Mu Xiaocao shot a cold glare at Hu Lili.
“You’re not dirty?
If you’re not dirty, why are you so comfortable enjoying my man’s care and spending his money?
If you’re not dirty, why would you use a self-harming ruse to make my man loathe and abandon me?
If you’re not dirty, why would you use your shameful tactics to seduce another woman’s man until he’s infatuated and loses his head?
If you’re not dirty, why do you come and go from my house as if it were your own kitchen, staying alone in a room with a man?
Even within a family, men and women must maintain a certain distance. Do the two of you have any?
Hmph. Liu Guoqiang has plenty of old classmates. Why don’t I see him looking after any of the others?”
Hu Lili was momentarily choked for words, but she continued to maintain her magnanimous facade. “Mu Xiaocao, I know you’re only making a scene about a divorce because you hit me and you’re afraid Guoqiang will blame you.
Don’t worry, I’ve already persuaded Guoqiang. He won’t blame you. From now on, live your lives well together and stop throwing these childish tantrums.”
Mu Xiaocao said sarcastically, “You certainly have a thick skin, clinging to another woman’s man while trying to dictate his family affairs. Even Er Laizi from our village would have to admit defeat in the face of your boldness.
This marriage—I am definitely getting a divorce. And you, you are the third party and fox spirit who’s destroying a military marriage!”
With that, Mu Xiaocao picked up her stool and went back inside.
Hu Lili’s face turned various shades of blue and white.
Is this wench possessed? How is she so different from before?
“Lili, don’t pay her any mind. The more you acknowledge her, the more she thinks she’s something special.
This hick must have seen how well Battalion Commander Liu treats you and how he’s neglected her, so she’s bringing up divorce just to try and keep him.
Listen to your auntie. As long as Battalion Commander Liu is willing to be good to you, that shows your worth.
With that ugly face of hers, it’s her good fortune that Battalion Commander Liu was willing to marry her in the first place. She’d never actually have the heart to divorce him.”
Hu Lili frowned.
Mu Xiaocao probably just had no money to spend, which was why she was forcing Liu Guoqiang’s hand with divorce.
She thought that when Liu Guoqiang returned, she would have him give Mu Xiaocao a few more yuan.
At worst, she could just wait until next month to buy that wool coat she had her eye on last month.
She had provoked Mu Xiaocao precisely because she wanted Liu Guoqiang to feel guilty and give her more money.
Who would have thought Mu Xiaocao would turn out to be a lunatic? She had almost disfigured her. Truly, ugly people are always causing trouble.
Regardless, she couldn’t let Mu Xiaocao and Liu Guoqiang divorce. Moreover, she had to use the excuse of Mu Xiaocao injuring her to demand more money from Liu Guoqiang.
Two days later, Mu Xiaocao finished packing her belongings.
Since she was getting a divorce, she had to stay far away from Liu Guoqiang.
If that man went crazy, her small frame would be no match for him in a fight.
To call it luggage was an overstatement; it was just a change of undergarments and a set of heavily patched padded cotton clothes.
She hid the only ten or so yuan she had in a secret pocket sewn inside her long johns.
Looking at her pitifully few possessions, Mu Xiaocao wanted to slap herself.
Five yuan was quite a lot in the countryside.
Yet, for Liu Guoqiang’s sake, she had bought meat to make meat sauce to send to the army base.
Whatever little money remained, she had used to buy new clothes and meat for Liu Guoqiang’s family.
And what about herself?
She had pinched pennies every day, hiding in the kitchen to gnaw on sorghum buns.
Liu Guoqiang’s family members were all glowing with health and dressed in fine clothes.
Meanwhile, her own clothes were covered in layer upon layer of patches.
Tsk tsk. Such a spirit of selfless devotion was truly the height of stupidity.
It was already the eighties. To put it bluntly, as long as one had a sharp mind, they could become a billionaire just by selling socks or hair accessories.
In her past life, due to her stupidity, she had been trapped and worn down in that small mountain village for her entire life.
In this life, she was determined to live with her own style.
While she was lost in thought, there was a knock at the bedroom door.
She walked over and pulled the door open a crack. Standing outside was a travel-worn Liu Guoqiang.
Even so, the man’s military uniform was crisp and his posture was straight, though his expression was somewhat cold.
“Mu Xiaocao, we need to talk.”
The man’s tone was just as cold as his expression.
“Is something the matter?”
Mu Xiaocao’s expression was equally cold.
She glanced behind Liu Guoqiang.
“Where’s your tail? Did you cut it off?”
Liu Guoqiang’s gaze turned icy.
“Stop talking nonsense. Come to the living room.”
Was he here to talk about the divorce?
Mu Xiaocao sat down in front of Liu Guoqiang in an excellent mood.
The small tea table between them served as a clear dividing line, like the border between two warring states.
With a dark face, Liu Guoqiang pushed ten ten-yuan bills toward Mu Xiaocao.
“Isn’t it just because you think the money I give you is too little?
Take this hundred and use it for now. Starting next month, I’ll give you fifty every month. Don’t go bringing up divorce every time something involves money.”
The Deputy Regimental Commander of the regiment had been injured during a mission, and the superiors had decided to select someone from among them to fill the vacancy.
At this critical juncture, he couldn’t afford any scandals.
Promotions in the military were very difficult.
There were plenty of people with abilities even more formidable than his.
Mu Xiaocao looked at the stack of money and said with some confusion, “Liu Guoqiang, you couldn’t possibly think that I brought up divorce because of money, could you?”
Liu Guoqiang looked down at her with a condescending gaze.
“Is it not?”
She had even taken her complaints to the Political Commissar, and she still claimed it wasn’t for money?
Mu Xiaocao sneered and picked up the money to count it.
“When we got married, you didn’t give my family a single cent as a bride price. This money can count as the bride price you owe.
On the other hand, my family gave me a thirty-yuan dowry and made the wardrobe, the chest, and the bedding. Even the washbasins, thermoses, clothes racks, and everything else in our wedding room were provided by my family.”
Even though everything was provided, she had spent her wedding night—and the three years that followed—entirely alone.
As soon as these words were spoken, they felt like a resounding slap to Liu Guoqiang’s face.
His family was poor; it could be said they lived within four bare walls.
When he married Mu Xiaocao, he had just been appointed as a company commander. He had given most of his money to Hu Lili, so he hadn’t prepared a bride price for Mu Xiaocao.
He had assumed his family would prepare it, but they hadn’t prepared anything either.
Mu Xiaocao must have been mocked for a long time, but how much honor did that leave him with?
“You’re the one who chose to marry me. How much of a bride price could someone like you even be worth?”
“I’m not worth it? But Hu Lili is? Then why didn’t you marry her?”
Mu Xiaocao shot back.
She even felt a sense of injustice on behalf of that fallen martyr.
As soon as Liu Guoqiang arrived here, he had rekindled his old flame with Hu Lili.
Even if the two of them hadn’t taken that final step, what kind of woman would accept money and care from another man?
Her own man was out there risking his life to serve the country.
Yet she was at home, failing to maintain her virtue, acting all cozy with another man and calling it “revolutionary friendship”—what a load of rubbish.
It was said that where a man’s heart is, his money follows.
She considered this to be an absolute truth.
No matter how much Liu Guoqiang earned a month, the one who always got the most was Hu Lili. Even Liu’s own parents didn’t get that much. Wasn’t that ironic?
“Mu Xiaocao, how much longer are you going to keep acting up!
You wanted money, so I’ve given you money. You wanted to consummate our marriage, and I’ve agreed to that too. It’s you who is being relentless over such a trivial matter.”