“I’ll think about it,” Lian said, “but you know I’m taking the Honors program and the assignments are quite heavy.”

“We’re a traveling campus in the middle of a war, Lian,” Meirong said. “Our instructors will excuse anything. You could do half the work and still pass. And while working for Minghua 123 News.”

Meirong gave her a wide, confident grin before breaking into a run. She caught up to the Minghua 123 News group, which was re-forming again at the front of the line.

“Not much farther to go now.” Lian turned with delight at Shao’s voice, then looked down, hoping the heat in her cheeks wasn’t too obvious. She kept walking, but he didn’t say anything more, just kept pace beside her, seemingly content to walk in silence.

Then he gave her a quick nudge of the elbow. “Look who’s coming our way.”

Coming back from the front of the line, Wang Jenmei approached with the easy stride that made her every move graceful and leisurely.

“Shao, Lian, good morning,” she said in greeting. “Why don’t you attend a Communist Students Club meeting sometime? It doesn’t mean you’re committed. Everyone else in Minghua 123 has come at one time or another.”

Lian shook her head. Some classmates had attended once, just to be polite, and regretted it. Jenmei wouldn’t leave them alone now.

“I promised my father not to get involved in politics,” Shao said.

“You mean, not the socialist kind of politics,” Jenmei said. She seemed amused rather than hurt at this rejection. “If it makes you feel better, you can attend a Nationalist Students Club meeting to balance things out. How about you, Lian?”

“I’m really not interested,” she replied. Kept her eyes on the road ahead. “I also promised not to get involved in politics.”

“Well, dear classmates,” Jenmei said. “At some point, you must decide what you stand for.”

She strolled away and Lian couldn’t help notice how Shao’s eyes followed Jenmei’s lilting, seductive walk. All the students had lost weight from poor food and constant marching, but Jenmei had somehow become both leaner and more shapely.

“Shao, would you ever attend one of those meetings?” Lian said, hoping her voice didn’t betray anxiety.

He paused before answering. “When we were still in Nanking, I would’ve said no, not ever. But that was before all this, everything we’ve seen. So much poverty. This isn’t how it should be in a modern republic.”

“China is a huge country,” Lian said, “with a huge population. It takes time to modernize the entire nation. Once this war is over, once we’re able to rebuild—”

“I agree with the Communists on one issue only,” Shao interrupted. “The war would be over sooner if we put all our efforts into fighting the Japanese. Why are we also fighting the Communists? They’re Chinese, too. We shouldn’t be killing our own people.”