Chapter 4: Five Years Later

Qiang Da stood at the hospital nursery window, gazing down with awe at a baby in a pink blanket. “She’s beautiful. Just like her mother,” he said as Tie Bu Fan walked up.

“How’s Qiang Wei?” asked Bu Fan. “Tired,” replied Qiang Da. “How’s Si De? I saw her briefly before Qiang Wei kicked me out to ‘go look at the baby.’”

“Tired,” said Bu Fan.

They both looked back into the nursery at the baby girl, wrapped in a pink blanket under the name tag reading “Tie Qiji De”.

A voice said “What do you expect after having a baby?” Qiang Wei walked up to them, her steps a little slower in her seventh month of pregnancy. “Si De is sleeping, I think the birth took a lot out of her after everything.”

After months of failing treatments, Si De needed a bone marrow transplant to cure her illness. Like something in a drama, it turned out that Bu Fan could donate to Si De. “Bu Fan and Si De got their one in a millionth chance, too” Qiang Da laughed when he heard. Once Si De’s health was determined to be good, Bu Fan wasn’t waiting any longer and married her as soon as he could. He took a leaf out of Qiang Da’s book and moved all his things into Si De’s room one afternoon when she went for a checkup. “I’m sick of separate rooms!” he exclaimed when she blushingly protested. “We were going to end up this way, anyway” he grumbled.

After all her treatments, doctors weren’t sure that Si De could become – or stay – pregnant. Bu Fan kept telling her it didn’t matter, what mattered was that SHE, Si De, was healthy. After two years, when Si De accepted that she may never have a child, they found she was pregnant.

“That’s why we called her ‘Miraculous’”, explained Bu Fan. “Where’s your first born?”

“We left Mo Chou with his ‘Auntie Qian’,” Qiang Wei said, rubbing her lower back. Qiang Da reached over and rubbed it for her, knowing that Qiang Wei was sore and tired out from being with an active three year old most of the day. Qiang Da and Qiang Wei had wanted to name their son after both their fathers, but it turned out that they couldn’t find a combination that sounded right. So they chose ‘Mo Chou’, which meant “free from sadness”. After everything that they went through, it was appropriate.

“I think Fate has gifted you with a daughter so you can suffer for all of your playboy ways,” Qiang Da teased his friend. “If any boy even thinks of laying his hand on my Qiji De, he’s dead. Even your kid!” declared Bu Fan. However, his laughing eyes betrayed his stern voice.

Bu Fan’s phone chimed, a text from Ah Fei. “He’s on his way, his wife asked him to stop by the store and pick up a gift. Ah Fei has no clue what to get a baby, he’ll probably show up with a bike or something stupid.”

Ah Fei’s wife was a quiet, gentle girl, unlike what he thought was “his style”. They met when Ah Fei visited Bu Fan at the rural school while he was vacationing as a temporary Gym teacher. After pursuing her for over a year, Ah Fei managed to persuade her to move to Taipei and make an honest man out of him. She found a job working at Old Yan’s cram school teaching Science after Old Gao left – being the only teacher for a bit overwhelmed him, he left teaching to grow apples in the country.

Later that evening, Qiang Wei and Qiang Da retrieved their rambunctious son from his Auntie and settled him in for the night. “Are you happy?” Qiang Da asked Qiang Wei, echoing the question on their wedding day.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Yes,” Qiang Da replied. He thought of the gift for his wife he had in their room, another necklace, with “tan(x)” for their children. He was happy.

The end…