When my heroic husband, Jiang Weiguo, told me that his war injuries had left him impotent, I was naive in my previous life, and endured it because I loved him.
Two years later, he brought a boy of just over a year old back from the military compound. "I'm sorry you've had to put up with this. Let's adopt a child to keep you company."
The child was wrapped in a military greatcoat, with a Hetian jade longevity lock tied around his wrist. It was obvious he came from a wealthy family.
Though I didn't understand, I raised the boy for ten years until he was as lovely as a jade doll. Meanwhile, Jiang Weiguo grew busier and busier.
It wasn't until I collapsed at the textile mill and was diagnosed with stomach cancer that he came back to sign the paperwork.
But the head nurse frowned. "Comrade Zhao, is your marriage certificate handwritten? There's no record of a spouse in the System, so his signature doesn't count."
I dragged my sick body to the military compound to find him, only to hear Comrade Li say anxiously, "Commander, Sister Hongmei has no family, and the hospital is pressing for a signature! You have to register your marriage first for you to count as her spouse..."
He gave a cold laugh. "What's the hurry? If the old man hadn't forced me to marry, and if I hadn't been waiting for Shuqin to return from America, why would I have married her? I've waited all these years. There's no way I'm registering a marriage with a substitute!"
"But Young Master Yaoyang is clearly the child of you and Miss Shuqin. She's raised him for ten years. If anyone finds out the marriage certificate is fake..."
"Shuqin is divorced and coming back to the country soon." He flicked the ash from his cigarette. "Once the paperwork is done, I'll send Hongmei to the best sanitarium. She loves me so much that she won't care about a worthless piece of paper."
My throat filled with a coppery taste, and blood spattered across the military-green carpet.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on my wedding night.
Looking at the husband who claimed he was impotent, I said, "Fine. Let's get divorced!"
