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1974, Luxian County Guesthouse.
“Li Xia, I already made myself very clear in my letter. I’m about to get married, so please stop bothering me! After all, you are a married woman. If you keep pestering me like this, it won’t be good for either of us.”
The man’s voice was filled with impatience, as if Li Xia’s presence was an enormous burden.
Li Xia frowned deeply. “?”
Marriage, letter, married woman…
These words immediately triggered key memories in her mind.
Good news—she wasn’t dead.
Bad news—she had transmigrated into a novel.
And not just any novel—she had become a disposable side character who was destined to die at the very beginning.
The story, The Delicate Sweet Wife of a Military Marriage in the ’70s, followed the female lead as she married the male protagonist, became a stepmother, and soared to the peak of life in a satisfying and smooth-sailing journey.
The female lead might have had a great time, but Gu Weicheng’s original wife, Li Xia, didn’t fare so well.
She died of illness right at the start of the novel.
Yes—Li Xia.
The exact same name. Not a single character different.
Li Xia quickly recalled the plot. Since the original character was merely cannon fodder, there wasn’t much detail about her in the novel, making it easy to remember.
Her marriage to the male lead, Gu Weicheng, had been an accident. In truth, she had always been in love with Zhou Qingshan, a young educated youth from their village who had been sent down to the countryside.
Zhou Qingshan was educated, literate, and could even write romantic poetry. The original Li Xia had been completely taken in by his charm.
She utterly despised the rugged, straightforward Gu Weicheng, who knew nothing about sweet words or romance.
After marrying Gu Weicheng, the original Li Xia had refused to follow him to the military base. Left with no choice, Gu Weicheng had gone alone, sending her an allowance every month.
And what did she do with that money?
She squandered it all—on Zhou Qingshan and her greedy uncle’s family!
This scene was supposed to take place right after the original Li Xia received a letter from Zhou Qingshan, informing her that he was getting married. Panicked, she had immediately rushed to the city to confront him.
She had waited for him in the rain all night.
But Zhou Qingshan never showed up.
Left with no other option, she had begged the gatekeeper to pass along a message, telling him that she would be waiting at the guesthouse.
However, before she could see him again, she returned to the guesthouse, developed a high fever, and—without timely medical attention—burned to death.
Now, the transmigrated Li Xia had taken over her place.
She couldn’t help but laugh in anger.
Back when Zhou Qingshan needed money from the original Li Xia, did he ever say she was a married woman?
Did he ever worry about the “bad influence” then?
He had used the allowance she siphoned from Gu Weicheng to bribe his way into a coveted worker-peasant-soldier university placement. And the moment he secured his spot, he left for college, met a wealthy city girl, and decided to dump her like trash?
Li Xia didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she took her time, casually picking up the old-fashioned thermos on the table and pouring herself a cup of hot water.
“You think I’m harassing you? And you’re done talking?” Li Xia scoffed, curling her lips into a mocking smile. “Zhou Qingshan, did your brain get shaken loose or something? With that face of yours—so offensive to both the people and the Party—I’m afraid just looking at you too long might give me an eye infection!”
Zhou Qingshan’s expression darkened. “You—”
He felt like he’d just been insulted, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on how.
Li Xia continued, her voice sharp and unwavering. “I came here for one reason—give me back the money you took from me!”
Back then, you took three hundred yuan from me all at once, saying it was to bribe the village secretary. Then, after getting into university, you took ten yuan from me every month as your living expenses. Adding it all up, that’s five hundred sixty yuan in total—not a cent less!
Five hundred sixty yuan.
That was a huge sum in the 1970s!
Zhou Qingshan’s eyes flickered, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
When he first heard that Li Xia had come looking for him, he had instinctively assumed she wanted to beg for reconciliation.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect—she was here to demand her money back!
The real problem was—where was he supposed to come up with that much money now?
“Xia,” Zhou Qingshan said sorrowfully, “you know I don’t have that kind of money right now. I haven’t been officially assigned a job yet, and I don’t have a salary. But I’ve always remembered how good you’ve been to me. Just because I’m getting married… does that mean all the beautiful memories we shared are meaningless? Do we really have to be so calculative?”
He spoke with deep regret, knowing full well that Li Xia had always had a soft spot for him. As long as he played the pitiful card, she would never have the heart to push him too hard.
SPLASH!
The next second, Li Xia swiftly threw the remaining half cup of water in his face.
Her expression was cold as she snapped, “To hell with your ‘beautiful memories’! Wash that filthy mouth of yours before you speak to me again. Otherwise, next time—I’ll use boiling water.”
Beautiful memories?
Disgusting. Toxic. That nonsense needed to be sterilized—with scalding water!
“If you dare not pay me back, do you believe that I’ll expose everything—how you bribed the village secretary to get into the Worker-Peasant-Soldier University?” Li Xia threatened, her tone icy.
Zhou Qingshan stared at her in utter disbelief.
Was this really Li Xia?
The same Li Xia who used to obey his every word?
For the first time, fear crept into his heart.
“L-Li Xia, don’t be impulsive! Let’s talk this through!” He forced a smile, attempting to appease her. “You want the money, right? I can gather it—I’ll find a way!”
“Then you’d better hurry up.” Li Xia crossed her arms, her voice sharp. “My patience is limited. If you don’t have the money in my hands before nightfall, your university’s principal will receive a very interesting report about you.”
Panic flashed across Zhou Qingshan’s face.
He bolted for the door. “I’ll go get it right now!”
Li Xia wasn’t the least bit worried about whether he could come up with the money. After all, hadn’t he latched onto a wealthy girlfriend?
What did surprise her, however, was how fast he managed to scrape it together.
Just two hours later, he came rushing back, clearly terrified that she might ruin his future.
Li Xia tucked the money away securely, watching as Zhou Qingshan visibly sighed in relief—as if he’d just dodged a disaster.
Her eyes were filled with mockery.
He had no idea that while he had been scrambling to gather the money, she had already finished writing the report.
And that report?
It was already in the school’s complaint box.
She wanted the money, but that didn’t mean she’d let him off the hook.
In this era, universities took moral conduct very seriously. Once the administration received her report, Zhou Qingshan would be expelled for sure.
With that matter settled, Li Xia’s thoughts turned to the child the original owner had left behind with her greedy uncle’s family.
Gu Weicheng and the original Li Xia’s son—An An.
She had no idea how he was doing now.
She still remembered how the novel had described it—because of the original owner’s departure, An An’s personality became withdrawn, gloomy, and eerily quiet.
She wanted to buy him some candy, but she didn’t have any sugar ration coupons.
Fortunately, she still had some food ration coupons left.
As she passed by a state-run restaurant, she used them to buy two meat buns, wrapped them in kraft paper, and tucked them into her pocket, keeping them warm with her hands.
—
Meanwhile, at Luzhou Train Station.
Gu Weicheng had just stepped off the train when his comrade, Hu Songlin, immediately said, “Captain Gu, this time you finally have a chance to visit home and see your wife.”
Gu Weicheng had been married for five years, yet he had never once taken a leave of absence to visit home.
Many in the unit even doubted whether he was actually married.
If Hu Songlin hadn’t been his longtime partner and personally seen Gu Weicheng’s marriage certificate, he might have thought the same.
I mean, who gets married and then doesn’t visit their wife for five whole years?
They were all young, strong men—who could possibly hold back for that long?
The real reason their superiors assigned Gu Weicheng to this mission in Luzhou was that they knew he hadn’t visited home in years.
This was their way of giving him a chance.
“We’ll see when the time comes. The mission comes first,” Gu Weicheng said coolly.
He knew exactly how his marriage to Li Xia had happened—it was a setup.
He had figured out who was behind it, but for her reputation, he had chosen to go through with the marriage anyway.
Still, she had never truly wanted it.
She had refused to follow him to the army, and for the past five years, they hadn’t exchanged a single word.
Until two weeks ago.
That was when he received a letter from Li Xia.
In it, she had written—
She wanted a divorce.