Seeing Wan Xinguo stride toward the door, Chen Chen clenched her teeth, her eyes seething with fury. "Wan Xinguo, how ruthless of you! You’d rather believe the baseless gossip of others than trust me!"
Wan Xinguo turned around, his profound eyes fixing on her.
Wan Xinguo was somewhat older, his cheeks reddened by the sun, which gave him a weather-beaten look. He had large eyes with deep-set double eyelids—his gaze was sharp, and it made Chen Chen involuntarily back away three steps.
"What are you looking at me for? Am I wrong?" Chen Chen spoke with a fierce exterior but was inwardly unsettled.
"Comrade Chen Chen," Wan Xinguo began slowly, "I really hope that you can produce evidence to show that all the idle talk about you is slander. However, your words and actions have made me realize that rumors don’t arise out of thin air. If you had even a hint of loyalty to our marriage, you wouldn’t have this attitude. Wan Xinguo has been in the army for twenty years. Although I have spent those years living in the military camp, I am not a fool. I have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to distinguish right from wrong, truth from lies."
After a pause, Wan Xinguo continued, "If I had known from the beginning that you never cared for me, that marrying me was just due to the army’s arrangements, I would rather have remained single for life than become your revolutionary comrade and waste your prime years. There’s no use in talking further. Comrade Chen Chen, let us part on good terms. If the military becomes involved, it will be beyond repair."
"Are you threatening me?" Chen Chen’s face darkened, and she finally stopped denying her actions.
"I am simply speaking the truth," Wan Xinguo said indifferently, with resolute finality, "A day as husband and wife entails a hundred days of grace. Comrade Chen Chen, please let me go, and keep the last of your dignity."
"If we divorce, whoever doesn’t want to divorce is a damned coward!" Chen Chen spat out these words through her gritted teeth.
Wan Xinguo said with self-mockery, "Right now, I am no different from a damned coward."
Who wouldn’t talk behind his back with a green hat placed firmly on his head? He was grateful that Lu Jiang and his wife had not kept the news from him; otherwise, his whole life would have become a laughingstock for everyone.
However, he didn’t expect that Chen Chen would still demand compensation, as if it were only natural, "I was an untouched bride when I married you, and you’ve ruined me. Now, I’ve become a cast-off wife without any reason. You owe me compensation. You have to pay me, or even if it causes a stir in the army, I will not agree to the divorce!"
"What did you say?" For the first time, Wan Xinguo realized that besides being shameless, Chen Chen was also utterly unscrupulous. She had been unfaithful in the marriage, squandered all her savings and most of the salary during the marriage, and now she was demanding compensation from him?
"Three thousand yuan!" Chen Chen held up three fingers.
Wan Xinguo sneered, "Comrade Chen Chen, do you really think I, Wan Xinguo, am a fool who will let you take whatever you want?"
Three thousand yuan was more than what he made in a year with his salary and allowances.
Not to mention that he didn’t have that amount of money, even if he did, he wouldn’t give it to Chen Chen at this moment. As the one who was hurt in the marriage, not tearing into a divorce with Chen Chen was already a sign of his magnanimity.
"If you don’t pay, I won’t divorce!" For the sake of her future, she was all in—after all, it was Wan Xinguo who had proposed the divorce.
"If you won’t divorce, I will seek the army’s intervention." Wan Xinguo remained immune to Chen Chen’s threats. "Comrade Chen Chen, I advise you to take what you can get and not be ungrateful. I, Wan Xinguo, have crawled out of piles of dead. Face doesn’t matter to me. Even if this gets out, at most, I’ll lose face, but it will not be the same for you, Comrade Chen Chen."