Shao put his cutlery down. Sparrow, married. He stared at his father, who continued talking.

“This is your last year of university, Third Son. Once you’re back taking classes again, look around for a young woman. All I ask is that she come from a good family.”

Some families put their daughters through university to prove they were rich enough to waste their money educating girls. Others did it to improve their daughters’ marriage prospects. There were girls in Shao’s social circle who regarded university as a sort of finishing school.

But not Lian. Lian’s pursuit of knowledge was pure and uncomplicated. Sincere. She was going to write her term paper on the legend of the Willow Star despite all that had happened, she’d told him. Her rucksack had been heavier than his because she’d brought all her notebooks. She’d never once complained about their weight.

He cleared his throat. “About Mother,” he said, changing the subject. “Is our doctor doing everything possible?”

“I’m having doubts,” his father said. The waiter brought the chit, and Sanmu signed it. “I’ve been slow to act because Dr. Wu has been our doctor for decades. He’ll lose face if we change doctors but I’m going to ask some of our friends for a recommendation.”

“Mother’s health matters more than Dr. Wu losing face,” Shao said. “We should get in touch with Dr. Mao, who looked after me when we were in Wen-chou. I have his card.”

“I’m not sure,” his father said. “A small-town doctor? A refugee?”

“A doctor,” Shao said. “A doctor who had to flee his home.”

On the sidewalk, they went their separate ways. Shao got in one of the many rickshaws lined up along the street to go back home, still pondering his father’s words.

Sparrow, married.

EVEN THOUGH MEMBERS of the Liu clan from three different cities had come to sit out the war in Shanghai, the Lius weren’t suffering or even inconvenienced much. Other, less favored households squeezed a dozen people into three-room flats, sharing incomes and even garments with relatives who had fled with only the clothes on their backs. But a number of Liu relatives from out of town already owned property in Shanghai and simply moved into those homes. The rest installed themselves with varying degrees of comfort inside the eight-mansion estate, living in guest quarters and spare rooms. Servants grumbled at having to make room for their guests’ servants, but their complaints remained behind closed doors.