Chapter 78: The Pretty Military Wife of the Seventies 1

Having accepted the mission, Su Huandan went into reincarnation.

Her Horse-Face superior watched Su Huandan’s departing figure, humming a little tune and swaying his head smugly. He had always said that interest drives the human heart; just look at his employees, each one more motivated than the last to complete their missions.

Su Huandan was unaware of how self-satisfied Horse-Face was. At that moment, after receiving the original host’s memories, her brow was furrowed tight.

Crushing the Coordinate Jade Cocoon in one hand, Su Huandan began to sort through the original host’s memories. The 1970s… Su Huandan did not like this era; she felt it was too bitter.

She had enjoyed herself during her last two reincarnations. Suddenly arriving in this era, anyone would feel awkward and unadjusted.

The timeline of the seventies was already enough to make Su Huandan uncomfortable, but it turned out the original host was also married. Furthermore, this marriage was a compromise born out of an accident. The mother-in-law disliked her, and the husband loathed her. They had been married for two years, yet the original host and her husband had only met twice. Both times were at the Military Compound for the husband’s grandfather’s birthday. Aside from those occasions, one remained at the military base and never returned, while the other drifted through her days at the Meat Processing Plant. It was a marriage in name only; even after two years of marriage, the original host was still a virgin.

Tsk tsk, this was the first time Su Huandan had encountered such a situation. It was quite interesting.

It wasn’t that the original host hadn’t thought about divorce, but every time she brought it up, her in-laws refused, saying the impact would be bad.

What bad impact?

The original host was the Orphan of a Martyr¹. After graduating high school, her job at the Meat Processing Plant was an allocation provided by the government; it had nothing to do with her in-laws.

A divorce wouldn’t affect the original host’s job, so why couldn’t they divorce?

Whose reputation would it actually impact?

It would impact the original host’s husband’s reputation, of course.

Why did the two of them get married in the first place?

When the original host first graduated high school, she wasn’t an employee at the Meat Processing Plant. She started as a temporary worker at a guest house, doing cleaning work.

As for the husband?

He had returned from the military on home leave and went out for a meal with some childhood friends. He drank too much, and none of them returned to the Military Compound. It just so happened that the guest house where the original host worked was near the restaurant, so they went there to stay.

The husband must have mistaken her for someone else. The moment he saw the original host, he hugged her and wouldn’t let go, insisting they get married. He hugged and kissed her in public, and the original host couldn’t break free while his friends stood by egging him on.

How many people saw this happen?

Moreover, it happened during the day, so the impact was indeed quite bad.

In the seventies, the original host’s reputation was as good as ruined.

The husband was also afraid the military would classify the incident as a conduct issue, so he found someone to act as a matchmaker.

Who did he find?

The director of the Street Office² for the neighborhood where the original host lived.

This Director Xu told the original host: “He knows he was wrong, so he’s willing to take responsibility. Getting married is good for both of you. Think about it yourself, isn’t that right? On another note, you were hugged and kissed; how many people saw that? The street hooligans around here used to love circling around unmarried girls like you. If you don’t get married, do you think those hooligans will respect you even less? You’re all alone in your family.”

Director Xu pointedly emphasized that last sentence.

How could an eighteen-year-old girl not be afraid?

Yes, in that era, such an issue could trigger a series of negative consequences. The original host was intimidated by Director Xu’s words.

So, instead of taking him to court for hooliganism³, she married him.

At eighteen, she couldn’t see through things so clearly and was easily frightened. Choosing marriage wasn’t necessarily the wrong move given the circumstances of the time.

In that era, most people chose marriage to handle such incidents.

However, the original host had once looked forward to her married life. She felt that someone willing to take responsibility for their mistakes couldn’t be a bad person.

Indeed, as she thought, the whole family weren’t “bad” people. They didn’t break laws or violate discipline, so they couldn’t be called bad, but that didn’t mean only bad people could cause harm.

Cold violence was what the original host experienced constantly after marriage.

On the wedding day, the husband left for the military base immediately after the banquet. He only returned once a year for his grandfather’s birthday.

The original host didn’t move into the Military Compound. Her mother-in-law said: “You work at the plant and you’re quite busy. Living here is too far and inconvenient.”

Yes, living there was too far and inconvenient, yet every week you call your daughter-in-law to the house for a deep clean. Why don’t you mention that it’s unsafe for your daughter-in-law to ride her bicycle home late at night after finishing the work?

She never saw a cent of her husband’s salary, yet every week the mother-in-law demanded the daughter-in-law return to the Military Compound to visit the elders.

You can’t visit elders empty-handed, right?

The original host’s meager monthly meat rations were all spent on these “visits.”

Under the guise of visiting elders, she was actually called there to work. She had to cook, and after that, she had to clean and wash a whole week’s worth of laundry accumulated by the family…

If the couple had a good relationship, outsiders wouldn’t say anything about doing this. People would praise you for showing filial piety to your husband’s elders.

Most military wives lived this way, needing to look after their own small home while also balancing the in-laws. If their own family was weak and needed support, they had to look after their own parents too; it was truly exhausting.

But the couple had no feelings for each other. The original host was simply pushed by her mother-in-law into a position where she had no choice but to go. What kind of behavior was this?

Su Huandan felt the in-laws were taking a mile after being given an inch, bullying her relentlessly.

She spent what she earned and lived in her own house. Fearing criticism, she would rather do more work than listen to her mother-in-law’s ambiguous nagging. The original host’s stubborn pride was truly misplaced.

Su Huandan felt stifled just thinking about the life the original host had led for the past two years.

The original host was willing to live like that, but Su Huandan was not.

Just wait; this divorce was happening.

The original host had died of a high fever. She had been sick for many days. It was during the Lunar New Year; her husband was at the base, and her mother-in-law hadn’t called for her. She was home alone, and she died of illness without anyone knowing.

Su Huandan only felt herself come back to life after a mouthful of Spiritual Spring Water.

In the middle of the night, the fire in the small coal stove in the room had already gone out.

Trembling, she relit the stove and turned on the light, taking a moment to survey the original owner’s home.

The space was actually quite large. It was a small-scale Siheyuan⁴ with a front and back courtyard, and the original owner’s residence was the eastern wing of the back courtyard. The two rooms combined for a total of sixty square meters of usable space. Years ago, while the original owner’s mother was still alive, she had added partitions and renovated the layout. Now, it was configured as a two-bedroom apartment with a living room and a kitchen, which was more than enough for one person.

Since the courtyard faced the street, it wasn’t particularly quiet.

A total of seven households lived in the courtyard, all of whom were family members of martyrs settled there by the military and the government.

The back courtyard was occupied by two elderly people living alone and the original owner, an Orphan of a Martyr. The four households in the front courtyard were all widows living with their children.

The courtyard where Su Huandan lived was full of human warmth. No matter how difficult life became, everyone would lend a hand if a neighbor had trouble. When the original owner was thirteen, her mother had been pulled into a machine and killed. Since then, the neighbors in the courtyard had looked after her, helping her as she grew up.

Translator’s Notes