He was tall and straight, with legs so long they made one drool. His facial features were sharply defined, lean yet undeniably masculine, with a particularly prominent high-bridged nose.
But this handsome face was etched with exhaustion and disgust.
This was her cheap husband, Lu Changfeng.
As soon as Lu Changfeng entered, he saw the three children sitting at the dining table, seemingly having just finished their meal. They weren’t crying and wailing as they usually did every time he came home.
His eyes were filled with disbelief. Had this woman changed her ways?
His gaze finally settled on Su Wanqing.
She didn’t rush over as usual to demand money or things, nor did she throw a tantrum or roll on the floor. She just looked at him calmly.
Her eyes were unfamiliar.
Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, Lu Changfeng took out a folded piece of paper from the bag he carried.
Without a word, he walked over and placed the paper on the table.
“Take a look. If there are no issues, sign it. We’re getting a divorce.”
Su Wanqing’s eyes fell on the paper.
Written on it were several large characters: Divorce Agreement.
Staring at these words, Su Wanqing’s mind went blank. She searched through her memories for the original owner’s financial situation—what could she do if they divorced?
Before Su Wanqing could find the memories, Lu Changfeng spoke.
“I’ve already divided the assets. Over the years, I’ve given the family one hundred yuan every month, and you’ve spent every last cent, so you have no money to claim.” Lu Changfeng’s voice was devoid of warmth. “This house belongs to the children. I’ll send eighty yuan every month for living expenses until they come of age.”
Eighty yuan was more than enough to raise three children. She was not within his consideration.
Su Wanqing quickly did the math in her head.
In this era, when pork cost seventy cents per jin and rice thirteen cents per jin, eighty yuan, if spent normally, would allow the children to live quite comfortably.
If it weren’t for the original owner’s constant troublemaking, things wouldn’t have come to this.
As for herself? She’d probably have to live on air.
The original owner couldn’t return to her parents’ home, and she had no job. In the 1980s, an unemployed divorced woman had almost no means of survival.
“I don’t agree,” Su Wanqing said.
Lu Changfeng’s brows furrowed. He had prepared himself for her crying, cursing, or even lying on the floor refusing to get up.
Su Wanqing said, “We haven’t cheated, and there’s no issue of infertility. Why should we divorce?”
Lu Changfeng looked at her, the disgust in his eyes deepening.
“Su Wanqing, haven’t you caused enough trouble? What has this family become under your influence? You’ve raised the children like refugees, and they’re your own flesh and blood.” His voice wasn’t loud, but every word carried weight.
Su Wanqing didn’t respond.
She knew what kind of person the original owner was. Anything she said now would sound like an excuse.
She just looked at him and asked seriously, “If I leave, who will take care of the children?”
Lu Changfeng was momentarily speechless.
He spent most of his time at the Research Institute, returning home only a few times a year. His parents lived far away in Jingcheng.
Although his family background was good, his parents had been upset by Su Wanqing’s antics too many times and didn’t like these three children either.
It was impossible for him to take the three children with him.
“I’ll hire a nanny,” he replied stiffly.
“A nanny?” Su Wanqing’s lips twitched. “Aren’t you afraid the nanny might abuse the children?”
Even their own mother abused them, let alone a nanny?
Lu Changfeng’s face tightened further.
In his twenty-three years of life, no one had ever confronted him like this, especially not Su Wanqing, whom he despised the most.
“That’s none of your business.”
“If I don’t care, who will? I’m their birth mother!” Su Wanqing took a step forward, her heavy frame causing the floor to tremble slightly. “Lu Changfeng, you’re a researcher who values facts. The reality is, you have no time to take care of the children, and I have nowhere to go. Divorce would be bad for the kids.”
She glanced at the three little heads sitting motionless at the dining table.
Lu Changfeng’s gaze followed hers.
The children had suffered enough over the years, and he wasn’t sure what to do at the moment.
“So what do you want?” His tone softened a little.
“Give me three months.” Su Wanqing held up three thick fingers. “If I haven’t changed in three months, and it’s still bad for the children, if you still want a divorce, I’ll sign without a word and leave immediately.”
She knew that with someone as rational as Lu Changfeng, neither throwing a tantrum nor playing the victim would work. The only way was to offer him an irresistible, logically sound solution.
Lu Changfeng fell silent, looking at the woman before him.
She was still the same obese, bloated figure, but her eyes and the clarity of her speech had completely changed.
No wailing, no unreasonable pestering—only calm negotiation.
“Fine,” he squeezed out the words through gritted teeth. “Three months. If the children are still like this, I’ll divorce you.”
With that, he picked up the Divorce Agreement from the table, turned, and walked out, slamming the door shut behind him.
The storm had temporarily subsided.
Su Wanqing let out a sigh of relief, feeling her back damp with sweat.
She turned around and saw the three children still sitting at the dining table.
Lu An’an’s gaze remained wary, but the two younger ones, Lu Pingping and Lu Tiantian, looked at her with something different in their eyes.
It seemed like dependence. Su Wanqing’s heart softened.
Drawing on the original host’s memories, she walked into the kitchen and fished out a few white steamed buns wrapped in oiled paper from under a worn-out basket.
These were the original host’s secret stash, saved for herself to eat after the children fell asleep at night.
She hadn’t remembered them earlier; otherwise, she wouldn’t have had to feed them those strange potato pancakes.
The three children swallowed hard, their eyes fixed intently on her.
She handed the steamed buns to them.
“Have a little more.”
The three children stared at the white steamed buns before them, their eyes wide.
Lu An’an didn’t move.
Lu Tiantian licked her lips and asked softly, “Mom, aren’t you going to eat?”
Su Wanqing patted the spare tire around her waist. The original host had devoured a bowl of braised pork last night, packing in a ton of calories. She could afford to eat less today.
“Mom’s not hungry.” And indeed, she wasn’t.
This time, Lu An’an didn’t hesitate. He grabbed one and handed it to his sister, while Lu Pingping took one for himself.
Outside, the loud voice of their neighbor Zhang Cuifen rang out.
“Wanqing, are you home? I just saw your Engineer Lu come back. Oh my, you must be having white steamed buns today, right?”
Before the words faded, Zhang Cuifen poked her head in.
She immediately spotted the white steamed buns in the children’s hands and glanced at Su Wanqing, who was empty-handed, her face filled with surprise.
“Well, isn’t this something? The sun must be rising from the west. You’re actually willing to give the steamed buns to the kids?”
Su Wanqing ignored her and began tidying up the house. She couldn’t stand the smell in the room any longer.
Zhang Cuifen had a decent relationship with the original host—she was the only one in the Family Compound who didn’t bully Su Wanqing.
Zhang Cuifen pursed her lips, leaning in to whisper, “Now that your Engineer Lu is back, is he going to bring up that matter with you?”
Su Wanqing looked up at her. “What matter?”
“What else could it be? Divorce!” Zhang Cuifen lowered her voice. “It’s all over the compound—they say Engineer Lu is coming back this time to divorce you. You better be careful and keep a close eye on him. These days, without a man, how are you going to survive with three kids?”
Su Wanqing had already swept the garbage from the corner, and it made her scalp tingle. The original owner was too lazy—the house was like a dump.
She looked at Zhang Cuifen and said seriously, “He already mentioned it to me just now. I told him I would change, and he agreed to give me three months.”
Zhang Cuifen felt that Su Wanqing had finally come to her senses. “That’s good. You really need to get your life together now.”
“Mm.” Su Wanqing nodded in agreement.
After Zhang Cuifen left, Su Wanqing soon finished sweeping the floor. The garbage had nearly piled up into a mountain, so she found a few tattered rice sacks and filled three whole bags with it.
Although the floor was swept, the house was still filthy. It would take at least a day to clean it thoroughly.
She first lit the coal stove, used an aluminum pot to boil water for the children, and prepared to bathe the three kids. But there was no soap in the house, leaving Su Wanqing feeling a bit desperate.
She said, “We’ll have to make do with regular soap for today. I’ll go buy some soap later.”
Lu An’an’s eyes widened in disbelief—he couldn’t believe his mother was actually bathing them herself.
He had been bathing on his own since he was three, and after his younger siblings were born, he had mostly taken care of them. Their mother only ever focused on eating, drinking, and sleeping in.
Lu Pingping and Lu Tiantian were overjoyed, laughing throughout their bath—it was the first time their mother had treated them so gently.
Fortunately, each of them still had one set of clean clothes left, though they were worn and shabby beyond recognition.
Su Wanqing sighed inwardly—she had never seen such a heartless mother.
After bathing the children, she washed herself as well, finally freeing herself from that greasy, unkempt appearance.
Relying on her memory, she searched the house for money. In the 1980s, a monthly allowance of one hundred yuan could provide a very comfortable life.
Luckily, she had crossed over at the beginning of the month. Given the original owner’s habits, there would surely be not a single coin left by the end of the month.
Just then, Lu Changfeng, who had gone out to eat, returned. Seeing Su Wanqing rummaging through the house, he frowned tightly. “Su Wanqing, what are you up to now?”