Life at the base soon returned to order. Within a week, the divorce between Li Weibing and Lin Feng was pushed through in haste. Yet it was not the divorce itself that shocked people most, but Lin Feng's public announcement that he was giving up custody of his own child. On the spot, Li Weibing changed the baby's name from Lin Xinyu to Li Xinyu. Barely a month later, another piece of news spread through the base like wildfire: Lin Feng had remarried and his bride was none other than the county's magistrate's daughter.
A few evenings later, the base canteen bustled as usual with the clatter of bowls and the hum of voices. For several days now, Li Weiwen had quietly carried hot meals to Li Weibing's home, knowing that Li Weibing, wounded by the divorce, had no wish to face the others. That night, as men and women bent over their food, Liu Yun suddenly rose to her feet. Her voice cut across the canteen, sharp and cold:
"Comrades, there is something I must ask our Commander Guo and Instructor Zhang. How is it that within our revolutionary ranks, a whelp who traffics with foreign powers has been allowed to hide among us?"
The words dropped into the room like a stone into still water. The canteen fell silent; glances darted from one face to another. Some muttered under their breath, others sat frozen in unease. Then a voice rang out from the crowd:
"Doc. Liu, speak plainly. What do you mean by that?"
Just then, Li Weiwen returned to the kitchen. Hearing this, she asked Xu Yumei:
"Sister Yu, what's going on?"
Xu Yumei cast her a helpless glance, her lips pressed together. She didn't know what to say. Her heart pounded uneasily, and she could reach out to hold Li Weiwen close. At that moment, Liu Yun's voice rang out again, hard and firmly:
"I'm here to expose a matter that will shock everyone. Among our revolutionary ranks, a whelp in league with foreign powers has wormed its way in. And that person is Li Weiwen." With that, she thrust a finger at Li Weiwen, her voice as a sharp and cold as a blade slicing through the air. Li Weiwen's face instantly drained of colour, as though all the blood in her body had sunk to her feet. Every gaze turned upon her at once. Liu Yun pressed on, her voice rising with accusation:
"Li Weiwen, let me ask you. Why do you have those green eyes? Is it because you have a father from US imperialist reactionaries? Was it not true that your mother attempted to flee to Hong Kong with you at your four or five years old? Is your mother not still, even now, a labour camp prisoner? Did our leaders know of these things or not? If they did, how could they allow this bastard like you to slip into our revolutionary ranks? Li Weiwen, you must answer these questions!"
Those words pierced Li Weiwen like a knife, making her tremble all over. Her gaze went vacant as she stared fearfully at everyone, and in the end, her helpless eyes seemed unable to see anything at all. She stood there, dazed, murmuring to herself, "No...no... don't...no...don't...." Then, like a frightened rabbit, she spun around and bolted out of the kitchen. Guo Yungang barked:
"Liu Yun, what are you doing?"
His voice edged with both fury and a frantic urge to protect. Then he tore out of the canteen after her. Instructor Zhang rose as well, trying to use his authority to calm the scene:
"Let me explain this to you."
Leaving the canteen, Guo Yungang couldn't find Li Weiwen. Instead he heard the rapid pounding of hooves beating away from the base. He ran quickly to the stable, seized a horse and followed the sound. Not long after, he saw Li Weiwen's mount racing as if it had wings toward an unnamed river. He urged his horse onward, closing the distance but he could never quite catch up, always a few dozen meters behind. When he arrived at the riverbank, he saw Li Weiwen had jumped into the river and floated along the river. He vaulted from the saddle, plunged into the bone-cold water, and hauled her into his arms. She fought him, striking and sobbing, the words tearing from her:
"Let me die! Let me die! Leave me be..... Go away!"
Her voice carried despair. He said nothing, simply scooped her up onto the riverbank without a word of comfort. He held her tightly, letting her cry freely in his arms, allowing all her despair to pour out. Only when her sobs had faded into quiet sniffles did he finally set her down. Then he removed his own wet clothes, wrung them out, and slowly began to dry her hair and face. Only then did he speak:
"Let's go back the base. It is still cold. You could catch a chill like this."
She shook her head, her green eyes vacant, speaking in a daze:
"Leave me alone. You go away!"
"How could I ever leave you like this?" He looked into her tear-filled green eyes with a mix of anguish and tenderness, added, " And don't worry too much. Actually our leaders already know your situation. If they let you come here, it means that you don't have done anything wrong."
Li Weiwen said, her tone resigned to a familiar despair:
"No, it has always been like this. They will never let me go. I know this. My whole life has been like this since childhood. This is my fate." She lifted her head, and even though the tears, her green eyes shone with an almost ethereal beauty. She stared at Guo Yungang and added, "I was wrong. I thought our Great Chairman Mao and our Party had trusted me and accepted a bastard like me when I had been allowed to come here. You don't know how happy I was... how excited. I thought my new life could begin from then on. But now I see it isn't like that. Though the Party and Chairman Mao have taken me in, the vast masses still refuse to accept me. If that's the case, what meaning is there in my life if I live like this? No, no, it's more than that. I shouldn't have been born at all. Why did they even let me come into this world?"
Her voice came in broken fragments. Once again her tears burst forth like a breached dam. Her green eyes, rimmed with tears, shone with a fragile, heart breaking clarity. Listening and gazing at her beautiful green eyes, Guo Yungang tried to comfort her:
"No, no, it's not like this. You have never done anything wrong. Even if our Party and Chairman Mao have accepted you, the broad masses will accept you too. You have never betrayed the Party and Chairman Mao. Even now, you are contributing to the great cause of socialism and communism. That makes you one of the people. The eyes of the people are bright and discerning. You must trust the Party, trust Chairman Mao."
Li Weiwen shook her head and said:
"I'm scared... I'm scared."
Now she was already on the edge of collapse and only half in doubt about what Guo Yungang had said. So she said:
"Go back. I want to be alone for a while."
Hearing this, Guo Yungang said firmly:
"I can't just leave you stay alone like this. If you don't want to go back, I will stay with you. I have told you I would protect you. So no matter what happens, I am here to protect you well. You're not alone. You have me. Don't be afraid, okay?"
Hearing this, she stared at him, stunned ---- part disbelief and part deeply moved. Yes, he had promised her long ago to protect her but she had no idea what would happen in the future. And now she might face not only cold remarks but possibly even personal attacks. How could he possible defend her? After all, he was one of the top leaders here, a rising successor with pure and trustworthy revolutionary lineage. If he fail to protect her, he might be dragged down into the same hell. How could she burden him like that? She couldn't be so selfish. Thinking this through, she finally spoke, her voice trembling yet resolute:
"Don't try to protect me any more. You can't protect me." Her voice was full of the despair, yet there was a resolute edge to it, " Don't drag yourself into my trouble, which would ruin your future. Actually I...I have grown used to this. I thought I could have a good life if I changed my living surroundings which no one knew me and my background. I was far too naive. Now that Liu Yun has revealed my background, my fragile dream has been shattered. I can't accept it. As for...wanting to end my life... it is true. I have to face the fact that I might carry this heavy burden for the rest of my life. I can't change how I look. Everything is crushing me. Though I have Sister Liu'er, she isn't my real sister. Now she has her child and her own marriage is falling apart. I don't want to bring any more trouble to her and let her worry about me. Now I don't have recognized blood relatives. What meaning Is there in continuing to live in this world? Maybe leaving this world is only way to release not just myself, but everyone else too, including you."
Upon hearing this, he looked into her vacant green eyes, calm yet unreadable. His chest felt as if a sharp blade had torn through it. Without hesitation, he pulled her tightly into his arms, his voice choked with both sobs and anger:
"Please! Please don't say that. I won't allow you to say this and even to think this way. You have no right to ask me to let you go. If you have no blood relative in this life, then let me become your family. I promised I would protect you. It wasn't just empty words. You're not along. You have me. Remember, I love you so please don't say this any more. Your words... they hurt me, really hurt."