Chapter 2

“Nothing…” She gritted her teeth in pretense despite the pain.

But clearly, he did not believe her.

No one knew where he had gotten the red medicinal liquid and cotton swabs from, but he held her hand and carefully applied the medicine to every wound.  

The medicine was cool, and when it touched the wounds, it stung—truly painful…  

She bit her lip hard in pain. Her facial features were all scrunched together, yet she made no sound.  

He gave her a cold glance. “You brought this on yourself.”  

After saying that, he let go of her hand, put the medicine away, and prepared to open the door.  

Seeing that he was about to leave again, she grew anxious and shouted: “Where are you going?”  

He was startled by her shout and turned around.  

“Have you ever thought about me? If you don’t sleep in the same room with me, what will your mother say about me?” she snapped.  

“Mom won’t…”  

“She won’t say anything in front of you! But what about after you leave?” She looked clearly displeased. “I don’t care! Try walking out that door today!”  

He seemed a little helpless, but in the end, he did not leave.

He simply took a quilt from the cabinet, laid it out on the floor, and lay down silently.  

Night fell, quiet as death.  

It was so silent that she could hear the frantic and chaotic beating of her own heart—thump, thump… 

She felt that she did not want to go on like this any longer!  

Pressing down on her wildly pounding chest, she let out a small scream, jumped out of bed, and rushed toward his floor mat—and successfully squeezed in beside him.

He abruptly sat up, his eyes in the darkness gleaming with a beast-like, guarded cold light. “What are you doing?” His tone was as if she had done something wrong and was now interrogating her.  Her whole body trembled, but her mind was spinning fast. She pointed to her own bed. “There… there’s a mouse…”  

He got up and turned on the light, rummaging through her quilt for quite a while. Then he turned back with a cold expression and asked: “Where is the mouse?”  

His figure stood tall like a tower, and his sharp eyes glared at her with a predatory intensity. Under the pressure he emitted, she murmured softly: “There was one… maybe it ran away now…”  

He stood there, towering over her, saying nothing.

She simply shut her eyes—if you refuse to talk, then I would also do so!  

In the end, he spoke first. “There’s no mouse now. Go back to your bed and sleep.”  

“Oh… okay…”  

Lin Qingping slowly got up from his floor mat and sat on the edge of her bed, watching him turn off the light and lie back down.  

She grinned slyly, then once again rushed toward him, squeezing herself beside him with practiced ease and swiftness.  

“What now?” His voice exploded in the darkness.  

She could clearly hear the impatience in his tone, but so what? She snuggled even closer to him, pressing tightly against his body. “Still…I’m still scared. What if the mouse comes back?”  

Gu Juncheng: “…”

“Do as you like.” His cold words marked the end of the night’s conversation.

He lay there motionless, as if he no longer wished to acknowledge her presence.

She pressed herself against him, closed her eyes, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.

He was so warm. In the height of summer, leaning against him felt like pressing up against a furnace—yet she had no intention of pulling away.

However, in the darkness, he suddenly spoke. “This time, I happen to have a few days off. Let’s find a time to go finalize the divorce.”  

Lin Qingping: ???

What did he mean by that? Divorce?  

This didn’t happen in her past life!

She suddenly sat up, staring straight at him in the darkness with a tense face, and exploded without warning.  

“Gu Juncheng! You are a scum!”  

Gu Juncheng was stunned by her outburst.  

Lin Qingping looked furious. “I’ve already married you! The wedding was lively and grand—who in the surrounding ten villages doesn’t know I’m your wife, Gu Juncheng? And now, how long has it been since we got married? You’re already talking about divorce! How am I supposed to face people after this?”  

Gu Juncheng was silent for a moment, then said: “I can tell everyone it was my fault, that I was the one who was wrong.”  

“So what? The one who’ll suffer everyone’s scorn is still me! I was a perfectly respectable maiden, and now I’m suddenly supposed to become someone who’s been divorced? How am I supposed to remarry? Who would still want me? And on top of that, you’re with the military—what will people say about me then?”  

Lin Qingping fired off her words without giving him a chance to respond.  

Gu Juncheng was rendered speechless.  

“I don’t care! Since I married you, you have to take responsibility! You’re hardly home throughout the year—do you have any idea how much you owe me? And now you’re bringing up divorce? Gu Juncheng, let me tell you—between you and me, only I get to bring up divorce! You don’t have the right!”  

After she finished venting, Lin Qingping lay back down and turned her back to him.  

Hearing the silence behind her, Lin Qingping felt she was being rather unreasonable—but if she didn’t act this way, how else could she put an end to his thoughts of divorce? Hmph!  

Gu Juncheng, how impressive of you—actually bringing up divorce! That didn’t happen in their past life!  

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All the way until the next morning, Lin Qingping’s face remained tense.  

During breakfast, the entire Gu Family was under heavy pressure. Even though the meal that morning was decent—since Gu Juncheng had come home, everyone got an extra egg—no one ate with any real appetite.  

Even her father-in-law and mother-in-law didn’t dare make a sound.

After all, this daughter-in-law had been in the family for six months now—breaking bowls, slamming pots, kicking up storms—her temper was not something they could afford to provoke.  

There was one more person silently eating: Li Zhiyuan.  

Li Zhiyuan was Gu Juncheng’s son.

But the child was not his biological son—Li Zhiyuan was the child of one of Gu Juncheng’s comrades-in-arms.

That comrade had sacrificed his life, and with no one left to care for the child, Gu Juncheng had brought him back and taken him in.  

He was now about 5 years old and had been with the Gu Family for almost a year.  

Because of this child, Gu Juncheng’s original childhood sweetheart—his green plums and bamboo horse fiancée—had broken off their engagement. It was only after that, in a fit of anger, that the Gu Family had paid a “high price” to marry her.  

Li Zhiyuan likely understood that he was considered a “burden” not only to Gu Juncheng but to the entire Gu Family. So he had always behaved with extreme caution in the household—quiet and obedient, barely making a sound. It was almost as if his presence went unnoticed.  

In her past life, Lin Qingping had deeply resented this child. She had never shown him a kind face. The milk powder, nutritional supplements, and boys’ clothing and shoes that Gu Juncheng had sent home were mostly taken by her to her maternal family. The child had grown up wearing clothes that didn’t even fit him properly.  

Yet it was this very same child, during her final days in the hospital when she had fallen gravely ill, who came to visit her. He had brought a pot of warm soup, given her money, and called her… “Mom.”  

But even that bit of money had ended up in her nephew’s pocket.  

Looking at the thin and small Zhiyuan now, Lin Qingping felt a sharp ache in her heart. She picked up the egg from her bowl and placed it into his.  

That single act almost frightened Zhiyuan enough to drop his bowl.  

Everyone else at the table stared at her as well—this was highly unusual.

In the past, she never showed such courtesy. Whatever was tasty, she ate first. Whatever was good, she took back to her maternal family. As for respecting the elderly or caring for the young—those virtues simply did not exist with her.  

Even Lin Qingping herself felt the moment was awkward. She cleared her throat. “I feel stuffy inside… no appetite.”  

Zhiyuan kept his head down, slowly nibbling at the egg. It was unclear whether he was afraid to eat it, or just reluctant to part with it.  

“By the way, Chengzi.” Mother-in-law Liu Fen said, trying to ease the atmosphere a little as she glanced at Lin Qingping’s face, which looked slightly calmer than before. “The day you two got married, you left in such a rush that you never returned to her maternal home. After breakfast, go with Pingzi to visit her family.”