1975, the chill of early spring lingered.
Shen Zhiwei came back to herself amid a deafening round of applause, her eyes landing on the old-fashioned auditorium adorned with red banners.
Colorful lights flickered, illuminating the face on the stage she hated with every fiber of her being.
Her husband, Chen Weidong, newly promoted to deputy battalion commander.
He wore a perfectly tailored suit, standing beside him was Li Man from the performing arts troupe, her hair in fashionable big waves, wearing patent leather heels a completely different image from the woman below.
“My military honors belong half to me, and half to my wife.”
The audience’s eyes turned to Shen Zhiwei, filled with admiration and envy.
“Wife?”
A cold laugh rose in Shen Zhiwei’s heart, icy hatred making it hard to breathe. That one word had deceived her for a lifetime.
On a winter night, she lay weakly in the clinic, coughing blood from pneumonia. Her mother-in-law stood over her, hands on hips, scolding, “What an unlucky sickly wretch!”
Meanwhile, Chen Weidong was strolling through the department store in the provincial city with Li Man from the performing troupe.
The new sweater Li Man wore had been bought with ration tickets Shen Zhiwei had saved for medicine.
When she first married in, the Chen family had been dirt poor. Her mother-in-law looked down on her for not knowing how to help out and brought home a cousin, claiming she could assist Chen Weidong in social situations.
Out of loyalty, Shen Zhiwei served Li Man for most of her life.
She hadn’t suspected anything at first, only gradually realizing that something was wrong.
The most ridiculous thing: after Li Man’s ex-husband died, Chen Weidong forcibly left the three-year-old Chen Zihao with her. Feeling pity for the child, she had raised him as her own from start to finish.
In winter, her hands cracked and oozed pus from the cold, she rode ten miles in the biting wind just to deliver a hot meal to Chen Zihao.
The little boy, however, complained there was no meat in the food, and, with his entire class watching, slammed the lunchbox onto her head. “Old hag, get lost.”
Twenty years of being treated like a servant, and in return, she got betrayal and humiliation.
In the end, that ungrateful bastard shoved her down the stairs just to seize the house her parents had left behind.
As she lay on the ground moaning in pain, Chen Weidong and Li Man looked on coldly, letting her die before their eyes.
Why?!
Memories of her past death flashed vividly. If heaven had its eyes open, Shen Zhiwei would show no mercy.
“Chen Weidong! To hell with you!”
Shen Zhiwei rushed onto the stage, snatched the microphone, and the shrill buzzing filled the auditorium.
The crowd gasped.
Chen Weidong’s pride took a hit; he hurried forward to pull her down. “Zhiwei, are you delirious from a fever? Get down now!”
“Sister-in-law, any issues should be discussed at home, don’t ruin the ceremony…” Li Man pretended to advise.
“At home? Which home? The one where you’re having an affair with Chen Weidong?” Her voice was hoarse, yet loud. “Last August, in the factory grove, the two of you confessed your love, saying that once this yellow-faced woman died…”
“You’d have the house and the compensation money. Do you want me to call the workers who were there to testify?”
“You’re lying! Slandering us!” Li Man screamed, her face flushing. “If you keep talking like this, I won’t survive in the troupe. Chen and I are innocent.”
Chen Weidong glanced at the crowd enjoying the spectacle, lowering his voice to threaten, “Shen Zhiwei, if you go mad again, don’t expect to see me ever again.”
She heard the hollow threat and laughed.
“I, Shen Zhiwei, the legal wife of Chen Weidong, hereby publicly report ”
“I accuse Chen Weidong of long-term adultery with Li Man of the performing arts troupe! I accuse him of embezzling military supplies, reselling diesel to bribe Li Man’s parents, conspiring to harm me, and that Li Man’s child with her ex-husband is actually Chen Weidong’s!”
The auditorium erupted.
The military officials in the front row were shocked, some nearly dropping their dentures. A few young women from the troupe covered their mouths in disbelief.
Half believed her, half did not.
Chen Weidong had considerable charisma. In just three years since joining the military, he had risen to deputy battalion commander, naturally pleasing many along the way.
His public image was always that of a dignified, capable officer.
Chen Weidong clenched his teeth but still forced a fake smile toward the audience. “Everyone, I apologize. A few days ago, my wife and I had a little disagreement.”
“She’s just throwing a tantrum today.”
He shot a glance at the security officer beside the stage. “Honey, let’s talk about this at home.”
“I have evidence.”
Shen Zhiwei pulled an old ledger from her bag and slammed it onto the podium. “These are every single illicit transaction of diesel reselling and coal cake smuggling by Chen Weidong, hidden in the beams of your house. Do you dare to confront this?”
Chen Weidong’s fake smile instantly fell. He couldn’t believe that his usually meek and submissive wife knew all this and dared to expose it in front of the entire military.
“Honey, don’t talk nonsense. I never blamed you for your dealings with Old Wang from the supply cooperative.” Chen Weidong’s eyes narrowed, his face full of feigned grievance, playing the helpless victim.
Her anger almost made her want to applaud.
It was the same old routine. In her previous life, rumors like this had made her lift her head with difficulty in the military compound. Once, she had merely spoken to Old Wang, and Chen Weidong publicly called her a “loose woman” in front of the entire company.
Shen Zhiwei trembled with rage, about to retort, when suddenly a cold, steady voice interrupted: “Enough!”
Everyone turned to see a tall, upright officer rising from the audience. His arm badge marked him clearly: a representative of the Military Discipline Inspection Commission.
Gu Yanzhou.
He walked step by step toward the podium. The sound of his military boots on the floor seemed to press into Shen Zhiwei’s chest, and the noisy hall fell silent.
“Let me see the evidence.” His gaze never left Shen Zhiwei, complex and probing, with concern as well as scrutiny.
She inhaled sharply. In her previous life, after her death, this was the man who had led the investigation team, laying out Chen Weidong’s crimes piece by piece in the military court. While her body was still warm, they had even gone to transfer her house.
Gu Yanzhou had been the one to help her exact justice.
Back then, she had thought it was just karma. Until she saw him kneeling at her overgrown grave, whispering, “I came too late.”
Now, looking back, all the small details she had ignored suddenly connected: when she was harassed by thugs at the market, Gu Yanzhou happened to pass by; after she was publicly humiliated by Chen Weidong, it was Gu Yanzhou who proposed strengthening military family support at the Party Committee meeting.
Even when she was first stricken with pneumonia, she had anonymously received imported medicine at the clinic.
Gu Yanzhou flipped through a few pages of the ledger, his expression growing graver. “The evidence is valid. Comrade Shen Zhiwei, please come with me to the Military Discipline Commission for a detailed record.”
He then ordered, “Chen Weidong, Li Man, you are to be immediately isolated for investigation.”
“Representative Gu! She’s lying! She just loves me too much!” Chen Weidong tried to struggle, but two guards seized his arms. His body went limp, his former arrogance gone.
Li Man was even more terrified, trembling and crying, her makeup ruined.
Shen Zhiwei watched the shameful spectacle of these two unfaithful people. The anger she had held in for two lifetimes finally erupted.
As she glared at Chen Weidong’s retreating back, she spat venomously, “I! Will never love you.”
Gu Yanzhou stood beside her, his brows tightening briefly.
Stepping out of the auditorium, the spring breeze brushed her face.
The propaganda banners declared in bright red: Women can hold up half the sky.
Shen Zhiwei looked at the bicycle in the shed, the wedding gift from her father, the faithful two-eight-frame that had carried her through so much hardship, and then at the army-green jeep beside it.
It felt like a lifetime apart.
“Get in. I’ll take you to the Disciplinary Commission building,” Gu Yanzhou’s voice came softly beside her.
Shen Zhiwei looked up, meeting his deep, steady eyes.
There was no longer just the professional detachment she had seen in the past; this gaze carried emotions she had never understood before.
Gu Yanzhou paused, his voice low. “If you need it, I can guide you on how to write the divorce report.”
He hesitated briefly, then looked at her resolutely. “If you’re worried about being alone after the divorce, or about rumors… Comrade Shen Zhiwei.”
“I… I can take responsibility for you.”