From the expression on Qin Zhifeng’s face, what else was there for Shen Jiao not to understand?
That scumbag had never once considered returning her money, much less paying her any compensation after their divorce.
“Qin Zhifeng, and you call yourself a university student? You don’t even understand the most basic principle that debts must be repaid. I’m not demanding financial support without justification, either. It’s written into the country’s laws. Surely a student from Capital University isn’t planning to disregard the law?”
She smiled coldly.
“In any case, I have nothing left to lose. I’m sure the teachers at Capital University would be delighted to have me visit the campus and expose the true face of a piece of scum like you.”
“Shen Jiao, don’t push me too far!” Qin Zhifeng snapped. “What good will it do you if I lose my future?”
The more enraged Qin Zhifeng became, the happier Shen Jiao felt.
There was no reason to show mercy to scum like him.
A radiant smile bloomed across her face, but the words she spoke nearly made Qin Zhifeng cough up blood.
“Of course it would do me some good. Watching a faithless Chen Shimei like you suffer would make me very happy.”
“Shen Jiao, I really underestimated you. You used to pretend to be kind and innocent in front of me. Now that you can’t gain anything from me anymore, you’ve finally revealed your true colours.”
Qin Zhifeng looked at her with disgust.
“Just thinking that I once shared a bed with you makes me want to vomit.”
Since he was determined to hurl insults, Shen Jiao naturally had no intention of swallowing her anger.
She snorted coldly.
“Being married to scum like you disgusts me even more!”
The former husband and wife confronted one another fiercely, neither willing to give an inch.
Standing nearby, Qin Zhifeng’s new wife, An Qing, began studying Shen Jiao.
Hadn’t she been told that Shen Jiao was merely a village woman with only a junior-middle-school education? How did she know anything about divorce law?
Her gaze shifted towards Gu Xinguo, who was standing silently beside them.
Could he have told Shen Jiao?
“Gu Xinguo, they’re arguing so badly now. Are you satisfied?”
Her words failed to earn even a glance from him.
To Gu Xinguo, she was now a stranger.
No, she was worth even less than a stranger.
Their marriage had never been based on love in the first place. It had merely been the result of a carefully arranged scheme.
More precisely, it had been An Qing’s scheme.
An Qing had grown up pampered and delicate. Because of problems with her family’s political background, she had been forced to go to the countryside as a sent-down educated youth.
The exhausting farm labour nearly killed her. She also could not bear the poor food and uncomfortable living conditions.
After listening to the advice of some older educated youths, she decided to marry a local villager so that her life would become easier.
Gu Xinguo, a discharged soldier who had been assigned a job as a freight driver in the county town, became her first choice.
Her scheme had been painfully conventional.
She had fallen into the water at precisely the right moment, allowing Gu Xinguo to play the hero and rescue the beauty.
After that, the two of them had naturally become husband and wife.
An Qing was delicate, beautiful, and educated. It would have been a lie to say that Gu Xinguo had never been attracted to her.
After all, everyone entered marriage hoping that their lives would improve.
However, An Qing was not only lazy and fond of comfort, but also treated him coldly after their marriage.
He could tell that, deep down, she looked down upon him as an uncultured country bumpkin.
Still, she was his wife. As long as she did nothing wrong, he intended to fulfil his responsibilities as her husband.
After she was admitted to university, Gu Xinguo could even have accepted her desire to divorce him.
What he could not accept was her becoming involved with another man before their divorce had been finalised.
That violated the most basic moral boundary and principle of being a decent human being.
Because of that, he looked down on her and had come to despise her from the bottom of his heart.
As for her refusal to return with him to visit his seriously ill Grandma, he certainly resented her for it, but he would not take that anger out on her.
“Gu Xinguo, were you the one who taught Shen Jiao to demand financial support?”
From beginning to end, Gu Xinguo could not even be bothered to say a single word to An Qing.
He would not spare her so much as a glance.
The money Shen Jiao was demanding rightfully belonged to her. He certainly would not step forward and stop her.
Besides, Qin Zhifeng was no decent person, either.
After receiving no response from Gu Xinguo, An Qing had no choice but to approach Shen Jiao instead.
She wanted to see whether she could fool Shen Jiao into letting the matter go for now.
Their most urgent task was to obtain their divorce certificates. Only then could she and Qin Zhifeng register their own marriage.
That was right.
Although An Qing and Qin Zhifeng had held a wedding banquet, they had never obtained a marriage certificate.
Both of them had shameful histories and hidden motives of their own. Somehow, they had agreed to hold the wedding first and wait until after graduation to register the marriage officially.
It was only yesterday, when Gu Xinguo and Shen Jiao appeared at their door together, that they discovered one another’s true circumstances.
Still, the pot could hardly call the kettle black. Neither of them was any better than the other.
In a way, this outcome was beneficial. It removed any hidden dangers that might have threatened their future marriage.
Fortunately, although they had both been married before, neither of them had any children.
The pair therefore reached an unspoken agreement to forgive each other’s past.
Now that their disguises had been torn away, it was best to cut through the mess quickly and settle everything as soon as possible.
The longer they delayed, the more complications might arise.
Although An Qing did not believe they had done anything particularly wrong, once such a scandal became public, it would undoubtedly affect their futures.
She stepped in front of Shen Jiao and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Comrade Shen, you didn’t mention this yesterday, so Zhifeng and I weren’t prepared. The train will be leaving soon, and we don’t have time to gather the money.”
“Why don’t we return home and complete the formalities first? Once we come back, we’ll immediately find a way to raise the money. As soon as we have it, we’ll send it to you. How does that sound?”
Oh?
Since intimidation had failed, she was changing to a gentler approach?
Unfortunately for her, Shen Jiao responded to neither hard nor soft tactics.
She responded only to money.
Until the money was safely in her hands, everything else was out of the question.
Still, Qin Zhifeng’s new wife was certainly calculating.
Her voice was soft and gentle, and there was no trace of the vicious shrew who had hurled insults yesterday.
However many tricks that shameless woman possessed, Shen Jiao needed only one move to defeat them all.
She would remain firm and demand her money.
Without money, she could barely survive. Why should she sympathise with other people’s difficulties?
She was not the Virgin Mary. She did not possess that much kindness.
“That sounds very easy when you say it, but I don’t trust either of you.”
Shen Jiao folded her arms.
“Either you give me the money when we collect the divorce certificate, or I’ll go to Capital University and create such a commotion that everyone will hear about it.”
“Besides, we haven’t even bought our train tickets yet. Hurry up and raise the money. We’ll return to complete the formalities whenever you manage to gather it.”
No matter what they said, Shen Jiao refused to change her mind.
At the same time, Qin Zhifeng and An Qing could not afford to abandon the divorce.
Qin Zhifeng might not have any money, but An Qing did.
After her parents were politically rehabilitated, they had received back pay as compensation, and more than half of it had been given to her.
She could afford the five hundred yuan Shen Jiao was demanding.
It simply hurt to part with so much.
“Thank you, Qingqing. Once I begin working, I’ll hand over my entire salary for you to manage. I’ll treat you well for the rest of my life!”
Qin Zhifeng was not completely stupid.
His wife was paying out of her own pocket to solve his problem, so he hurried forward to declare his loyalty and soothe her with sweet words.
As expected, a blissful smile appeared on An Qing’s face.
“I’ll remember what you said. If you ever dare treat me badly, you’ll regret it!”
“I swear upon my soul before Chairman Mao that I will never betray Comrade An Qing in this lifetime!”
Watching the two of them behave so affectionately made Shen Jiao’s eyes ache.
Was it really appropriate for them to flaunt their love in front of both their former spouses?
She had better block out this low-quality display of affection before it gave her food poisoning.
Qin Zhifeng and An Qing returned home to collect the money, while Shen Jiao and Gu Xinguo waited for them in the station waiting room.
Once they brought the money, the four of them would buy tickets and return to their hometowns.
With nothing else to do, Shen Jiao began asking Gu Xinguo about finding employment.
After divorcing Qin Zhifeng, she did not intend to remain in Shenjia Village.
Firstly, she was not the original Shen Jiao and feared exposing herself in front of people who knew the original owner well.
Secondly, as a divorced woman in the countryside, she would inevitably attract endless gossip.
Her sister-in-law would not allow her back into the family home, either.
As for her older brother, he was terrified of his wife. Even if he felt sorry for his younger sister, he would not dare take her in.
That meant Shen Jiao would have nowhere to live after her divorce.
One problem followed another.
Her most important task now was to find a job that would feed her, then find somewhere to live.
“Factories hardly ever recruit outsiders at present,” Gu Xinguo explained. “A large number of educated youths are returning to the cities, so the state has to prioritise arranging work for them.”
“You have a rural household registration and haven’t attended senior middle school or university. Your chances of finding a job are almost non-existent.”
Shen Jiao raked an irritated hand through her hair.
How was she supposed to settle down after returning?
This era was extremely unfriendly to her. She had barely arrived, and she had already inherited such a disastrous situation.
Gu Xinguo closed his eyes to rest.
Meanwhile, Shen Jiao searched through her memories, trying to identify any skills that would appear particularly impressive in this era—something extraordinary enough to persuade a factory or government work unit to make an exception and employ her.
She desperately needed a job.
Unfortunately, although she had worked many jobs and acquired several skills in her previous life, none of them were exceptional enough to astonish anyone.
The more she thought about it, the more discouraged she became.
She had never attended university.
She had not even attended senior middle school.
Her parents had formed new families and each had new children whom they treasured like the apples of their eyes.
For an unwanted burden like her, merely completing nine years of compulsory education had already been fortunate.
Although she had worked desperately hard and earned admission to a prestigious senior middle school, there had been no money for her tuition.
The moment she turned sixteen, reality forced her to leave school and begin working.
Her parents had stopped giving her even a single cent for living expenses.
During those years, she had endured every imaginable hardship.
She was not afraid of difficult or exhausting work.
All she wanted was a stable job that would allow her to support herself and establish a place in the world.
Was even such a humble request impossible to fulfil?
“We’ve gathered the money. Can we leave now?”
Qin Zhifeng and An Qing returned.
This time, Qin Zhifeng carried a briefcase.
Shen Jiao’s eyes immediately lit up as she stared at it.
Her money was inside!
Five hundred yuan had considerable purchasing power in this era.
If factories would not hire someone with a rural household registration, that did not matter.
She could use the money to purchase a job position.
She did not even need a permanent position. A temporary job would be enough, so long as it gave her somewhere to establish herself.
She could consider starting a small business later, but first she needed to settle in a city.
Anyone without a work unit or urban household registration who remained in a city could be classified as an unauthorised drifter. They might be forcibly sent home for “education.”
Therefore, she had no intention of attempting that for the time being.
Shen Jiao had forgotten the saying that plans could never keep up with change.
In the end, that bastard Qin Zhifeng would still manage to scheme against her, destroying every plan she had made.
But that would come later.
The group of four bought their train tickets, although the tickets were divided into two different classes.
Qin Zhifeng and An Qing had sleeper berths.
Shen Jiao and Gu Xinguo, meanwhile, had hard seats.
Sitting inside the old green train carriage and smelling the chaotic mixture of odours around her, Shen Jiao nearly vomited.
She also wanted to sit in the sleeper carriage.
Unfortunately, she had no money.
Gu Xinguo, on the other hand, sat perfectly upright in his seat without showing the slightest discomfort.
Shen Jiao could not help admiring him.
As expected of a former soldier.
The capital was not particularly far from Anyuan County, and the train journey took only one day.
Because they had purchased afternoon tickets, it was still dark when they arrived.
There were several hours remaining before dawn.
Shen Jiao and Gu Xinguo planned to wait in the station until daybreak, while Qin Zhifeng and An Qing went to a guesthouse.
Pulling her thin padded jacket more tightly around herself, Shen Jiao stared enviously and resentfully at the shameless couple as they left the waiting room.
She also desperately wanted to rest in a guesthouse.
Ever since transmigrating, she had suddenly discovered that she suffered from a chronic illness known as worrying about money.
Then she looked at Gu Xinguo.
He remained seated with his back perfectly straight, unaffected by everything happening around him.
Now that was genuine self-discipline.
“Comrade Gu, if I wanted to buy a temporary job position, how much would it cost? Would it even be possible?”
“It would be possible,” he replied. “But most positions available for purchase aren’t very good. Temporary workers also receive lower wages, and the factory or work unit won’t help resolve your household registration.”
As long as it was possible, that was enough.
She merely needed an opportunity to leave Shenjia Village.
She was not afraid of hardship or exhausting work.
After that, she asked Gu Xinguo many more questions about the current era.
She had not studied much, and her knowledge of this period was limited.
Although Gu Xinguo was a man of few words, he answered as many of Shen Jiao’s questions as he could.
Before they realised it, the sky had brightened.
Qin Zhifeng and An Qing returned.
Since they still needed to travel to Gu Xinguo’s hometown in Linqing County that day, they did not waste any time.
They boarded the first bus and returned to Shenjia Village.
When they reached the house to collect the household-registration booklet and marriage certificate, Shen Jiao’s brother and sister-in-law learned that she intended to divorce.
Both of them immediately exploded.
Her sister-in-law, in particular, created an enormous scene.
Leave a Reply