Chapter 26: I’m Not Letting You Watch Anyway

Zhou Xinyue lowered her head and spoke helplessly:
“Sister Zhang, I really have no standing in this matter. Right now, Yunshu has a big misunderstanding with me. She’s so angry and insists on divorcing Brother Zhixing… The other day, she even had a big fight with Xueting—almost got physical! You really shouldn’t get involved in this. And especially, don’t let Xueting find out. If things blow up, how could Yunshu and Brother Zhixing possibly patch things up?”

Chen Xue was fuming on her behalf:
“Dr. Lu obviously has you in his heart. A woman like Xie Yunshu should have gotten divorced long ago! And even with her treating you like that, you’re still thinking of her!”

Zhou Xinyue’s face flushed bright red:
“Sister Zhang, please don’t say that! Brother Zhixing and I grew up together, but fate just wasn’t in the cards for us. I… I could never force something like that. Besides, he’s already married…”

“But they’re getting divorced now, aren’t they?” Chen Xue said, matter-of-factly. She liked Zhou Xinyue much better than Xie Yunshu:
“Don’t worry, Xinyue. Sister Chen is firmly on your side.”

Zhou Xinyue blushed bashfully, even stomped her foot like a shy young girl:
“Oh, come on, Sister Zhang! I said I’d never break up someone’s marriage! If something were ever to happen between me and Brother Zhixing… well, that’s for the future!”

Chen Xue nodded knowingly—so she was right. Once Xie Yunshu was out of the picture, Zhou Xinyue would be Dr. Lu’s new wife.

“Alright then,” she said, “let’s stay out of it and let them handle their marriage on their own.”

After saying that, Zhou Xinyue tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and casually added:
“And whatever you do, don’t let Xueting find out. If she kicks up a fuss, Brother Zhixing and Yunshu will definitely…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but Chen Xue filled in the blanks in her mind.

Lu Xueting was Dr. Lu’s younger sister. Chen had met the spoiled miss a few times—brash, outspoken, and clearly at odds with Xie Yunshu from the start. She’d even heard her speak rudely to Yunshu several times.

If she found out Yunshu had taken the TV from home, wouldn’t she cause a scene?

Once Chen Xue left, Zhou Xinyue let a cold smile curl at her lips. If Xie Yunshu wanted to be mad, she could blame her own bad luck for marrying Lu Zhixing. If she had agreed to the divorce peacefully, Zhou wouldn’t have had to go to such lengths. But since Lu Zhixing still wouldn’t let go, she had no choice but to force the matter…

---

That day, Lu Zhixing wasn’t busy at work, but when his shift ended, he didn’t feel like going home. The sky was already dark, and he knew the house would be pitch black at this hour.

He thought about the results of the investigation and felt nothing but regret and pain.

“Dr. Lu, that single room was given to another patient. The nurses didn’t know your intent, so they placed her in the storage room…”

“Didn’t you say you wanted Xie Yunshu to cool off? We thought you were punishing her a little—as married couples do. We didn’t want to interfere. It was only five days after all.”

“She treated Xinyue so badly… Honestly, just five days is lenient. I didn’t realize the conditions in that storage room were so bad. And I didn’t know about the food situation either!”

He slammed his fist on the desk, so angry he wanted to slap himself.
He had wanted to teach Yunshu a lesson—make her calm down, stop yelling and fighting, stop making trouble for Xinyue.
But he’d never meant to treat her like that.

She was only twenty-one, yet she spent five days in a dark, damp room…

Lu Zhixing’s fingers curled inside his coat pocket, and unexpectedly, he felt a small silver ring.

It was from the day after their wedding. Yunshu had shyly given it to him, saying it cost her half a month’s wages and that he must keep it safe.

As a surgeon, he couldn’t wear a ring at work, so he had tossed it in his coat pocket and forgotten about it. At one point, he hadn’t even known where it was. It didn’t mean much to him at the time. Even on his days off, he had never worn it.

And yet here it was, still sitting in his pocket all this time.

He took the plain, unadorned ring out and stared at it in his palm. Slowly, he slipped it onto his ring finger and rubbed it with his thumb.

A wave of panic and dread washed over him.

All this time, he thought Yunshu had just stormed out in anger and would come back once she cooled off.

But now…
She’d been gone for days.
When would she finish being angry?
When would she come back?

Would she really… not come back?

---

Meanwhile, things were lively in the communal housing block where Xie Yunshu now lived.

Color TVs were still rare—only families in better circumstances could afford them, and even then, they needed a quota to buy one. Even black-and-white sets were scarce; only a few households in the entire block had one.

When Xie Yunshu came home hugging an 18-inch TV, she drew every eye.

Aunt Zhao laughed when she saw it:
“Yunshu, that’s a big TV! Is it new? Why no packaging?”

Though she was thin, Yunshu was strong. Huffing and puffing, she still had the energy to talk:
“Aunt Zhao, this is a color TV! Tomorrow when we’re steaming buns, we can watch TV while we work—combine labor and rest!”

Lin Cuiping, just back from work, turned red with envy:
“Xie Yunshu, are you lying?! A color TV costs hundreds—where’d you get that kind of money?”

“Traded for it at the packaging factory. Got a problem?” Yunshu rolled her eyes, not bothering to be polite.
“Oh, and my room is small. Don’t bother coming to watch Journey to the West tonight—I don’t want you there.”

Lin Cuiping stomped her foot, furious:
“Xie Yunshu! Who wants to watch your stupid TV?! I’ll just go to Uncle Zhang’s on the third floor!”

Uncle Zhang’s wife happened to walk by and chimed in coolly:
“I just cleaned the table today. No one’s watching TV at our place either! Always watching, watching, watching. Did you pay the electric bill?”

Most residents in the block had lived there for a while. Even if there were squabbles, it was normal to visit neighbors to watch TV—since few had one of their own.

Lin Cuiping had three kids and younger siblings still in school, so her family couldn’t afford a TV, just like Yunshu’s. After work, she usually went to Uncle Zhang’s to catch an episode of Journey to the West.

Now she was even angrier. She snapped:
“Xie Yunshu, what are you so smug about? You were fired from the packaging factory—they wouldn’t give you a TV! Liar! Don’t you feel ashamed?”

Yunshu had already carried the TV into the house and told her mom, Li Fenlan, to go fetch the wires. She turned around and grinned at Lin Cuiping at the doorway, flashing her teeth:
“Doesn’t matter—I’m not letting you watch, so go ahead and be mad!”