My Chongxi Husband Is Faking His Coma novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Third Bow, Standing
The private ward on the top floor had been a sickroom for nineteen months and a hiding place for one more.
Now it was neither.
The bed was gone, and the monitor, and the lock on the inner door.
In their place stood a long table with a red cloth and a vase of white peonies.
On the windowsill, a jade plant called Xiao Xie had grown four new leaves.
Lin Zhi stood in the doorway in a dark red jacket that fitted him exactly.
It was exactly a year since the first wedding.
"You look nervous," said his mother, behind him, adjusting his collar for the third time.
"I'm not nervous," said Lin Zhi.
"Your ears are red," said his mother.
"It's warm in here."
"It's nineteen degrees," said a dry voice from the corner.
Madam Xie sat in a high-backed chair by the window, eighty-one years old.
Her cane lay across her knees, and a jade pin held up her hair.
She had a cup of tea at her elbow and the air of a woman who had won a long bet.
"Fourteen years," she said, to nobody. "For my son. They read the sentence on Tuesday."
"Shen Mo has lost his licence, and the cousin gave evidence for a month. I thought you'd want to hear it from me."
Lin Zhi looked at her.
She looked back, with great calm, and then she picked up her tea.
"It's a good day to have it said," she added. "Now it's said."
Pei Wen bustled in from the corridor wearing a red sash across his chest, holding a card with both hands.
He had been asked, three days earlier, if he would read the vows.
He had cried for ten minutes and said yes.
"I have the card," he said, with dignity. "I've practiced. I'll try to keep my voice steady."
"You won't," said Lin Zhi.
"No. But I'll try."
The door at the end of the corridor opened, and Zhaoran walked in.
He wore a black suit and a red tie.
He walked straight and without a cane, as he had walked every morning for eleven months, up and down the long hall of the villa.
He was still thin, but the shoulders had filled out, and the scar through his eyebrow had faded to a pale line.
He looked at the ward, and then at Lin Zhi, and stopped.
"Hello, husband," said Lin Zhi.
"Hello," said Zhaoran.
"You said what you wanted for breakfast this morning."
"I said eggs," said Zhaoran.
"You said eggs on three hundred and sixty-four mornings. Today you said you wanted me."
"It was an improvement," said Zhaoran.
"It was a risky choice."
"I'm a risk taker," said Zhaoran, and his voice was not quite steady.
Pei Wen cleared his throat very loudly.
They took their places on the red carpet, side by side, in front of the long table, facing the window.
The morning light came in over the roofs and the river and fell across the floor between them.
Pei Wen unfolded the card.
His hands were shaking so hard that it rustled.
"Do you take this man," he read, "in sickness and in health?"
"I do," said Zhaoran, at once.
"I do," said Lin Zhi.
"Do you take him for richer, for poorer, for the days he is silent and the days he talks too much?"
"I do."
"I do," said Lin Zhi, "and the talking is the best part."
Somebody made a small wet sound that might have been a laugh.
"Then I'm not authorized to say anything further," said Pei Wen, and blew his nose.
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