Chapter 80: The Pretty Military Wife of the Seventies 3

Su Huandan was in high spirits and made a large batch of dumplings. She calculated the portions based on the number of people, regardless of whether they were adults or children, allocating thirty dumplings per person.

The back courtyard was home to the three of them—all single or widowed—while the front courtyard housed four families. All were widows raising children. Sister-in-law Li and Sister-in-law Chen each had two children, while Little Sister-in-law Li and Sister-in-law Zhang each had one.

There were six children in the front courtyard in total. The oldest was thirteen, and the youngest was the daughter of Sister-in-law Zhang, who had just been settled in this small courtyard by the Street Office last year. She was only a little over a year old.

Once Su Huandan and the two grandmothers finished wrapping the dumplings, she rushed out during dinner time to deliver them house by house.

Sister-in-law Li, Little Sister-in-law Li, and Sister-in-law Chen accepted the dumplings with smiles. Whenever they had something good to eat at home, they would send a portion to Su Huandan in return. This was how they had supported each other over the years.

However, the newcomer, Sister-in-law Zhang, kept refusing. She received a pension and had been placed in a job at the Street Office, so she had a salary and truly didn’t feel she needed charity.

“Sister-in-law Zhang, this really isn’t charity. I’m just happy, so I’m treating the whole courtyard to dumplings. You know about my marriage—it’s not worth mentioning. You’re always worried about me spending money on my in-laws and afraid I don’t have enough to spare, which is why you’re hesitant to take these, right? I’m divorced, Sister-in-law. It’s over. Staying in that kind of family would have done me no good. Now that I’m out, I’m happy. No matter what you say, you have to take these dumplings.” After setting the dumplings down and finishing her piece, Su Huandan left.

Sister-in-law Zhang looked at the dumplings and sighed. Little Su was a pitiful soul. In this world, when would things ever get better for women?

Just after receiving the dumplings, Sister-in-law Zhang turned around and brought half a pound of pork belly to Su Huandan.

“Divorce is a good thing for you. This meat is a congratulatory gift; you can’t refuse it.” Sister-in-law Zhang was that type of person—if you gave her something, she immediately wanted to give something back.

The difference between her and the other sisters-in-law was that her reciprocation was more immediate. The others usually waited until they received their wages and had a surplus before returning the favor. None of them were the type to take advantage of others.

This was the foundation of their harmonious neighborhood.

Su Huandan found these neighbors quite pleasant to live with, though it made it difficult to secretly improve her own meals.

Living in a shared courtyard, she couldn’t enter her Underworld courtyard after reincarnation. The Portable Space she could use was merely a storage warehouse. If she wanted to eat something good, she had the ingredients in her space, but she could only cook them at home, which meant she would be discovered.

It wasn’t that Su Huandan didn’t want to invite the neighbors to eat together, but everything required ration coupons¹. The original owner’s sources of income were transparent, so how could she explain the extra ingredients?

Therefore, she had to find a way to make her life better while ensuring the neighbors had nothing to gossip about.

She decided to let things be for the winter.

When her cravings became unbearable, Su Huandan would go to the Black Market to buy meat. Every time she brought some back, the two grandmothers and the four sisters-in-law in the courtyard would nag her.

“Are you not planning for the future?”

“Isn’t it better to keep more money on you?”

They didn’t just talk; they refused to eat a single bite and even stopped their children from going to Su Huandan’s house to eat meat.

It was so expensive. If she wasn’t desperate, she wouldn’t have gone to the Black Market. They couldn’t take advantage of her like that; their consciences wouldn’t allow it.

As the ice and snow melted, Su Huandan’s peaceful daily life was shattered.

During the divorce, Su Huandan had never even met the original owner’s in-laws. The Women’s Federation had intervened and finalized the divorce.

Su Huandan had thought her only goal was the divorce. As for seeking revenge for the original owner, that wasn’t her business. There was no deal between the two of them. The one paying the price for using the body to revive was the Underworld, not Su Huandan herself.

Consequently, Su Huandan truly believed that once the divorce was done, the matter was settled.

She had overlooked what would happen to the original owner’s in-laws.

And what did happen?

The original owner’s husband, Liu Zhanyuan, had suffered terrible luck. Not only did his expected promotion vanish, but he was also transferred away. Because everyone in his original unit knew about his affairs, it created a bad influence. He couldn’t stay there any longer, so he asked his father to find a way to transfer him to another unit.

However, his father had been too hasty with the transfer. He had planned to send his son away first and then fix the paperwork later, but someone reported the matter.

Since someone had blown the whistle on such behavior, accountability was naturally sought.

He was suspended and moved to the second line of command². His salary continued, his benefits remained, and the family was allowed to keep living in the Military Compound, but he no longer held any real power.

There were only so many positions in the military. When Liu Zhanyuan’s father stepped down, someone else naturally stepped up.

And who was it?

Coincidentally, the family that moved up was named Zhan, and they had a long-standing grudge against the Liu family.

Years ago, Liu Zhanyuan’s father had stolen someone’s military credit. By the time the Zhan family found out, Liu Zhanyuan’s father had already become a general and secured his position. It wasn’t easy to seek justice after that.

But the Zhan family had endured for six years, and they seized this opportunity. The Liu family fell.

Su Huandan didn’t know any of this yet. If she did, she would have laughed out loud. She would have loved to ask them if they still dared to do wicked things.

As the saying goes, it’s not that there’s no retribution, it’s just that the time hasn’t come yet!

The Liu family hadn’t originally intended to do anything to the daughter-in-law they had divorced. Once it was over, it was over; they could have found a wife with a better family background for their son.

But after the Liu family fell, Liu Zhanyuan’s dream of finding a well-connected wife was just that—a dream.

Ever since Su Huandan proposed the divorce, the Liu family had been on a downward slope—a tumbling one at that. The whole family was feeling incredibly miserable and frustrated.

Unable to confront the Zhan family or the military, they had nowhere to vent their anger. Their hatred shifted, and Su Huandan found herself blocked at the factory gates by the original owner’s former mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

People were coming and going—passersby and factory workers alike.

The workers gathered around to protect Su Huandan, looking at the Liu mother and daughter as if they were fools while the two women wailed their grievances.

They claimed Su Huandan was a jinx, that she wasn’t filial to her elders, and that she hadn’t visited them once in the two years of her marriage.

Such words might have fooled a few passersby.

But who in the factory didn’t know that Su Huandan’s in-laws were from a high-ranking family and that Su Huandan hadn’t been allowed to live there at all?

“Leaders, I want to see your leaders! I want to ask if you care about Su Huandan’s lack of filial piety toward her parents-in-law before her divorce! How did someone with such a flawed character become a permanent employee³ of your factory? So many people in their thirties and forties here are still temporary workers, so how could a twenty-year-old girl like Su Huandan become a permanent employee as soon as she entered? I’m telling you, it’s all because…” The former mother-in-law wanted to say it was because of their family.

“Shut your mouth. You’re old enough to know better, yet here you are twisting the truth. Don’t you feel any shame?” Su Huandan cut her mother-in-law off mid-sentence. Greed could drive people to do anything. If she actually let the woman shout that the original owner’s job had been secured by the Liu family, there was no guarantee that someone in the factory wouldn’t get ideas and try to strip Su Huandan of her permanent position.

“Stop trying to flatter your family. My permanent status was earned by my father, who traded his life for it on the battlefield. There are many Orphans of Martyrs placed in various factories through similar arrangements. Are you trying to suggest there’s something wrong with the national policy, or do you think an Orphan of a Martyr should be out on the streets begging for food?”

Translator’s Notes