Chapter 89: The Pretty Military Wife of the Seventies 12

Early the next morning, Zhan Hongjun took Su Huandan to the Administrative Office Building.

They arrived first, followed shortly by Liu Zhanyuan and his wife.

Inside the office, the moment the two parties met, Zhan Hongjun and Su Huandan wore smiles that were particularly meaningful.

Liu Zhanyuan let out a cold snort and leaned against the wall, remaining silent and refusing to even glance in their direction.

Xu Chunxia’s face, however, had turned completely pale.

She hadn’t originally intended to marry Liu Zhanyuan, but her family’s circumstances wouldn’t allow otherwise.

Why had she agreed to follow the army so readily later on?

It was specifically to avoid running into the Zhan family in the military compound.

She never imagined in her wildest dreams that even after moving to the base, she would still run into her ex-husband.

Xu Chunxia was trembling all over. If Zhan Hongjun exposed her past, would she still have the face to stay in this unit?

And what about Liu Zhanyuan?

It was obvious he didn’t get along with Zhan Hongjun. If things went south, she might end up divorced, and her family members’ jobs hadn’t even been made permanent yet…

No, she couldn’t take this assessment. At the very least, she couldn’t compete for the position against Zhan Hongjun’s current wife. It wouldn’t be good to provoke him.

She turned, wanting to tell Liu Zhanyuan they should leave, but she couldn’t think of a good excuse.

Xu Chunxia was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.

The Section Chief¹ of the Finance Section arrived at that moment.

Holding two exam papers, he handed them to Su Huandan and Xu Chunxia.

“Start the questions now. Hand them in in half an hour. Whoever gets the better score stays,” Section Chief Lu said, pointing toward the desks. He placed two fountain pens on the table.

Then he sat down in a chair to the side. Liu Zhanyuan sat down beside him with a swagger and began chatting with Section Chief Lu.

In terms of rank, Section Chief Lu, Liu Zhanyuan, and Zhan Hongjun were all battalion-level officers.

But Liu Zhanyuan was only a deputy battalion commander…

Section Chief Lu had already frowned several times. Your wife is taking an exam, yet you’re sitting here chattering non-stop. What kind of person does that?

Zhan Hongjun kept his eyes on his own wife. Seeing that Su Huandan was unaffected while Xu Chunxia was breaking out in a cold sweat, he smiled silently.

He felt like his wife could truly be his comrade-in-arms.

Twenty minutes later, Su Huandan finished the paper. The questions were difficult for someone who hadn’t formally studied finance.

Even when the military looked for temporary finance personnel, they only wanted people with actual skills, not someone just making up the numbers.

Therefore, after Section Chief Lu looked over Su Huandan’s paper, he knew she was fit to join.

The Finance Section was desperately shorthanded. His staff had been working late nights in shifts for half a year now; they had finally found a helper.

However, Section Chief Lu calmly set Su Huandan’s paper aside and waited for Xu Chunxia to finish before carefully reviewing her answers.

There were ten questions, all requiring professional knowledge to even understand. Xu Chunxia didn’t know a damn thing. She had run into trouble from the very first question, and as a result, she hadn’t gotten a single one right.

One paper was covered in red checkmarks; the other was covered in red crosses.

Liu Zhanyuan’s face visibly turned into a “red cross” as well.

Section Chief Lu didn’t try to embarrass anyone. He smiled at Su Huandan and said, “It’s still early. Have your Old Zhan take you to handle the enlistment procedures. By this afternoon, we’ll be comrades.”

After saying this, Section Chief Lu didn’t look up again, lowering his head to get back to work.

There were so many accounts to verify and calculate; how could he waste so much time?

The four of them left Section Chief Lu’s office. Right at the doorway, Liu Zhanyuan couldn’t hold it in and growled at Xu Chunxia.

“Didn’t you say you knew how to do finance?” If Zhan Hongjun hadn’t been right there, he wouldn’t have been so angry. But wasn’t Zhan Hongjun watching right now?

How humiliating.

Xu Chunxia was also incredibly embarrassed. How could the woman Zhan Hongjun married after her actually know finance?

Why was it that the more she searched, the worse her options got, while Zhan Hongjun had found someone young, beautiful, and capable of doing finance?

Lost in her self-pity, Xu Chunxia didn’t even hear Liu Zhanyuan’s words.

Zhan Hongjun was a kind-hearted soul, so he helpfully offered a response: “Xu Chunxia doesn’t know finance, didn’t you know? You’re a married couple; as her husband, you actually didn’t know?”

A surge of frustration blocked Liu Zhanyuan’s chest. I’m her husband and I didn’t know, so why do you, Zhan Hongjun, know?

“Xu Chunxia is my ex-wife. Although we never lived together for a single day, we grew up in the same family compound. That’s how I know she doesn’t know a thing about finance. She’s fine with superficial things, but when it comes to real work, she’s useless,” Zhan Hongjun said with a smile, then took Su Huandan’s hand and walked away.

One didn’t need to look to know how ugly Liu Zhanyuan’s expression was.

Xu Chunxia was even more humiliated, closing her eyes and leaning against the wall in silence, looking at no one.

This was no place for a conversation. Could they go home and talk then?

Liu Zhanyuan knew this as well, so he dragged Xu Chunxia back home.

Section Chief Lu: …

Tsk tsk. He had just set aside some time to conduct an assessment, he hadn’t expected to get such a juicy piece of gossip.

It was a pity he wasn’t a big mouth, otherwise this drama would definitely cause a sensation in the unit.

It was better than a movie.

Two hours later, Su Huandan changed into a military uniform. She was officially enlisted as a private.

Even so, she now had a formal position and a government-funded job.

The couple parted ways before lunch. Although Zhan Hongjun had fired a parting shot at the door of the Finance Section, the two of them didn’t actually care whether Liu Zhanyuan and his wife would get into a fight.

For lunch, Su Huandan took her clean new lunch box to the No. 3 Canteen.

The taste was alright. Naturally, it was worse than her own cooking, but it wasn’t bad. The portions were generous and there was meat, though not much.

After eating, she went home to rest for a while before officially starting work in the afternoon.

Including Su Huandan, there were only six people in the Finance Section. The workload was truly intense.

“Before, with only five of us, some accounts had issues and we’ve been sorting and auditing them. The five of us have been working overtime for over half a year. It’s great that you’re here; now we won’t need to work overtime. If we finish the day’s work on the same day, everyone can finally breathe a little easier,” Section Chief Lu welcomed Su Huandan wholeheartedly.

Even a body made of iron couldn’t hold up under long-term overtime.

Su Huandan clicked the beads of her abacus. In one afternoon, she completed the entire workload Section Chief Lu had assigned her.

She was able to get off work right on time before dinner.

The entire Finance Section, from top to bottom, was overjoyed. They could finally get some proper rest today.

Having one extra person versus being one person short truly made a world of difference.

For dinner, Su Huandan packed her food to eat at home.

There were no meat dishes left for dinner, but she could still scramble some eggs once she got home.

Just as she reached her front door, she ran straight into Xu Chunxia, who was carrying a luggage bag. Su Huandan took one quick look and headed into the courtyard.

Things must have escalated quite fiercely for Xu Chunxia to be leaving with her bags packed.

Was she being kicked out by Liu Zhanyuan, or was Xu Chunxia leaving of her own accord?

Su Huandan started the fire, and just as the scrambled eggs were finished and placed on the table, Zhan Hongjun returned. No. 5 Canteen had prepared fish tonight, and he had brought some back for his wife.

The moment he entered and set down the lunchbox, he started chatting with Su Huandan. “The neighbors across the way are making a scene. Xu Chunxia wanted to leave, but Liu Zhanyuan grabbed her and dragged her back inside.”

He wondered if they would end up in a physical fight.

Su Huandan thought to herself that while she didn’t know if Liu Zhanyuan had a habit of domestic violence, his father certainly did. In the original owner’s memory, Old Lady Liu would occasionally sport a black eye. Surely that couldn’t have been caused by an outsider?

Translator’s Notes