Chapter Five: Oh My, Finally Spoken Aloud

Sun Bailing received the divorce petition submitted by Luo Shicheng and immediately slammed the table, ordering Luo to bring Hua Li and Luo Yan to his office at once.

Hua Li had just recovered from a serious illness and, upon returning home from the hospital, was temporarily unable to work. Without a job, there was no money; without money, forget about nutritional supplements for recovery—even three square meals a day were out of reach. Hua Li was gaunt and sallow-faced; it took all her strength just to walk from the residential compound to the military district, gasping for air every few steps. By the time she reached Sun Bailing’s office, she collapsed onto the sofa, nearly fainting.

Sun Bailing was instantly enraged and grilled Luo Shicheng, "What is going on? Have you not been taking proper care of them?"

Luo Shicheng, indifferent as a stone, retorted that they were not his wife, so why should he care?

In truth, Luo Yan had not gone hungry during the few days she lived with Hua Li. She had consumed all the malted milk powder and snacks that Sun Bailing had bought for her, while Hua Li had not touched a single bite, terrified that the child might go hungry. To ensure the desired effect, Luo Yan did not share the food with her mother, watching as Hua Li boiled the meager ration of rice into a broth so thin one could see their own reflection in it. She knew that only by ensuring Sun Bailing saw Hua Li in an even more wretched state than before could she convince him to properly discipline her scumbag father.

"Luo Shicheng, if you don't give me a valid explanation today, I will call your father immediately and have him ask you why you treat your own wife and daughter this way."

Luo Shicheng frowned. "If they are in poor health, you should ask a doctor. What is the point of asking me?"

Although harsh, the point was logical. Sun Bailing called the military physician on the intercom. After checking Hua Li’s blood pressure and asking about her general condition, the doctor informed Sun Bailing, "Comrade Hua has no major medical issues. Her physical weakness is entirely due to starvation."

Sun Bailing immediately ordered a guard to fetch porridge and vegetables from the canteen. Hua Li did not stand on ceremony; she picked up a spoon and fed Luo Yan first. Luo Yan ate with her own spoon while Hua Li began to eat from the bowl. Once she finished, Sun Bailing asked her gently, "Shicheng’s wife, can you tell me why you haven’t been eating properly since returning home?"

Sun Bailing had seen her in such a miserable state more than once, so Hua Li stopped hiding the truth and said through tears, "It's not that I don't want to eat; it's that I don't have the money to buy food."

Luo Shicheng’s face darkened instantly. "Don't play the victim. How have you managed all these years without money?" He implied that perhaps another man had grown tired of her and stopped providing for her.

Sun Bailing silenced Luo Shicheng and continued to question Hua Li.

"You are a military dependent; jobs are always arranged. I recall you should have been working at the supply and marketing cooperative. How could you be penniless? Or did you encounter some difficulty that drained your funds? Tell Uncle Sun, and I will help you solve it."

Hua Li’s tears flowed like a fountain as she choked out, "Luo Shicheng gave my job at the cooperative to Liu Jingqiu. I don't mind telling you the shameful truth: ever since I married Luo Shicheng, I have never received a single cent from him. I have always relied on odd jobs to support myself and the child. I can endure the suffering, but the child cannot. Uncle Sun, please, I beg you to approve my divorce from Luo Shicheng."

Sun Bailing’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. "This is outrageous! Luo Shicheng, who gave you permission to give Luo Yan's job to someone else?"

Luo Shicheng did not believe he had done anything wrong. "Anguo saved my life; it was only right that she give her job to Liu Jingqiu."

Sun Bailing laughed in cold fury. "The state provides allowances for the families of martyrs and veterans and arranges jobs based on individual circumstances. As far as I know, Anguo’s family was also arranged to work at that same cooperative. Tell me, Luo Shicheng, how exactly does Liu Jingqiu work two jobs at once?"

Luo Shicheng, unaware that Liu Jingqiu had already been provided a position, was rendered speechless.

Sun Bailing continued, "This talk of a 'life-saving debt' is a joke. On the battlefield, soldiers covering for one another is standard procedure. Since when did that become something you settle privately behind everyone's back? I reached the position of division commander through the sacrifices of countless comrades. If I followed your logic, I wouldn't need to serve the country at all—I’d be too busy repaying debts every single day."

Luo Shicheng was left without a word. Sun Bailing called the cooperative to notify Liu Jingqiu to come to the military district to see him. After hanging up, he asked Hua Li, "Even if your job was given away, what about his allowance?"

As a battalion commander, Luo Shicheng’s total monthly allowance was over a hundred yuan, so it was no surprise Sun Bailing asked. Hua Li suppressed the bitterness in her heart and said clearly, "I have no right to his allowance. It is only right that he doesn't give it to me."

Sun Bailing nearly lost his composure; his voice turned chillingly cold. "If his allowance doesn't go to you, who does it go to?"

At the critical moment, Hua Li seemed unable to speak. Luo Yan, frustrated, picked up a small biscuit Sun Bailing had given her and shoved it into Luo Shicheng’s hand, revealing her scumbag father’s secrets in a milky, childish voice.

"It goes to Auntie Liu, it goes to..."

Though it seemed like a child’s random remark, the timing was perfect. Sun Bailing could not help but draw his own conclusions.

"Luo Shicheng, have you been giving all your allowances to Liu Jingqiu?"

Luo Shicheng nodded.

"Absurd!" Sun Bailing had not been this angry in years; his hands trembled violently. "Don't tell me you gave your money to another man’s wife under the guise of repaying a life-saving debt!"

Luo Shicheng did not deny it, and Sun Bailing gritted his teeth.

Hua Li covered her face and wept bitterly. "Uncle Sun, please don't scold him. It is all my fault..."

Summoning her courage, Hua Li revealed the most harrowing part of her past. "On our wedding night, I was knocked unconscious and drugged... I screamed for help, and someone did drive away the villain who was bullying me, but... but in the end, that person, that person violated me... *sob*... The child is not Luo Shicheng’s. It is already a great mercy that he gave us mother and daughter a place to live. I have no face to ask for his allowance, let alone receive it."

*Oh, goodness,* Luo Yan thought, finally relieved after having been so anxious she could have jumped.

Upon hearing this, Luo Shicheng’s face turned as cold as frost. "On your wedding night, you weren't with someone else... you were forced?"

Hua Li cried uncontrollably. "Yes. I loved you; how could I ever have been with anyone else? That man was too strong; I couldn't fight him off. I wanted to die afterward, but the one at fault wasn't me. If anyone should die, it should have been him. Why should it have been me?"

"Do you remember what that man looked like? Or if he had any identifying features?"

Hua Li, emotionally shattered, covered her face with her hands, her voice trembling violently. "It was the middle of the night; I couldn't see his face clearly. But I touched his chest, and there was a large, hard patch—I don't know if it was a scar or something else."

Luo Shicheng raised his hand and, through his clothes, touched his own chest. There was a deep, long-standing scar there, hardened by time, and next to it, the faint remnants of scratch marks left by a woman.

As if Hua Li’s weeping had merged with the cries of that woman from long ago, Luo Shicheng fell into a trance. Could the woman from that night have been Hua Li?

Immediately, Luo Shicheng dismissed the thought. How could it be such a coincidence?

Hua Li cried until she was oxygen-deprived, her vision blurring. As her hands fell weakly from her face, she caught sight of Luo Shicheng’s silhouette in the dim light—it overlapped perfectly with the shadow of the man from that night.