Chapter 2844 Childhood Friends

"Just like that—divorced?" Tan Shuangxi still hadn't recovered from the shock, murmuring to himself. The word divorce was nothing new to him; he heard it often enough. But someone he actually knew getting divorced—this was a first.

"What else could they do?" Old Chen exhaled a smoke ring and sighed. "Her parents both came to counsel them, her brother and sister-in-law too. They said Caiwang was honest and proper, a solid farmer, the family was doing fine, and his in-laws weren't nasty people. What was wrong with him! But they couldn't override her decision. After all, it's the Senate's 'law'—if one party wants a divorce, both can separate. Even if the family disagreed, if she made a scene at the county court, it would come to the same result. Better to preserve some dignity."

Tan Shuangxi remained too stunned to speak. He could only nod in silence. In the military, some men always had "your wife dumped you" and "get divorced when you go back" on their lips. But the Senate had policies protecting military marriages, so actual divorces were rarely heard of.

"Could this woman have had someone on the side?" Tan Shuangxi suddenly thought of the puppet drama A Flower Coin he'd once seen, which promoted freedom of marriage—the heroine had been exactly like this.

"Probably," the old scholar said. "Only she wouldn't admit to having an affair. Just kept saying she and Caiwang weren't compatible, that they couldn't live together. A woman still has some sense of shame."

"If she had any shame, she wouldn't have filed for divorce."

"I say she's just greedy for money!"

"She's got herself a wild man!"

...

The "news center" immediately erupted in denunciations of "former Sister-in-law Caiwang." Everyone agreed that Caiwang himself hadn't done anything wrong. In short, the consensus was that he'd simply been "unlucky."

"...Not only did his wife run off, he lost a big sum of money too!"

"The bride price?"

"Exactly, the bride price." Old Chen stubbed out his cigarette, which had burned down to his fingers. "Sixty dollars! Her family would only refund half. His father went begging everywhere. I helped speak on their behalf. Finally, the village put together a group to file a complaint at the town office. The town's Justice Section mediated, and in the end, two-thirds was refunded."

"Think about it—a solid twenty dollars, just gone like that. Caiwang's family works the dirt. How many dollars can they save in a year? That woman, just one year of marriage and she made off with twenty dollars! The world is going to hell!" The old scholar was indignant.

Tan Shuangxi didn't know what to say. In the military, he rarely heard of such jarring things, and now he found them difficult to accept. Suddenly he remembered his agreement with Yang Zhaodi. An unpleasant feeling rose in him, like having swallowed a fly. Could that girl be playing some trick to deceive and use him?

He immediately sank into anxiety and suspicion. His expression darkened. He made a few hasty responses and walked away.

Tan Shuangxi wandered aimlessly along the small river, calming his emotions. Thinking it over, Yang Zhaodi hadn't actually deceived him about anything. As for that promise, it didn't really matter. After all, no one had come to ask whether things had worked out. If they did ask, he could give a vague answer. Besides, he could simply report to the Political Department in a month or two that the two of them had broken up—if married couples could divorce, why couldn't people who were merely dating part ways?

And anyway, his marriage was guaranteed by the Senate. He really had no need for such worries. At this thought, his gloomy mood lifted somewhat.

With lighter spirits, his steps grew lighter too. Just as he was passing a stretch of fields, a familiar figure appeared before him, repairing a leaky section of a channel bank. Looking closer—who else but Caiwang!

Caiwang's silhouette in the sunlight seemed somehow lonely. His movements were practiced and strong, yet Tan Shuangxi could sense a trace of weariness emanating from him.

Tan Shuangxi quickened his pace and walked up behind him. "Caiwang," he called softly.

Caiwang's body tensed. He turned around, surprise written across his face. A flash of complex emotion passed through his eyes, quickly replaced by a smile. "Shuangxi? You're back!" His voice was a bit hoarse, but more than that, it carried surprised joy.

The two embraced tightly. Then Caiwang stepped back, looking Tan Shuangxi up and down.

"Look at you—more and more like a soldier." He laughed, then studied him again. "Everyone says you got promoted..."

"Acting platoon leader—still just an enlisted boss." Tan Shuangxi laughed as well. He patted Caiwang's shoulder. "And you look more and more like an old hand at farming."

Caiwang was a year older than him, already past the green of youth. Field labor had made his frame husky, and had also etched lines into his weathered skin.

The two exchanged smiles. Caiwang pointed at a rock on the channel bank. "Come, sit." They sat down. Caiwang pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Tan Shuangxi, then took one for himself.

Tan Shuangxi noticed that his cigarettes were the cheapest white-shell Big Production brand. He wanted to offer his own but worried about giving the wrong impression, so he simply took out his matches and lit up.

"Fixing channels?"

"Mm. Rain's been light lately. Good time to do repairs." Caiwang nodded. "The family took on another ten-plus mu this year. Planning to go all out next year."

Tan Shuangxi knew the situation: Caiwang's family didn't have much labor. Besides his parents, Caiwang had a married-off older sister and a younger brother still only around ten—not really a worker yet.

"Your family's short on hands. Can you farm all that?"

Caiwang lowered his head and smoked in silence for a few puffs. Then he looked up. "Originally we had over forty mu. This time I talked it over with Dad—we'll take on another ten-plus and round up to sixty mu. We already have one ox. I've agreed with the Heavenly Land Society to take out a loan for another. While grain prices are good these years, we'll grow more grain and earn more money."

"That's a lot of hard work. Can you manage?"

"Whether we can manage or not, we've got to grit our teeth and do it. No choice—we have to make up the losses." Caiwang sighed. "By the way, any plans now that you're back? I heard from Old Chen that veterans can be discharged this time."

Tan Shuangxi sighed. "Not planning to come back yet. There's still fighting to do. For now, I'll just spend time with the family."

He paused. "What about you? Any plans?"

Caiwang gave a bitter smile. "What plans could I have? Just keep going like this." His gaze fell on the distant fields, his eyes carrying a trace of confusion.

Tan Shuangxi watched him, feeling uncomfortable. He knew these past two years hadn't been easy for Caiwang. He wanted to help but didn't know where to start.

"I heard your wife..." Tan Shuangxi hesitated, but still brought it up.

Caiwang took a deep drag, then slowly exhaled, his eyes somewhat unfocused. "Yeah. She left." His voice carried a trace of helplessness.

Tan Shuangxi was silent for a while. Finally he said, "Having this happen to you—rotten luck."

"Rotten luck." Caiwang shook his head. "When we were matchmaking, they said she'd graduated from Fangcaodi Elementary and even self-studied to pass the A-class diploma. I thought that was pretty good—having a wife who could read and do math, how could the family not prosper?"

"She didn't object during the meeting?"

"After the meeting, the matchmaker said the girl was willing. The first days after marriage were fine. Later she said she wanted to try for the Agricultural Technical Vocational School. I thought that was fine too—knowledge isn't a bad thing. Look at the agricultural technicians in the Heavenly Land Society: they're all from the Agricultural School. They really know how to farm. So I told her to study hard; we'd handle the housework."

"Then what?"

"She passed the exam and immediately asked for divorce." Caiwang's eyes reddened slightly. "Shuangxi, you probably don't know—it was a bolt from the blue. Never in my dreams could I have imagined. The day before, everything was fine..."

Tan Shuangxi didn't know what to say. Before, when watching plays and listening to storytelling, there were often plots about "passing the exams and abandoning the wife who shared your hardships." He'd never expected such a reversed version to befall his childhood friend!

He suddenly thought of those puppet plays and booklets with their inspirational stories, now unfolding before his eyes in real life. But in those stories, the man was always ignorant and brutal, arrogant and self-important, bullying the weak and fearing the strong... Caiwang was just an ordinary farmer. Perhaps not clever, perhaps not interesting—but he was absolutely not the "bad man" of puppet dramas.

"Don't be too upset..." He squeezed out a comforting phrase that even he found weak.

Caiwang shook his head. "It's all right. It's all in the past." He turned to look at Tan Shuangxi. "How's the military treating you? I heard you've made quite a few achievements."

Tan Shuangxi smiled. "At least I'm still in one piece!"

Caiwang said, "People say casualties have been heavy at the front. Three salt field villages together, we've already had four killed. This village alone has lost one. And recently two badly wounded men came back—both crippled..."

"War means casualties." Tan Shuangxi was somewhat wistful. He didn't like talking about the battlefield. Though everyone wanted him to share war stories after returning, to avoid spoiling the mood, he always picked amusing anecdotes and foreign sights to tell instead.

"Last recruitment, I was actually thinking of going. They said military pay was high, plus combat bonuses. I figured three years of soldiering could pay off the debts I've piled up these past years." Caiwang said. "Then I thought again—if I died or got crippled, even with compensation, my dad and brother couldn't hold this family together..."

Tan Shuangxi didn't know what to say. He could only offer, "You thought it through." To lighten the heavy atmosphere, he began talking about military life, relating various amusing stories from the Northern Expedition. Caiwang listened with relish. Time slipped away in their conversation. The sun gradually rose higher, and hot sunlight bathed the land.

"Let me help with the work." Tan Shuangxi felt that sitting and chatting was delaying Caiwang's tasks.

"Sure, you can help me." Caiwang didn't decline.

The two worked together repairing the channel. Tan Shuangxi soon broke a sweat. He simply stripped off his outer shirt, wearing just his short jacket underneath. Having been long away from farm work, he was rusty at first. But as he continued, memories deep in his body seemed to return. He grew more and more skilled. Tan Shuangxi felt refreshed and much more at ease.

(End of Chapter)