... she really ought to thank her excellent leader.

Victor sucked in a breath. Back when his father was alive, when he found out his own wife was carrying twins, had he felt like this too? Just like that, he was about to become the father of two babies?

How was he supposed to deal with the fact that he felt a little proud?

Victor immediately went to the phone and called his mother, Gloria Whitfield, to come over. There was no way he could leave Helena, pregnant as she was, living on her own. Only if his mother came to help take care of things would he be able to feel at ease.