Transmigrated to the 1970s, My Regiment Commander Husband Refuses to Divorce!

Just after transmigrating to 1974, Shen Zhishui inherits a mountain of debts from the original owner.

She steals a child’s swing, is lazy and gluttonous, and is despised by the neighbors. Even her husband, Regiment Commander Lu Weijiang, slaps a divorce petition in front of her. “Three months from now, we’re getting divorced.”

Three months it is.

She cleans up the mess in the house, repays people with flour and favors, learns to use a coal stove, and goes up the mountain to cut grass. Others laugh at her for pretending to be hardworking, but she picks up her writing paper and turns the everyday squabbles of the military compound into stories. One submission earns her ten yuan.

It’s the first money she’s earned on her own since arriving in this era.

But just as life begins to improve, someone makes off with an entire pot of fried-pork dumplings she cooked for Lu Weijiang’s return. Her food is stolen and her hair is pulled, and when Lu Weijiang rushes back, all he says is, “What are you making a fuss about now?”

Shen Zhishui finally understands.

She’s not cleaning up her reputation to please anyone, much less to become a regiment commander’s wife who swallows every grievance in silence.

So she takes her twelve yuan and leaves the military compound, moving into a drafty little room. She teaches young girls to read and earns money from writing, slowly building herself a way out.

Food is scarce, ration coupons are hard to come by, and she has no quilt. The landlord uses the heated brick bed as an excuse to curry favor, the neighbors use gossip to ruin her reputation, and some men show up with cabbage and steamed buns, hoping to take advantage while she’s “about to get divorced.”

Everyone is waiting for her to bow her head and go back to beg Lu Weijiang.

But the man who was once dead set on divorcing her comes trudging through the heavy snow with food and ration coupons.

He scowls and shields her from the men with bad intentions, then says, “Whether my wife divorces me or not is none of your business.”

Shen Zhishui: Who’s your wife?