Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Lin is rising in status at the hospital, as one of only four medical school graduates, ranked a captain, and earning a good salary. With no wife in evidence, many of the young women are interested and then disappointed to find he has a wife living in the country.

Lin and Manna now work together and continue to maintain the friendship they developed while she was in nursing school. Lin is considered a scholar and Manna trusts and respects him.

Manna is very impressed when she drops by to visit Lin and finds he has a bookcase full of unfamiliar titles. The hospital library carries only political and medical texts, since the Red Guards burned the novels and plays. Manna is surprised Lin's books were not confiscated, and learns that several officers secretly borrow from his collection, which she also begins...