Chapter 56: Sunday

Shen Yan's daughter was born at ten past five on Sunday morning, with the window going pale behind the curtain.

Xiao Chen saw her arrive from a wheelchair beside the bed, with his son asleep on his shoulder.

He had been told twice to stay in his own room, and had said no both times.

The labour was short and savage.

Shen Yan swore at the ceiling in a voice that carried down the corridor.

He gripped Xiao Chen's wrist the whole way through.

Then it was over, and there was a thin, indignant wail, and the doctor lifted a small furious red person into the light.

"A girl," she said. "She's got opinions."

She laid her on Shen Yan's chest.

Shen Yan looked down for a long time without speaking.

The baby had a scowl already.

It was a deep, straight, unmistakable scowl.

"She's got your face," Shen Yan whispered.

"She does not."

"It's the one you make at a bad contract."

Xiao Chen laughed so hard that his son woke and complained.

Mr. Shen came in at six, in yesterday's suit.

He stood at the foot of the bed with his stick and said nothing for a while.

"A grandson and a granddaughter, in a single night," he said at last.

He cleared his throat.

"Your mother would have been unbearable."

He put one hand on the girl's head, very lightly.

Then he took a cream envelope with red wax out of his breast pocket.

"Xiao Chen packed this. I thought it was time."

Shen Yan took it in the hand that was not holding the baby.

He broke the seal and unfolded one sheet of thin paper.

His eyes moved over the first line, and his mouth shook, and he read aloud.

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