“Then what should I do?”
Hu Lili gave a bitter smile.
“The clothes I changed out of have been sitting in the basin for two days. If they aren’t washed soon, they’ll start to stink. If it weren’t for my constant headache, I would have washed them the moment I took them off.”
Liu Guoqiang helped her sit on the sofa, then went into the bathroom and brought out the basin.
“I’ll take them back and have Mu Xiaocao wash them.”
She was used to doing these chores anyway.
Hu Lili watched with great surprise as Liu Guoqiang carried the laundry basin toward the house next door.
Mu Xiaocao was on the verge of a divorce, yet Liu Guoqiang was actually siding with her.
This feeling of being cared for and pampered by someone else really gave her a sense of accomplishment, greatly satisfying her vanity.
What did it matter if she was a widow who had lost her fertility?
There was still someone willing to give his all and be utterly devoted to her.
However, Mu Xiaocao’s personality had changed drastically; she would likely start a fight with Liu Guoqiang.
She and Mu Xiaocao were enemies to begin with; there was no way Mu Xiaocao would wash her clothes for her.
While she enjoyed Liu Guoqiang’s protection and care, she hadn’t yet decided whether she actually wanted to marry him. If things blew up too much, it wouldn’t be good for her either.
“Mu Xiaocao, these are the clothes Lili changed out of. Help her wash them. Since you injured her, you should take responsibility for your actions.”
Before Mu Xiaocao could speak, Hu Lili came chasing after him.
“Brother Liu, don’t make things difficult for Sister. I’ll take care of my own things.”
Liu Guoqiang turned back, looking at Hu Lili tenderly.
“Go back and rest. She’s in good health; doing a little work within her means is nothing.”
“But she’s making a fuss about divorcing you. If she starts another scene over a small matter, I’m afraid it will have a bad impact on you.”
Moved, Liu Guoqiang looked at the kind and magnanimous Hu Lili.
“Don’t worry. As long as one stands upright, one needn’t fear a crooked shadow. No matter how unreasonably she acts, she won’t affect me.”
But Hu Lili didn’t think so.
This was a critical period. If Mu Xiaocao kept making trouble, it wouldn’t just be bad for Liu Guoqiang’s reputation—it might even affect his future prospects.
“Go back and rest. I’ll handle everything.”
After seeing Hu Lili off, Liu Guoqiang placed the laundry basin in front of Mu Xiaocao.
“The midday sun is just right. Hurry up and wash this basin of clothes, dry them, and send them over to Lili so she has something to change into.”
Mu Xiaocao, munching on an apple, sneered, “Feeling that much heartache for Hu Lili, are we? Why bother washing them then? Why don’t you just go buy her two new outfits to wear instead?”
Liu Guoqiang really disliked this sharp-tongued version of Mu Xiaocao.
“Just go wash them and hang them out.”
Mu Xiaocao threw the apple core right at Liu Guoqiang’s head.
“I’m telling you, Liu Guoqiang, do you even have a brain in that head of yours? After everything that’s happened, you actually expect me to wash Hu Lili’s clothes? The fact that I haven’t killed you pair of scoundrels is already my limit. Let’s just get the divorce done quickly. I have real business to attend to back home.”
Liu Guoqiang glanced at the apple core on the floor and laughed out of sheer anger.
“Mu Xiaocao, you’ve really gained some nerve. You want to divorce me over such a trivial, non-existent issue? Can you stop being so relentless just because you think you have a point?”
He didn’t believe for a second that Mu Xiaocao would actually divorce him.
That year, when Mu Xiaocao had been catching fish in the river with a group of children, the water had suddenly surged. It was he who had saved Mu Xiaocao and several other village children.
From that day on, Mu Xiaocao had been unable to forget him.
On the eve of his enlistment, the two of them had become engaged.
Because Mu Xiaocao said she liked him, she not only washed his clothes and brought him food, but later, when his leg was injured by a tractor, she had cared for him at his bedside for three whole months—even missing the college entrance exam that year.
How much she liked him was clear not just to him, but to everyone in the village and his fellow soldiers.
Her constant talk of divorce was nothing more than a ploy to get his attention.
Even if every woman in the country clamored for divorce, she would never divorce him.
Mu Xiaocao kicked the laundry basin over.
“If you want to be a lapdog, go be one, but don’t provoke me!”
“You… you are simply being unreasonable. Lili doesn’t even blame you, yet you’re the one obsessing over this.”
“So what if I am? Liu Guoqiang, ask yourself honestly what your intentions are toward Hu Lili. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
Liu Guoqiang froze for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” Mu Xiaocao sneered. “Do I really have to spell it out?”
Meeting Liu Guoqiang’s cold gaze, Mu Xiaocao didn’t back down an inch.
“We go get the divorce tomorrow. Whoever doesn’t show up is a coward!”
She didn’t want to stay in this place for a single day longer.
“Are you serious?” Liu Guoqiang’s brow furrowed tightly.
For some reason, a strange sense of irritation rose in his heart.
But he didn’t want to keep indulging her. A woman whose husband comes home to find she hasn’t helped with the cooking or cleaning, but instead keeps the word ‘divorce’ on her lips all day long—who did she think she was scaring?
She had already dared to get violent; who knew what she would do next?
“Fine. You said it. We’ll go.”
Oh? He’s actually quite straightforward this time.
Mu Xiaocao smiled inwardly. Good, she would wait one more day.
If it were the Mu Xiaocao of her previous life, she would have been heartbroken. But after enduring a lifetime of torment, even the deepest love had been ground into nothing.
Her grievances and her refusal to let go had caused her to waste her entire life tethered to Liu Guoqiang.
But things were different now.
She was alive again. She was only twenty-one years old. She could completely leave Liu Guoqiang behind and live a different life.
“Fine. I’ll say it again: whoever doesn’t go is a coward and a loser.”
“What coward? What loser? Brother Liu, are you two fighting?”
The houses in the Family Compound were not soundproof. Hu Lili, afraid the neighbors would hear, hurried over.
When she saw the clothes scattered all over the floor, she glared fiercely at Mu Xiaocao before leaning down to gather the laundry back into the basin.
Liu Guoqiang’s liver ached with rage. He snatched the laundry basin from Hu Lili’s hands and marched over to Hu Ping’s house.
Since Lili’s hand was injured, he would have Hu Ping wash these clothes.
Hu Ping looked at the basin of clothes with great reluctance.
But Liu Guoqiang was a Company Commander, and she couldn’t find the words to refuse him, so she could only take it.
“Battalion Commander Liu, I’m in the middle of cooking. Is it okay if I wash them in a bit?”
Liu Guoqiang’s face was full of polite, courteous smiles. “That’s fine, Auntie. Sorry to trouble you.”
As he spoke, he handed Hu Ping a yuan. How could he let someone work without paying them?
Hu Ping took the money, her face breaking into a wide grin. “Battalion Commander Liu, since you like Lili so much, when are you going to marry her? Don’t make her wait too long.”
Liu Guoqiang’s expression cooled. “Auntie, I only see Lili as an old classmate. I help her because I feel it isn’t easy for her being alone. I have a wife; don’t go spreading rumors.”
Mu Xiaocao watched from a distance, feeling only a sense of profound irony.
As expected, only one’s own wife was a free servant, someone to be told what to do as if it were only natural.
When she thought about it, there were so many things women were expected to do for free.
To bear children for free, raise children for free, cook for free, wash clothes for free, serve the old and young of the family for free… and even satisfying a man’s needs in that area was expected to be free.