The moment He Xiaoman said this, the noisy crowd fell silent—this was the first time they had ever heard He Xiaoman voluntarily offer to go to the military base with her husband.
Liu Cuifen, however, reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumping up with a shrill cry: "No way! Don't you dare go to the base, and don't you dare think about harming Changlin! I think you're the one who stole the things, and now you're just trying to run away."
"That's right!" Jiang Changlin chimed in angrily. "I think you're the thief, and you're trying to frame me!"
"Fine then, let's call the police. I'm innocent and I'm not afraid of shadows!" He Xiaoman said coldly. "And while we're at it, let the police comrades witness the whole process of us splitting the family and severing ties."
She couldn't go three sentences without mentioning splitting the family. Liu Cuifen was about to explode with rage. "Split my ass! You little tramp, I know it was you who stole!"
Upon hearing this, He Xiaoman immediately looked at the crowd, tears streaming down her face like beads from a broken string. "Dear neighbors, please judge for yourselves! This black-hearted mother-in-law won't give us money, won't split the family, and is slandering me—she's trying to drive me and my three children to death! I can't go on living! I'll just smash my head against this wall and die right here today!"
With that, she suddenly charged toward the courtyard wall. A neighbor at the gate, quick of eye and hand, grabbed her just in time: "Xiaoman! Don't do anything foolish!"
Seeing this, the two children burst into tears and rushed over to hug her legs, their little shoulders heaving as they sobbed: "Mommy, don't die! We don't want you to die!"
The mother and children wept as if their hearts were being torn apart. The watching neighbors could no longer hold back and began cursing Liu Cuifen—
"Liu Cuifen! Do you have any conscience? You won't allow this, you won't allow that—are you trying to drive someone to their death?"
"That's right! You shameless woman! We're going to find the Party Secretary right now, and call the police to settle this!"
Some people had already turned and run toward the brigade captain's house. Jiang Fugui felt his vision going dark. He Xiaoman's move was truly ruthless—no matter what they chose, they would suffer a loss. But compared to calling the police, splitting the family, and severing ties, letting her go to the military base was the lesser evil.
He could only glare at He Xiaoman and grit his teeth: "Fine, fine, fine! Have it your way! If you want to go to the base, go to the base. If you want to do anything else, do it!"
He Xiaoman's crying stopped abruptly. She looked up with tearful eyes: "Really?"
Liu Cuifen grabbed Jiang Fugui's arm and hissed urgently in a low voice: "You can't let her go! If she goes, we won't receive the fifty yuan Yanchuan sends every month anymore!"
Jiang Changlin also chimed in: "Dad, you absolutely can't let her leave!"
Jiang Fugui looked at him, his temples throbbing with fury. "This is all because of the mess you caused! If your things hadn't been stolen, would she have been able to hold this over us?"
"I already told you, I didn't steal anything from the house!" Jiang Changlin gritted his teeth.
"Then if she calls the police, how are you going to explain yourself to them?" Jiang Fugui growled through clenched teeth. "If you can't explain it clearly, you'll be the first suspect!"
Jiang Changlin was instantly rendered speechless. He was like a mute swallowing bitter medicine—unable to voice his suffering.
Liu Cuifen had no choice but to agree. She turned to look at He Xiaoman. "Fine, if you want to go to the base, go. But the house was robbed, and we don't have a single cent left. We've got no money to give you."
"Didn't Second Uncle's room get spared?" He Xiaoman wiped her tears and said with righteous indignation. "You can't expect the three of us to walk all the way to the military base, can you?"
At this point, the crowd also chimed in to help her, their words dripping with mockery at how outrageous the family was being. Jiang Fugui felt utterly humiliated. He looked at Jiang Changlin and said, "Go, take a hundred yuan from your money and give it to her as travel expenses!"
The moment he finished speaking, He Xiaoman immediately interjected: "Dad, I just calculated—three train tickets plus food and expenses on the road, and buying a few necessities, we'll need at least two hundred yuan."
Hearing this, Jiang Changlin jumped up in a panic. "He Xiaoman, don't push your luck! Where are we supposed to get two hundred? Why don't you just go rob a bank?"
"Second Uncle, that's not quite right to say…" He Xiaoman said slowly as she dabbed at her tears. "Dad has always favored you. All the money he's saved over the years has gone to you. Two hundred is nothing—you might even have two thousand, right?"
At that moment, Jiang Changlin truly wanted to beat He Xiaoman to death. Sure, his parents favored them, but it wasn't as exaggerated as she made it sound—the money they had secretly stashed away was less than three hundred yuan!
He wanted to say more, but Jiang Fugui quickly glared at him. "Stop the nonsense. Give her two hundred."
Jiang Changlin had no choice but to storm back into the house, emerging a moment later. As he handed the money to He Xiaoman, his heart was bleeding!
He Xiaoman took the money, counted it, and then looked at the crowd. "Yes, it's two hundred."
With that, she pulled her children close and bowed deeply to everyone: "Thank you, dear neighbors, for upholding justice. I'm going to get the introduction letter and head to the military base now. When we get the chance in the future, we'll come back with Yanchuan to thank you all in person."
Just as she finished speaking, the Party Secretary and the brigade captain entered the courtyard one after the other.
On their way over, they had already heard from the messenger about the theft at the Jiang house, and they knew exactly what was going on.
What kind of thief was this bizarre? They stole only from the old couple and the eldest son's household, leaving the second son's rooms completely untouched, without waking a single soul? Anyone with half a brain could tell this had to be connected to Jiang Changlin.
But since the Jiang family themselves had no intention of reporting it to the police, they couldn't very well dig deeper. So after making a full round of the Jiang house, the party secretary cut straight to the point and asked He Xiaoman, "When do you plan to set out to find Yanchuan?"
"Everything in the house has been stolen, so there's really no reason to stay any longer." He Xiaoman kept her eyes lowered, her voice calm but carrying an unmistakable finality. "We'll pack up and leave this afternoon."
The moment Liu Cuifen heard this, she knew something was off with He Xiaoman, but with the threat of "reporting to the police and splitting up the family" hanging over her head, she didn't dare utter a single word of objection.
The party secretary turned to Liu Cuifen as well, his tone not heavy but carrying authority. "You have no objections to her joining her husband in the military, do you? If you do, we'll report this to the police right now and have the theft thoroughly investigated, and we'll deal with everything else after."
Liu Cuifen shrank her neck and nodded frantically like a pestle pounding garlic. "No objections, no objections!"
Seeing her relent, the party secretary pulled an introduction letter straight from his briefcase, his pen scratching across the paper, filling in the information in no time. He stamped it with a red seal with a firm smack and handed it to He Xiaoman. "Take it. From now on, you live well with Yanchuan at the military base."
He Xiaoman accepted it with both hands, carefully folded it, and tucked it into her bosom. Then she bowed in thanks to the party secretary, the battalion commander, and the neighbors who had gathered to watch, before pulling her two children back into the house.
The moment they stepped inside and shut the door, chaos erupted next door.
Liu Cuifen's shrill curses came scraping through like knives, mixed with Jiang Changlin's flustered protests and Li Chunyan's uncontrollable wailing—a complete uproar.
He Xiaoman turned a deaf ear to it all, quickly dressing the two children.
Jiang Xingheng sat on the edge of the bed, his little brows furrowed into a knot. Young as he was, he could sense something was off. "Mom, are we really leaving right now? We only sent Dad a letter yesterday…"
"Yes, right now." He Xiaoman quickly tied her younger son's sash and turned to look at him. "The whole brigade knows the three of us are going to join your father now. Are you still afraid I'm going to sell you off again?"
Jiang Xingheng pressed his lips together without answering, but a hint of joy crept into his dark eyes.
Jiang Xingci, however, had no such worries. His little hand tugged at He Xiaoman, his eyes bright as if dipped in water as he looked up at her. "Mom, will we get to see Dad soon?"
"Yes, we will." He Xiaoman tucked the introduction letter and money securely against her body and gave her younger son's handsome little cheek a pinch. "Two days at most."
The moment she thought of soon seeing her beloved—185 cm tall, with eight-pack abs—He Xiaoman's face flushed hot. The very thought of his description in the book made her heart race out of control.
Once she got into the family quarters, she was determined to make up for all five empty years of this marriage. What was a "three hundred rounds of battle" or "three days unable to get out of bed"? She'd entwine him until he was spent dry and dead before she'd call it quits!
She had to savor properly what the male lead of this book tasted like, or else this transmigration into the story would all be for nothing.