Chapter 9 — Farewell Nam Thanh

I turned around and handed the phone to the base staff.

“Lin Ninh!”

He rushed forward and was stopped by Chu Nhien. The staff reminded me.

“Comrade Lam, the bus is about to leave.”

I said yes. Before getting in the car, I looked at Tham Viet Trinh one last time.

“No need to ask now.”

After the closed training started, I rarely remembered Tham Viet Trinh. The deep sea project was more difficult than I imagined. The pressure test in the training compartment, each time longer than the last. At first, I vomited so often that I couldn't stand up. The coach asked me if I wanted to withdraw. I leaned against the wall and rested for a long time, shaking my head.

“No withdrawal.”

I've given up too many times. Because of Tham Viet Trinh, I gave up foreign exchange, postponed transfer to Nam Thanh, and refused a better project team. This time, I don't want to give my life away anymore. In a closed base there is not much personal contact. Occasionally when resting, Chu Nhien will pass some outside news to me through the unit. Lam Nhuoc Giao's father arranged for a relative to work against regulations and was investigated by the hospital. After Lam Nhuoc Giao's pregnancy examination documents were revealed, the third person relationship between her and Tham Viet Trinh could no longer be hidden. Tham Viet Trinh was suspended from surgery and received an internal criticism notice from the hospital. Later he wrote many letters to me. When the first letter arrived at the base, I entered the deep diving simulator. Mail is placed in personal lockers. After going out, I just looked at the envelope. The handwriting is still familiar. Lam Ninh personally opened it. I don't peel. The second and third letters were also left there. Once a month the base cleans up unclaimed mail. The manager asked me if I wanted to keep it. I looked at that thick stack of envelopes, remembering the messages I had sent over the past four years. Most of those messages sank to the bottom of the sea. It's your turn to wait, I don't need to withhold a response for you. I said no need. Then those letters were returned to Nam Thanh. It wasn't until half a year later that Chu Nhien came near the base to participate in the exchange, talking to me through the visit window.

“Tham Viet Trinh and Lam Nhuoc Giao made a big fuss, it was very unsightly.”

“After the baby was born, he did a paternity test.”

I raised my eyes. Chu Nhien paused for a moment.

“The baby has nothing to do with him.”

I was silent for a while. Retribution in this life sometimes comes very late. But even if it comes, it cannot return the past to me. I heard that Tham Viet Trinh sat in the hospital hallway until morning. The nurse came over to advise him to go home, he only asked one question.

“That year she was in the emergency department, was she also waiting for me like that?”

No one answered him. Because of that answer, he missed it a long time ago. Chu Nhien asked me.

“Do you want to know what happened next?”

I shook my head.

“I don't want it anymore.”

She looked at me, smiling a little.

“Your condition is very good now.”

I bowed my head and looked at my hands. On the palm of his hand are thin calluses left by training. A long time ago, these hands used to knit scarves for Tham Viet Trinh, wrote many letters to him, and spent countless late nights clutching the phone waiting for him to answer. Now they have to grab the control lever and take me deeper to the bottom of the sea. Three years later, my first time Perform ship duties. When the submersible lowered to the intended depth, outside the window was a quiet deep blue area. In the communication channel, the commander called my name.

“Lin Ninh, how is your condition?”

I looked at the points of light slowly floating in the deep sea, calmly answered.

“Normal state.”

The day the mission succeeded, my name appeared briefly on the news. In the break room of Nam Thanh Hospital No. 1, someone turned up the TV volume.