“Divorce?”
Everyone present wore the same shocked expression.
Liu Shutong quickly tried to persuade her.
“Little sister-in-law, I know you’ve suffered and that you have a lot of grievances in your heart. But look, the children are already this big. You can’t just casually talk about divorce! Even if you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about the children, right?”
After all, this was the 1970s. Divorce was still a highly sensitive and taboo subject.
Huo Guangji’s expression was difficult to read from where he stood opposite her, and Qin Yue’e didn’t say anything.
Instead, she pulled the two children closer, pointed at Huo Guangji, and asked, “Guigui, do you know who that is?”
The two children were twins. The little girl had started speaking earlier, while the boy could only babble “Ah-ba, ah-ba,” so there was no point asking him.
More importantly, Qin Yue’e had already noticed that the little girl was clever. She had plenty of little tricks up her sleeve and could probably tell at a glance that the man across from them didn’t want them.
Qin Yue’e was from the future. She certainly wasn’t going to cling to a man and swallow her grievances just so her children could have a father.
Besides, in this era, toothbrushes and men were both strictly personal items. Neither was meant to be shared!
The little girl looked up at Qin Yue’e’s expression, then turned to look at Huo Guangji.
Standing against the light, Huo Guangji’s face was difficult to make out. His sharply defined features cast a heavy shadow, and his stern, expressionless face was exactly the kind of thing that frightened little children.
“Waaahhh—!”
The little girl immediately puckered up her mouth and burst into tears.
The meaning couldn’t have been clearer.
She didn’t recognize Huo Guangji at all.
The little boy, who was sitting by the table sucking on his fingers, had no idea what was happening. But the moment he heard his sister crying, he immediately burst into tears as well.
The whole group of grown men in the reception room panicked.
They hurriedly scrambled around, trying to comfort the children.
Qin Yue’e quickly pulled both children onto her lap and soothed them. But there was a quiet chill in her voice as she spoke.
“Leader, you can see it for yourself. Ever since he married me, Huo Guangji hasn’t fulfilled a single day of his responsibilities as a father. The children are almost three years old, yet they don’t even recognize their own father! A father like that is no different from having no father at all, if you ask me.”
Liu Shutong was rendered speechless, his expression stiffening.
By the doorway, Huo Guangji stood ramrod straight, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Clearly, he was in a terrible mood.
Yet the woman sitting across from him showed no fear whatsoever.
She simply stared straight at him, with the faintest hint of…
triumph?
Liu Shutong began to panic.
How had his attempt to mediate somehow made things even worse?
“Little sister-in-law, that’s not exactly—ah, forget it!”
He sighed.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to take a roundabout approach.
“Look at the state you and the children are in. Even if I write you an introduction letter and let you get divorced right now, it won’t be easy for you to travel alone with two children. Why don’t you stay at the guesthouse for the time being? Once the children have recovered a little, you can decide what to do. How does that sound?”
“Fine. Then I’ll trouble you and the other leaders.”
Qin Yue’e no longer stubbornly insisted on leaving immediately.
She had come here to get money, not to pick a fight.
She understood perfectly well that when you got a chance to take a step back, you should know when to take it.
Seeing Qin Yue’e finally nod, Liu Shutong breathed a sigh of relief and immediately instructed a guard to arrange accommodations for her.
Only then did he turn around and roar at Huo Guangji.
“You! Come with me!”
Inside Liu Shutong’s office, the desk was practically shaking from the force of his slamming hand.
“Huo Guangji, you’d better explain yourself! You’re the captain of an elite field combat unit, yet how could you possibly neglect your own wife and children? Did everything I taught you in political education go straight into a dog’s stomach?!”
“I sent them money.”
Huo Guangji’s voice was cold and hard.
He stood at attention with his neck straight, his military posture impeccable.
But Liu Shutong knew him well.
That expression on his face clearly meant he was unconvinced.
“Bang!”
Liu Shutong angrily slammed the enamel mug in his hand onto the desk, sending hot water splashing everywhere.
“Then explain this to me! If you sent them money, how did that mother and her two children end up starving themselves into that condition? What, is Qin Yue’e an idiot who doesn’t know how to eat when there’s food in front of her?”
“…”
Huo Guangji had nothing to say.
He stood there like a wooden post in front of Liu Shutong.
Liu Shutong waited.
And waited.
Still, not a single word came out of the man’s mouth.
Damn it. This brat is still the same old mute who can’t squeeze a fart out of himself.
Still, Liu Shutong knew Huo Guangji well.
He absolutely wasn’t the kind of man who would deliberately abandon his wife and children back home.
After thinking for a moment, Liu Shutong snorted.
“Now that they’ve arrived at our unit, there’s absolutely no way we’re going to let them leave carrying all this bitterness with them. Listen carefully. Your next mission is to properly deal with your family affairs! If you can’t make Comrade Qin Yue’e feel better, don’t bother showing your face in front of me!”
Huo Guangji’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
“Company Commander, I still have a mission. I won’t be able to stay with the unit for long.”
“What mission? Your mission right now is to make your wife happy! If I find out you dare abandon your wife and children, you can forget about being captain!”
Liu Shutong gave him a furious lecture.
Only after venting his anger did his expression finally soften a little.
After a pause, he added, “This mission will be handed over to Second Team. You’re not going.”
“No.”
Huo Guangji immediately objected.
“Second Team isn’t familiar with the terrain in the mountains. We’ve already operated in that area before. It wouldn’t be appropriate to send them.”
Liu Shutong was so angry he nearly lost his breath.
“Are you giving me orders?”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
Huo Guangji stood there in that same perfectly rigid military posture, his expression seemingly unchanged.
Brat.
His mouth said he wouldn’t dare, but his heart was clearly bold enough to do exactly that.
Liu Shutong shot him a sideways glance.
“Forget about it. Your team has already been operating in the mountains for more than half a month. You need a break too. Consider this a vacation! Go hand over the information to Second Team. That’s final!”
His gaze briefly fell on the obvious dark circles beneath Huo Guangji’s eyes, and Liu Shutong felt a little sorry for him.
Huo Guangji had always been known in the unit as a man who worked himself to the bone.
Whenever his First Field Assault Team took on a mission, it was always one of the most dangerous assignments.
Maybe staying with the unit and getting some rest really would do him good.
But Huo Guangji clearly didn’t think so.
He stood there with his lips tightly pressed together, his expression extremely grim.
Liu Shutong was irritated by his expression.
He glared at him.
“What? You want to disobey an order?”
“No!”
His answer was as cold and firm as ever.
The two men remained locked in a standoff for a while.
In the end, Huo Guangji turned around and walked out of the office.
The office door slammed shut with a tremendous bang.
Watching his retreating figure, Liu Shutong couldn’t help muttering,
“That stubborn mule!”
“Captain! How did it go? I heard Sister-in-law arrived?”
The moment Huo Guangji stepped outside, several men surrounded him, their faces filled with curiosity.
Seeing that his expression was less than pleasant, veteran soldier Zhao Fushui reached out and nudged Ning An, who had moved right up in front of Huo Guangji.
“Xiao Ning! Stop pestering him. Let’s hear what the captain has to say. Did the company commander chew you out?”
Zhao Fushui had been a soldier for ten years and was the oldest man in First Team. He had also known Huo Guangji for more than six years, so he was naturally more casual around him.
Huo Guangji pursed his lips but said nothing.
His gaze drifted toward the unit’s guesthouse.
There was one thing he couldn’t understand.
He clearly sent his entire monthly allowance home every month, without keeping a single cent for himself.
So how had that woman ended up starving to this condition…?
Judging from Qin Yue’e’s condition, he believed that she hadn’t been lying.
“Xiao Ning.”
Huo Guangji finally spoke.
“The company commander has given our team a month’s leave. Go back to my hometown and help me look into something.”