Chapter 3

3: 3

3.

Amy's face darkened.

David lost his patience too. "Sophie, are you done yet? We gave you the man's name. What else do you want?"

Thaddeus Fox drew on his pipe, then tapped the bowl against his hand, signaling David to shut up.

"Sophie, if you've got another condition, say it."

I said flatly, "That spot is something I earned by sitting the exams and working for it. It's my blood and sweat."

David said, annoyed, "You just got lucky. Amy worked a lot harder than you did."

Every time he called her Amy in that fond little way, my skin crawled. But I let it go.

"I'll hand over the spot. But Mr. Fox, you have to call all the sent-down youth together for a meeting and tell everyone the spot was mine to begin with, and that I'm only giving it to Amy because she's the hero's daughter and her father is gravely ill."

"No, absolutely not!"

Amy panicked. Without thinking, she clutched the acceptance letter tight in her hand.

"What are you so scared of? Is your father not actually sick? Or what?"

She waved her hands wildly. "No, no, my father really is very sick. It's in the letter. Mr. Fox and David both read it."

"Then why can't everyone know?"

She fell silent.

Thaddeus Fox asked me, "Call all the sent-down youth to a meeting. Any other conditions?"

"Write it all down, and have every one of them sign it."

Amy panicked harder.

"Mr. Fox, that signed paper can stay right here with you."

"I only want everyone to know that I, Sophie Bradford, gave up my chance to go back to the city, of my own will, for the hero's daughter."

Thaddeus Fox took another pull on his pipe.

"Fine! No problem."

He smiled at Amy. "Sophie's right. Everyone ought to know. Having a hero's descendant stay in our village all this time is a great honor for a poor place like ours."

He pointed at David. "No sense wasting time. Spread the word. We'll hold the meeting tonight."

Amy's brow stayed tightly knit.

David leaned close to her ear and murmured.

"Don't worry. That signed paper will be in my father's hands. The moment it's done, I'll tear it up. It won't come back on you."

Only then did Amy break into a smile she hadn't worn in a while.

Back at the lodgings, Amy hummed a tune as she packed her things.

Going back to the city was every sent-down youth's dream. And she was going back to attend college on top of it.

It would change her whole fate.

She tucked the letter and the acceptance letter down at the very bottom of her bundle, like treasures.

"Sophie, I don't know how to thank you. Without you, I honestly wouldn't know what to do."

She took my hand with fake tenderness, her eyes flicking again and again toward my bundle.

I knew what she was doing. She was searching for anything I might have that could prove she wasn't the hero's daughter.

I opened my bundle. She snatched up the yellowed letters at once.

She went through them carefully.

Once she'd confirmed with her own eyes that not a single one carried the same postmark and address as the letter in her hand.

She let out a breath.

"Sophie, these letters all come from the remote Northwest. Do you have relatives out there?"

I nodded.

Reassured, she set the letters down and lifted the curtain to leave.

"Sophie, at the meeting tonight, I'll thank you properly."

I only smiled at her and said nothing.

She thought that once she got through tonight, once I'd agreed to her terms, she'd be free to go off to college on the strength of being the hero's daughter, just as she'd wanted.

But she had no idea what tonight would set in motion.

It was going to leave her future in ruins.