Liu Lian’s Pregnancy

Liu Lian’s Pregnancy is revealed at the threshold of Liu Lian’s house, just before Wu Dawang leaves the division. Her visibly swelling stomach turns their last meeting from an uncertain farewell into confirmation of a lasting consequence of their affair, even as army-wide restructuring and the Division Commander’s impending return make any reunion impossible.

Background and Circumstances

Wu Dawang’s path to marriage had begun with a written pledge to Zhao Ezi. He promised to earn commendations within a year, join the Party within two, and become an official within three, so that he could move Zhao Ezi to a city home where she could eat steamed rolls every day. If he failed, he swore not to return to Wujiagou unless she allowed it, and to serve her for life without complaint. The marriage followed almost immediately, but his career did not advance as promised: he missed commendations and Party membership, and letters from Zhao Ezi and her father increased his anxiety.

A vacant sergeant’s position in the Catering Squad offered a route forward. Wu Dawang secured a transfer there and rose to full sergeant, joined the Party, and received commendations, but he did not become an official. His appointment to the Division Commander’s household brought him closer to that remaining ambition and into an affair with Liu Lian. The pregnancy thus emerges against the earlier bargain that had organized his hopes around career, marriage, and a move to the city; it marks a consequence of a relationship that did not fit that plan.

The Reveal at the Door

When Wu Dawang returned to the division, the Political Instructor explained that Liu Lian had arranged extended home leave for him because of serious family problems. He also reported that the Division Commander had volunteered the division for a streamlining pilot that would lead to its disbandment. Promotions had been cancelled, though an exception would be made to arrange city work for Wu Dawang and his family. At the same time, staff turnover and the Commander’s unpredictable temper meant Wu Dawang was not to return to his former post or visit the household unless urgently necessary.

As Wu Dawang prepared to depart, the Political Instructor accompanied him to Liu Lian’s house. Liu Lian appeared in a red knitted nightgown, visibly tired, and with her stomach distinctly protruding. Wu Dawang stared at the change, bewildered, before managing to tell her that he was leaving. She already knew his train was due at 12:30. His attempt to see her once more, and the paper bag he held out, brought them together at the threshold but did not undo the departure already set in motion.

Confirmation and Separation

Liu Lian first asked whether the Political Instructor had sent Wu Dawang to request her help with the Division Commander. Wu Dawang nodded. She said she could not help: the authorities had approved the Commander’s final report, and the troops remaining in barracks were to be sent home. She also asked Wu Dawang to tell the Political Instructor and the Captain that she would try to help them after they left the army.

Wu Dawang did not move when Liu Lian urged him to go before the Commander returned. Her next gesture made the pregnancy explicit: she took his hand and ran it over her swelling stomach, then again pressed him to leave. The intimate confirmation is brief and nonverbal, set against her practical urgency. Liu Lian walks the men to the gate, and Wu Dawang departs without resolving what the pregnancy will mean for either of them.

Consequences and Significance

Three days later, the division’s final demobilization was officially announced. Those who knew about the affair and those who did not were scattered, and the secret disappeared with them. The pregnancy remains a concrete sign of the affair after the lovers’ separation, but the narrative gives no later account here of its outcome. It ends the encounter not with a promise of reunion, but with Liu Lian’s confirmed condition, Wu Dawang’s departure, and the institutional dissolution that disperses the people around them.