Zou Zhengting walked straight into Lin Zhaoyang’s house without the slightest hesitation, leaving every member of the Wang family stunned.
Grandma’s eyesight wasn’t very good anymore. She squinted at him for several seconds before finally recognizing him.
“Zhengting? Is that you?”
She recognized him more by his height and the way he walked than by his face.
After graduating from high school, Zou Zhengting had enlisted in the army and spent many years in the military. Soldiers carried themselves differently from civilians.
Grandma could tell because she herself had married a soldier.
“Grandma, it’s me.”
Zou Zhengting walked over quickly, sat down between the two elderly people, and greeted Wang Kuishi.
“Grandpa, it’s been a long time.”
Wang Kuishi had always liked Zou Zhengting.
Older veterans naturally held younger soldiers in higher regard.
Back when he learned his granddaughter was dating a soldier, he had been delighted for a long time.
Unfortunately, that happiness hadn’t lasted.
“What brings you here?” Wang Kuishi asked.
As much as he liked Zou Zhengting, the young man was no longer his grandson-in-law.
“I’ve moved in next door. I was just heading out when I heard your voices, so I came over to say hello.”
On the surface, he really had come only to greet the elders.
But his real purpose was to make sure the Lin and Wang families didn’t rush to introduce Lin Zhaoyang to someone new.
Through his actions, he wanted her family to know that he stood on the same side as Lin Zhaoyang.
He hated Lin Ni’s family just as much as she did.
He also wanted them to know that he and Lin Ni would soon be divorced.
When the time came for them to consider new suitors for Lin Zhaoyang, he hoped they would think of him—the old love—before anyone else.
Upon hearing that Zou Zhengting was on his way out, Wang Kuishi waved him off.
“Go ahead. Don’t let us keep you.”
Zou Zhengting didn’t invent excuses to stay longer.
He still had debts to collect.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he left.
After he was gone, Wang Kuishi casually asked Lin Zhaoyang,
“Is he on leave? Did he get promoted?”
When Zou Zhengting and Lin Zhaoyang had been dating, he had already been a battalion commander.
A battalion commander in his early twenties was an exceptionally promising young officer with an extraordinarily bright future.
“Grandpa, not long after he registered his marriage with Lin Ni, he left the military. He’s driving trucks for the provincial transportation company now.”
Lin Zhaoyang hadn’t deliberately asked about him.
She simply knew a little because Zou Zhengting’s second sister, Zou Qiongying, was one of her closest friends.
Even after they broke up, she and Zou Qiongying still met regularly.
Most of what she knew about Zou Zhengting came from things Qiongying casually mentioned.
Wang Kuishi’s expression changed immediately.
“Did something happen?”
“It shouldn’t have been his turn to leave the military.”
“Even if he did transfer out, someone with his qualifications should’ve been assigned to a much better organization and a far better position.”
Zou Zhengting himself was exceptionally capable, and the Zou family had extensive connections.
Logically speaking, the army should have sent him to a military academy for advanced training before promoting him further.
Even if he had transferred to civilian service, he should have gone into public security.
After all, he had been an outstanding officer.
It wasn’t that being a truck driver was a bad job.
Driving was a secure government position that countless people desperately wanted but couldn’t obtain.
Anyone could potentially become a driver.
But not everyone had the ability to become a future leader in the public security system.
Having fought in several wars himself, Wang Kuishi saw farther than most.
Zou Zhengting was talent cultivated by the military.
Having him leave the service was already a tremendous loss.
Sending someone of his caliber to drive freight trucks was like using a battle axe to kill a chicken.
It was an enormous waste of talent.
“He applied for the transfer himself,” Lin Zhaoyang explained.
“His second sister said he didn’t want to see Lin Ni anymore. But she kept going to the military base looking for him, so he simply transferred out.”
“After leaving the military, he deliberately chose not to take a job where he’d be home every day.”
“So he joined the transportation company and volunteered for long-haul routes.”
“The longer the route, the more he wanted it.”
Long-distance drivers earned generous travel allowances and had plenty of opportunities to make extra money along the way, so many transportation workers liked those assignments.
But those routes usually lasted ten days, half a month, or even up to a full month.
The longer the trip, the farther away the destination.
The farther away the destination, the harsher the living conditions and the more dangerous the journey became.
Unless someone’s family desperately needed money, most drivers actually preferred not to take those routes.
That was why Zou Zhengting had been able to keep driving them for so long.
Wang Kuishi fell silent for more than ten seconds before sighing deeply.
“The Lin family ruined his future.”
“That little slut Lin Ni is nothing but trouble.”
Tang Yumei felt that both Lin Zhaoyang and Zou Zhengting had been terribly unlucky.
Just then, Eldest Aunt Wang Fengping and her husband, Yao Dasong, walked in from outside.
Tang Yumei hadn’t exactly been quiet while cursing.
The couple had heard every word before even entering the house.
Wang Fengping had a naturally booming voice.
The moment she stepped through the doorway, she picked up the conversation.
“We just came from the Lin family’s street.”
“I heard the neighbors saying that after all these years of marriage, Zou Zhengting never once touched Lin Ni.”
“But this afternoon Yang Wen publicly claimed right here, in front of everyone, that Lin Ni had given him her virginity.”
Wang Fengping didn’t believe any man who had slept with a woman could fail to know whether she was a virgin.
If Yang Wen said Lin Ni had given herself to him for the first time, then despite being legally married to Zou Zhengting…
…it meant Zou Zhengting had never wanted her.
A man who could stay married to a woman for years without touching her at all…
How deeply must he have disliked her?
Or perhaps…
How impossible had it been for him to forget Lin Zhaoyang?
“Since Zou Zhengting is divorcing Lin Ni anyway, this is the perfect chance for him and Zhaoyang to get back together.”
Wang Fengping said it as though it were the most natural conclusion.
“I’ve heard long-haul truck drivers make good money.”
“And the Zou family’s background is genuinely impressive.”
“I heard his eldest brother was promoted again this year.”
“What’s so good about that?”
If this situation had happened to someone else’s granddaughter, Grandma would probably have happily agreed that it was perfect.
But it was her own granddaughter.
She couldn’t see anything good about it.
What was so good?
For the rest of their lives, whenever people saw Zou Zhengting and Lin Zhaoyang together, someone would inevitably say,
“His ex-wife was Lin Zhaoyang’s cousin.”
People who didn’t know the truth would invent all kinds of ugly stories.
Who didn’t want a peaceful life?
Who wanted to spend a lifetime being the subject of gossip?
“Even if we think it’s a good idea, the Zou family certainly won’t.”
Grandma understood the situation perfectly.
“If I were Zou Zhengting’s parents, once he divorced Lin Ni and finally escaped the Lin family, why would I ever agree to let him get involved with that family again?”
Yes, Lin Zhaoyang was outstanding.
She was a wonderful girl.
But in a city this large, was it really impossible for the Zou family to find someone with even better qualifications?
Their family had already stumbled once because of the Lin family.
Why would they willingly tie themselves to them again?
Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?
What did it matter if Zou Zhengting still loved Lin Zhaoyang?
The harder a man found it to obtain someone, the more he obsessed over her.
But once he finally got her…
Combined with his family’s disapproval…
Who could guarantee he wouldn’t change his mind someday?
Besides, it wasn’t as if Lin Zhaoyang couldn’t find another husband without Zou Zhengting or Yang Wen.
Why should she spend her whole life hung up on those two men?
“Mom’s right.”
Wang Fenglan agreed completely.
She had never once considered getting Lin Zhaoyang back together with Zou Zhengting.
Lin Zhaoyang sat quietly beside them without saying a word.
Inwardly, she thought Zou Zhengting had left too soon.
He really should have stayed and listened carefully to what the elders had to say.
She knew perfectly well that once he divorced Lin Ni, his plan was to reconcile with her.
Truthfully…
She wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about that idea herself.
If she had the choice…
She actually didn’t want to get married at all.
After breaking up with Zou Zhengting years ago, that feeling had only grown stronger.
She simply hadn’t found the chance to tell her parents.
Before she could, she had caught her mother sitting alone in the living room late one night, secretly wiping away tears because she was so worried about her daughter’s marriage.
After seeing that…
Lin Zhaoyang no longer had the heart to tell her she never wanted to marry.