He didn’t like her, yet he indulged his children in calling Hu Lili “Mom”?
He didn’t like her, yet he was willing to stay by that woman’s side for a lifetime?
Thinking of the grievances from her previous life, Mu Xiaocao’s eyes welled with heat. She said indifferently, “If we don’t divorce, are you going to let me live like a widow forever?”
A sneer curled the corner of Liu Guoqiang’s mouth.
“Thinking about those things all day long… isn’t it just because you want me to touch you? I’ll satisfy you when I get back tonight.”
If it weren’t for the fact that Lili couldn’t conceive, he would never have touched Mu Xiaocao in this lifetime.
“For now, I’ll give you a little taste.”
As he spoke, his tall frame loomed over Mu Xiaocao, his powerful arms wrapping around her waist as his thin lips pressed down toward her.
Mu Xiaocao felt no anticipation or joy, only a wave of nausea.
Just as the man’s lips were about to touch her face, she shoved him away with all her might and slapped him hard across the face.
“Get lost! Don’t touch me! I find you filthy!”
Liu Guoqiang was stunned. His rugged, handsome face was whipped to the side by the blow.
After a long silence, he turned his head and looked at his “useless” wife in disbelief.
“You stupid woman, you actually hit me again!”
One session last night, another today—did she really think he was a pushover made of clay?
Mu Xiaocao retreated two steps, glaring at him with fury.
“Liu Guoqiang, don’t push me too far!”
A nameless fire surged in Liu Guoqiang’s heart, and his eyes turned bloodshot. He stepped forward again, looking as though he wanted to tear her limb from limb.
However, Mu Xiaocao grabbed a kitchen knife from the counter and swung it toward him without a moment’s hesitation.
Liu Guoqiang’s heart tightened. He dodged to the side and grabbed her wrist with a swift backhand.
“You’re crazy!”
Mu Xiaocao’s gaze turned ruthless.
“Don’t push me! If you force me again, I won’t mind us both going down together!”
The woman’s black eyes were ice-cold, devoid of any affection, and the sight stung Liu Guoqiang’s heart deeply.
He snatched the kitchen knife away and looked at Mu Xiaocao with disapproval.
Back at the unit, his comrades always teased him: “You’re a lucky kid. Even if the whole world abandons you, Mu Xiaocao never will. Because to her, you are the whole world.”
Whether it was the people in the village or those in the military, everyone knew Mu Xiaocao loved him to death.
But now, she actually dared to turn a knife on him!
Irritated anger flickered in the man’s dark eyes.
He was filthy? He had only skipped a shower last night, and she actually had the nerve to call him filthy!
Mu Xiaocao gripped a chopstick in her hand. If this man tried anything else, she really would fight him to the death!
The man watched her for a while, taking in her every movement and expression. Finally, he set the kitchen knife down and left the house.
It was all a habit born of being spoiled.
Once she was separated from him, he wanted to see how a village girl like her would survive!
Seeing him leave, Mu Xiaocao finally let out a long sigh of relief. Without wasting a moment, she went into the room to get paper and a pen and wrote out a divorce application.
She was incensed.
Military marriages were difficult to end. But no matter how hard it was, she was determined to divorce Liu Guoqiang.
Once the application was finished, she went straight to the Commissar’s office.
Commissar Wang glanced at the divorce application and asked in disbelief, “You want a divorce?”
A military divorce didn’t just require a political review; it also required people to conduct specific visits and investigations. The approval process alone could take half a year.
This Comrade Mu had managed to marry Liu Guoqiang with great difficulty, so wasn’t she just looking for trouble by asking for a divorce now? In this era, the gossip surrounding a divorced woman was enough to drown her.
Mu Xiaocao nodded. “I want a divorce.”
“Divorce is a major matter. Why didn’t Guoqiang come himself?”
“He didn’t have time. He went to the hospital to look after Hu Lili.”
Commissar Wang: “…”
Guoqiang was capable, smart, and a high school graduate. But the situation between him and Hu Lili…
Liu Guoqiang had carried Hu Lili away last night, and many military dependents in the housing quarters had seen it.
“Can you really bear to divorce Guoqiang just like that?” Commissar Wang was reluctant to give up. A man needs a good wife to manage the home while he defends the country. Though Mu Xiaocao was a bit tanned and rustic, she handled everything for Liu Guoqiang—the household, the elders, the farming—she was a qualified military wife.
Mu Xiaocao sat with her back straight, showing no stage fright.
“Commissar Wang, it would be a lie to say I can easily let go. I’ve liked him for over a decade.”
“The people in the village used to say that Liu Guoqiang was a good student and handsome, and that a village girl like me was climbing the social ladder by marrying him. I thought so too.”
“After we married, to ensure he had no worries, I worked tirelessly and never dared to utter a single word of complaint. His mother called me a ‘hen that can’t lay eggs,’ and I endured it. His sister called me a ‘dodder flower’ clinging to her brother, and I endured it. During the busy farming seasons when I was overwhelmed, his parents and sister would lie around the house and wouldn’t even cook a meal, and I endured that too.”
“But it’s been three years, and he hasn’t consummated the marriage. He gives half his salary to Hu Lili. By the time it reaches my hands, there isn’t even enough to buy a hoe.”
“Commissar Wang, I am a human being too. I’m only twenty-one this year. Do you really want to watch me waste my best years on a man like him?”
“I know Hu Lili’s life isn’t easy. Her husband died for the country, and she lost the chance to be a mother. But she has state subsidies and a job. Why should Liu Guoqiang get to play the saint by giving her half of his salary?”
Commissar Wang lowered his eyes, cursing Liu Guoqiang a few times in his heart. It was true; Liu Guoqiang had gone too far.
“Comrade Mu, Hu Lili’s life isn’t easy, and Comrade Guoqiang is just kind-hearted and wants to help her out.”
“I don’t object to him helping anyone. If I divorce him, wouldn’t it be more legitimate for him to marry Hu Lili and help her then?”
“And what about you? How will you live after the divorce?”
Commissar Wang felt a great deal of sympathy for Mu Xiaocao. Why didn’t Liu Guoqiang like such a fine woman? Looking closely, her features were actually quite delicate; it was only that her skin was a bit rough from hard labor.
Mu Xiaocao remained composed and dignified.
“Commissar, it’s 1981 now. The spring breeze of reform is blowing through every corner of our country. In this world, anyone can survive without anyone else.”
At this moment, Mu Xiaocao’s eyes held an unprecedented light—a light filled with longing and hope that even Commissar Wang found himself admiring.
He felt that if Liu Guoqiang divorced Mu Xiaocao, he would surely regret it in the future.
“You go back for now. I’ll have a proper talk with Comrade Guoqiang this afternoon.”
After leaving the office, Mu Xiaocao wandered around the Military Compound for a while. This was the North, and it was far more prosperous than her home county.
In her previous life, she had been accepted into a university in Kyoto this year because she wanted to be closer to Liu Guoqiang. But in the end, Liu Guoqiang had forced her to give that spot to his sister, Liu Guoxiang.
At the time, he had said: “What will happen to our parents if you leave? Guoxiang has never done heavy labor since she was a child; do you have the heart to watch her farm for the rest of her life?”
Heh, she “didn’t have the heart,” did she?
In her previous life, even Liu Guoqiang’s farts smelled like roses to her. How could she have possibly gone against his wishes?