“Jingran, I’m sick. I have late-stage breast cancer.”
“Tang Rubao, do you really think it’s meaningful to curse yourself like this just to avoid divorcing me?”
“Mr. Zhou? Your wife passed away this afternoon despite all rescue efforts…”
“How much did Tang Rubao pay you to put on this act with her?”
“She knew it was Xinxin’s wedding today, yet she still called to curse herself to death. She’s truly vicious. If she loves dying so much, then let her die! Send her to the crematorium and burn her to ashes!”
…
“You deliberately burned Xiuxiu. You should apologize to her right now!”
“I won’t!”
“What I hate most is a woman like you, someone who makes a mistake and refuses to admit it!”
I did nothing wrong!
Tang Rubao died of breast cancer, but she was rebirth in the second year after she and Zhou Jingran arrived at the Xifu military camp, early 1981.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a younger Zhou Jingran holding a younger Tu Xiuxiu’s hand. His eyes were filled with anger as he stared at her coldly.
“You’re still trying to deny it!”
That day, Tu Xiuxiu brought a pot of freshly boiled chicken soup to their home. She handed it to Tang Rubao, but just as Tang Rubao reached out to take it, Tu Xiuxiu suddenly pushed the pot to the right.
The boiling soup spilled onto Tu Xiuxiu’s own hand, scalding it badly.
This entire scene was witnessed by Zhou Jingran, who had just returned from training.
He rushed forward and shoved Tang Rubao away. She lost her balance and struck her forehead against the corner of the table.
In her previous life, this was how everything began, how he condemned her.
He even forced her to apologize to Tu Xiuxiu.
She knew she was innocent, but she had been too timid and cowardly to argue back. Under his sharp, cold gaze, she lowered her head and apologized softly.
That apology didn’t win his affection. Instead, she cooked for Tu Xiuxiu and her daughter for a month and even washed their clothes.
In her previous life, she spent decades trying to warm his heart, but it was all in vain.
Before she died, she was filled with resentment toward Zhou Jingran.
So now, upon hearing him demand an apology again, her first reaction was to shout: “I did nothing wrong!”
Those words carried everything she had endured.
Seeing her stubborn refusal, Zhou Jingran’s expression grew colder and angrier.
“I told you to apologize to Xiuxiu. Did you hear me?!”
“Ah Ran, let it go…” Tu Xiuxiu leaned into his arms, her eyes red. “Even if she apologizes, it won’t ease my pain…”
Her hand really hurt.
Zhou Jingran glanced down at her injured hand, her fair skin blistered and peeling. His face turned even colder as he looked at Tang Rubao.
“Apologize. Now!”
Tang Rubao met his gaze calmly.
In the past, she would have panicked under his stare. But not anymore.
She would not repeat the mistakes of her previous life.
And she would never love him so humbly again.
Supporting herself on the table, she stood up and wiped the blood from her swollen forehead.
“Do I really have to apologize?”
Zhou Jingran replied sternly, “Admitting your mistake is the most basic courtesy.”
“What if I said I didn’t burn her?”
“I saw it with my own eyes!”
Even now, when Xiuxiu’s hand was clearly scalded, she still refused to admit it.
Zhou Jingran felt disgusted by her denial.
“Fine,” Tang Rubao said. “I’ll apologize.”
She bent down and picked up the still-steaming pot.
There was still some soup left inside.
In one swift motion, she flipped the pot and poured the remaining boiling soup directly onto Tu Xiuxiu’s hand.
Even Zhou Jingran, who reacted quickly, couldn’t stop her. His own hand was splashed and burned as well.
“Tang Rubao, are you insane?!”
His face darkened, his eyes sharp enough to tear her apart.
“Ah—!” The second burn made Tu Xiuxiu cry out in pain, her face turning pale as tears streamed down.
Clang—
Tang Rubao dropped the pot and looked at her calmly.
“This time, I burned you. Yes, I did it. I’m sorry.”
Then she turned to Zhou Jingran.
“Your Xiuxiu is hurt. Why don’t you take her to the hospital instead of demanding apologies here?”
“Watch your words!” What did she mean by your Xiuxiu? He and Xiuxiu were innocent!
Tu Xiuxiu clung to him, tears in her eyes. “Ah Ran… my hand hurts so much…”
Zhou Jingran shot Tang Rubao a cold glare, then lifted Tu Xiuxiu and hurried away.
Tang Rubao watched them leave and gave a faint nod.
When she was thirteen, her mother passed away, and she moved to the Nanning military camp.
At that time, Zhou Jingran was just one of her father’s soldiers.
At the age when love first blossoms, she fell for him at first sight, handsome, tall, and imposing.
Later, after her father died in the line of duty, Zhou Jingran, by then a deputy battalion commander, came to find her.
He told her he had already submitted a marriage application.
She married him, just as she had always wished, and became his wife.
But he never touched her.
Only later did she learn the truth, he married her because of her father’s dying request.
He had never loved her.
Back then, she naïvely believed it didn’t matter.
As long as she loved him, it was enough.
After all, when a woman pursues a man, she can eventually warm his heart…
Later, Zhou Jingran was transferred, and she followed him from the Nanning military camp to the Xifu military camp.
It was only after arriving at Xifu that she realized Zhou Jingran had always harbored feelings for his beloved, Tu Xiuxiu.
Tu Xiuxiu was a talented singer and dancer, a key member of the performing arts troupe. She was married and had a daughter.
Unfortunately, her husband had died in service to the country two years earlier.
After reuniting with Tu Xiuxiu and learning about her situation, Zhou Jingran took great care of both her and her daughter.
Tang Rubao loved Zhou Jingran, but her love was so humble that no matter how well he treated Tu Xiuxiu, she never dared to say a word of objection.
Even though she felt jealous of the closeness between Zhou Jingran and Tu Xiuxiu, she forced herself to maintain a good relationship with Xiuxiu.
She was the kind of person who internalized everything, sensitive, self-repressing, and in the end, she developed breast cancer.
The reason she developed breast cancer in her previous life was because she loved Zhou Jingran too deeply and cared too much about what he and those around him thought of her.
For decades, unable to win his love, she lived a suppressed and aggrieved life. She harbored resentment toward him and could never find peace, which eventually led to multiple nodules forming in her body.
Now that she had been given a second chance at life, she was no longer timid, submissive, or consumed by inner turmoil.
Once a person places themselves too low, all kinds of people will try to take advantage of them.
She didn’t want Zhou Jingran anymore.
Zhou Jingran returned in the evening.
As soon as he entered the house, he saw Tang Rubao coming out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of noodles.
On top of the noodles was a perfectly cooked poached egg, crispy on the outside, tender inside, along with several slices of fatty and lean cured pork.
The aroma of the noodles eased much of his anger.
With a dark expression on his handsome face, he walked over and sat at the dining table.
As usual, he waited for Tang Rubao to serve him.
But after he sat down, Tang Rubao didn’t bring the noodles to him.
Instead, she sat down across from him and started eating.
From beginning to end, she didn’t even glance at him.
Zhou Jingran frowned, displeased. Was she actually throwing a tantrum at him?
He stood up and went into the kitchen to get food himself.
To his surprise, when he entered, he saw that the pot had already been thoroughly cleaned.
He returned, his tone clearly unhappy.
“Where’s my dinner?”
Tang Rubao looked up at him calmly. “I didn’t make any.”
Zhou Jingran took a deep breath. “You cooked for yourself but not for me?”
“Is there a problem?”
Zhou Jingran pointed toward the door, his voice filled with anger.
“Go outside and ask, what kind of wife cooks only for herself and not for her husband?”
A cold, mocking smile appeared in Tang Rubao’s dark eyes.
“Then go outside and ask, what kind of husband only takes care of another man’s wife and not his own?”