She had originally been excitedly heading to meet her fiancé, only to be told that she had been sent to the countryside—and worse, it was her beloved fiancé who had personally registered her for it.
And just as her father had been arrested, Sun Changbo’s father suddenly became the factory director.
At that moment, no matter how foolish or naive she was, she finally realized she had been played.
But she was alone, without support. The people her parents’ generation had once known all avoided her. Partly because of her unpleasant personality, and partly because—this was a girl ruthless enough to scheme even against her own father. Who would dare get close to her? No one knew how they might end up dead.
Only two of her brother’s close friends, and a few childhood neighbors from the compound, secretly pooled some money and tickets for her.
Although they disapproved of her behavior, there was still some sense of old affection.
After going to the countryside, the original owner discovered that apart from her eldest brother, her whole family had actually been assigned to the same place. But because she felt guilty, had very little money and ration tickets, and feared being implicated, she pretended not to know them and never visited them once.
After the transmigration, she couldn’t stand the hard rural labor after just two days. Coincidentally, she heard that in the village there was a Xiao family whose youngest son had become a deputy regimental commander at a young age and had returned home on leave.
So she set her sights on him.
At the riverbank where the Xiao family son passed by, she deliberately fell into the water. When she saw a figure approaching from afar, she began crying for help. As expected, the plan worked.
She tearfully claimed she was from a respectable family with strict upbringing, and that now that there had been physical contact, if Xiao Bian’an refused to marry her, she would report him to the commune for hooliganism.
Xiao Bian’an had not expected that saving someone would turn into such trouble, but he had indeed touched her body. Out of responsibility, he reluctantly agreed to marry her.
Eager to escape her situation, she immediately pulled him to register their marriage that same afternoon.
After getting the marriage certificate, they returned to the educated youth residence to pack. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at the Xiao household, soldiers came to take Xiao Bian’an away for an urgent mission.
She didn’t care—she didn’t love him anyway. He was just a temporary meal ticket.
She had already inquired that among the Xiao family, he was the most promising one. So she planned to rely on his military allowance and avoid heavy labor.
Since his allowance was also shared at home and she was a new daughter-in-law, the Xiao family disapproved of her laziness but only muttered a few sarcastic remarks.
To her, it didn’t matter. At times, she was so naive that she didn’t even realize she was being mocked.
Unfortunately, the good days didn’t last long.
Half a month later, Xiao Bian’an returned—but he was carried home by soldiers.
His legs had been severely injured during a mission while saving a comrade. The doctors said that with current medical conditions, recovery was unlikely; he would need long-term rest.
Not wanting to burden the country further, Xiao Bian’an applied for discharge and returned home to recover.
After briefly explaining the situation, the military left 500 yuan in compensation and a third-class merit medal before departing.
Before anyone could react, Li Miaomiao secretly took the 500 yuan from the table, completely ignoring the still-unconscious Xiao Bian’an, and returned to her room.
The second branch’s daughter-in-law, Liu Huifang, also returned to her room with her husband and stepson. She would not get involved in anything that brought no benefit.
In the end, only the crippled mother-in-law Niu Cuihua (with polio), the somewhat mentally slow father-in-law Xiao Aiguo, and their youngest daughter Xiao Xiaocao remained in the courtyard.
The eldest son’s family was still working in the fields and hadn’t returned yet.
Because of the long journey, Xiao Bian’an had fallen into a deep sleep.
Together, the three carefully carried him into Li Miaomiao’s room.
“Hey, take him out, take him out! Don’t put him in my room. I’m not going to take care of him. How disgusting would it be if he defecates and urinates in here!”
Li Miaomiao looked at the unconscious Xiao Bian’an with obvious disgust.
She silently thought she was really unlucky—just married, and he was already disabled.
“Miaomiao, you are his wife. From now on, when he’s inconvenient, you should take care of him…” the mother-in-law Niu Cuihua said softly.
Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. She was so thin and hunched that her crippled leg was as thin as an arm, making her look timid and withdrawn.
“Why should I take care of him? I won’t!”
“He went and played the hero and ended up disabled—why should I be responsible?”
“Expect me to serve him? In your dreams!”
“You ugly old woman, you think pretty thoughts, don’t you!”
“Hmph!”
“I… I didn’t mean for you to take care of him alone. Your father and I will help too,” Niu Cuihua quickly said, mustering courage for her child.
“But An’an is your husband. You can’t just ignore him…”
“Pah! Husband? I’m divorcing him tomorrow. A cripple like him doesn’t deserve me. I don’t want to be dragged down!”
She glanced coldly at Xiao Bian’an, who had just woken up.
“Fine. Tomorrow I’ll go to the commune and handle the divorce,” he said calmly.
Thinking of the woman who had once desperately clung to him to marry him, he gave a faint, mocking smile.
“Good. At least you’re sensible,” Li Miaomiao said arrogantly.
“Son… if you divorce, what will you do? You’re so unlucky…” Niu Cuihua cried.
Everyone began crying.
“Enough! Stop crying! It’s annoying. If you want to cry, go outside. I want to sleep!”
The next morning, Xiao Bian’an asked his father to borrow a mule cart and head to the commune for divorce proceedings.
Meanwhile, Li Miaomiao got up and prepared her things, planning to return to the educated youth compound after the divorce and find another suitable husband candidate.
At that moment, the second daughter-in-law of the Xiao family, Liu Huifang, knocked on the door and came in.
“Little sister-in-law, where are you going?”
She pretended to ask casually, though she had been secretly listening yesterday and already knew about the divorce and the 500 yuan.
“None of your business,” Li Miaomiao replied coldly.
“You’re wrong about that,” Liu Huifang said. “If you’re divorcing Fourth Brother, then you must hand over the 500 yuan compensation. That money belongs to the Xiao family. From now on, Fourth Brother will depend on us for support—so the money must stay in the Xiao family.”