Chapter 7: Take Responsibility

The doctor gave Su Ye an injection, a box of pills and a lecture, in that order.

"Your suppressants have been too strong for too long," he said, snapping his bag shut.

"Your body took revenge. No more of them for a month."

"Rest, water, and a partner you trust."

"I have one," said Su Ye.

He pointed at Lu Chen, who was standing at the foot of the bed in the Chairman's spare dressing gown, looking straight ahead.

The doctor looked at Lu Chen, and then at the sheets, and coughed into his fist.

"Then you are in good hands," he said, and left very fast.

By noon the heat had gone down to a low, pleasant hum.

The Su family sat at the long table with a pot of chicken soup in the middle.

Su Ye wore a robe.

Lu Chen sat across from him, dressed again in his grey suit and rigid in his chair.

Mrs. Su had not stopped smiling since eight o'clock.

Chairman Su put down his spoon.

"I would like an account," he said.

"I'll give it," said Su Ye.

"Ye, you don't have to say it," his mother began.

"I do. Because nobody here is going to be scolded for something I'm proud of."

He folded his hands on the table.

He told them about the pills and the two years.

He told them about the first heat, and how Shu Fen had come home on the fourth day and asked why the flat smelled odd.

Mrs. Su put her hand over her heart.

He told them about the bathroom lock, and the voice through the door.

"And Lu Chen said, 'I'm right here,'" Su Ye said, and his voice wobbled, which he had not planned.

"Nobody has ever said that to me. He opened the door and he stayed."

"And he carried me, which I didn't know I would like."

The Chairman said nothing.

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