Chapter 100: The Pretty Military Wife of the Seventies 23

Whether a person’s life in this world is interesting or not is a matter of personal experience, like knowing whether water is warm or cold only by drinking it.

“Still, Xu Chunxia has no choice but to cling to Liu Zhanyuan. Her job transfer wasn’t coordinated properly, so she lost her job entirely, and she can’t go back to her old unit. If she doesn’t stick with Liu Zhanyuan and goes back to her parents’ home, she’ll just be a burden. These past two years, even temporary jobs have been fiercely contested. Xu Chunxia’s whole family has major flaws in social skills and finds it hard to get along with others. They don’t have any connections to pull strings for them, so finding even temporary work is difficult.” Mother Zhan’s assessment was correct.

A person has to survive first before they can worry about other problems.

At the end of the year, Xu Chunxia gave birth to another son. From across the way, Liu Zhanyuan’s laughter could be heard all day long.

Having a son versus not having one really made a difference for men of this era. Ever since Liu Zhanyuan had a biological son, his voice grew louder when talking to his comrades. He felt he had someone to carry on the family line, which gave him a sense of confidence.

Men with this mindset weren’t just a product of this era; even after 2020, there were many like him.

To them, not having a son was like having a broken spine.

The results of Su Huandan’s internal assessment came out. After the New Year, she would be able to return to Beijing for further studies, a program lasting three years.

Zhan Hongjun wouldn’t return to the Beijing Military Academy for his own three-year study program until the autumn.

Once the couple finished their studies, it would be time for promotions.

During the New Year, Sister-in-law Niu brought her eldest son over to pay a New Year’s visit.

Perhaps because her financial situation had improved after remarrying, Sister-in-law Niu’s depleted health had been restored. She was still very thin, but her previously sallow, dark skin had become fair and healthy.

Sister-in-law Niu was quite beautiful, with a broad face, large eyes, a high nose, and a heart-shaped mouth. It was a very dignified and elegant look.

One only had to look at Sister-in-law Niu’s children to know she wasn’t bad-looking, as the two sons who took after Brother Niu weren’t nearly as handsome as the others.

For this visit, Sister-in-law Niu brought two blocks of sugar, a box of Russian cookies, two jars of canned yellow peaches, two pounds of eggs, two fish, and two pounds of pork belly.

In this era, these gifts were incredibly heavy.

“Take them. If you don’t, you’re looking down on me. My eldest boy has become a permanent worker, and the master teaching him is very dedicated. My boy says he’s learned a lot of useful things. Without your Hongjun’s help, would people have given my boy such respect? My conditions weren’t great before, so I didn’t say much, but now that I have some spare money, you can’t stop me. How can these few things compare to the kindness Hongjun showed by helping my son?” Sister-in-law Niu didn’t just remember this debt of gratitude herself; she made sure her children remembered it too.

Sister-in-law Niu was in a hurry. She stayed for only a short while after dropping off the gifts and left before lunch.

After seeing Sister-in-law Niu off, Su Huandan walked back into the courtyard. The woman who had married Chen Li’s ex-husband was leaning over the wall, smiling as she spoke to Su Huandan. “That was Sister-in-law Niu, wasn’t it? She’s become so beautiful now. It just goes to show how important it is for a woman to find the right man. Look at you, Sister? Commander Zhan pampers you more than most people pamper their children. And look at Sister-in-law Niu’s complexion after remarrying; it’s only because she’s eating well and taking care of herself that her health has improved. Let me tell you, Sister, my man…”

This young wife was an even bigger gossip than Sister-in-law Zhan, and her favorite thing was to complain about how poorly things were going at home.

The messy affairs of her household were known to everyone in the Military Compound.

She truly told everyone she met. To hear her tell it, she was completely blameless, while her husband and his family were the ones at fault.

This young wife was exactly the kind of daughter-in-law that every in-law family hated most.

Which family didn’t have some embarrassing nonsense going on?

Most people couldn’t hide it fast enough for fear of becoming a laughingstock, but once this daughter-in-law entered the house, the family had no more secrets. She spent all day giving live reports to everyone else.

Su Huandan really wanted to ask Chen Li’s ex-husband: was his new wife truly better than Chen Li?

She wasn’t as pretty as Chen Li, she didn’t have a job, her cooking wasn’t as good, she hadn’t gotten pregnant yet, and he still hadn’t gotten the son he wanted!

Since the ex-husband’s remarriage, the frequency of the couple’s arguments and fights was on par with Liu Zhanyuan’s house across the way.

As for the neighbors across the street?

Xu Chunxia had a difficult labor this time and couldn’t even get out of bed during her entire postpartum recovery month. It was her son who looked after her; no one else lent a hand, and the household food budget was very limited.

She had to rest for two months before she could be seen in public. She looked much like Sister-in-law Niu used to look—dark and thin—but her eyes were even more unsettling. Her gaze was always vacant and staring, giving people the feeling that she had reached the absolute limit of her endurance.

Zhan Hongjun remarked that something was bound to happen with the couple across the way sooner or later.

But whether something happened or not, they wouldn’t be around to see it for a while.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month¹, Su Huandan boarded the train back to Beijing.

After she returned to the Military Compound, many people recognized her and went home to gossip with their families. “Old Liu’s former daughter-in-law, the one the Liu family bullied so badly, is back. Look at the life she’s living now that she’s married into the Zhan family. I heard she joined the military based on her own accounting skills.”

Why bring her up?

“Oh, I ran into her at the main gate just now. She must be back to visit relatives. She looks just as fresh and radiant as she did when she first married into the Zhan family years ago. When life is smooth, you age slowly.” The speaker’s tone was sour, clearly complaining that her own life wasn’t smooth and that she was aging too fast.

Her husband glanced at his old wife’s face and thought to himself, “You’re in your sixties. You’re comparing how fast you age to a young woman who isn’t even thirty yet… are you just bored?”

The Zhan family was very happy about Su Huandan’s return to the compound. Sister-in-law Zhan was already attending university in Beijing. She had managed to pass the entrance exam through sheer effort, though she only barely made the cut. She was attending an agricultural college; with her grades, she really couldn’t have gotten into any other school.

“Being able to go to university is better than anything. I wasn’t looking to be picky about a career; I just wanted to go wherever I could get in. To be honest, I was nervous before and after the exam, but now that I’m a university student, I don’t have to worry about my future job.” The joy on Sister-in-law Zhan’s face was undisguised. The visible irritability she’d had during her last visit to Su Huandan’s home was completely gone.

That was true. Going to university had always been Sister-in-law Zhan’s dream. Now that her dream had come true, if she still felt like life wasn’t going smoothly, then she really… deserved to be scolded.

One had to realize that in this era, her life was already better than ninety percent of women; she was living a life of privilege.

A person had to learn to be content to feel happiness. For someone with bottomless desires, you could give them a throne and they still wouldn’t find a sense of fulfillment.

When little Zhan Hao saw his mother, he was so happy that he dashed all over the house. One moment, he was stuffing the candy his grandfather gave him into his mother’s hand; the next, he was handing her the toys his aunt, Sister-in-law Zhan, had bought for him. A moment later, he was pestering his grandmother, asking, “When are we having lunch?”

He was clearly worried his mother might go hungry.

The affection between mother and son was so sweet it could set one’s teeth on edge²!

Translator’s Notes