I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

After preparing dinner, Li Chunlian chatted enthusiastically with Lin Jie about the fight between two children at the nursery.

"Isn't it a coincidence? Zhou Xiaowei is Zhou Wenhui's son. I've heard you mention him before, but this is the first time I've met him in person. He's quite handsome. How could such a delicate-looking boy go to the battlefield? Lin Jie, he works in the editorial department. His salary isn't as high as yours, is it?" Li Chunlian said while serving soup.

"He's a first-class meritorious soldier, his salary wouldn't be lower than mine. Mom, what nonsense are you spouting to him?"

"What can I say? I'll just say you've been promoted to section chief and received a two-story house with a small courtyard, so you can grow vegetables now. Didn't his family grow vegetables before? What's so special about that? My son's family can too."

Oh, right, he asked Han Dan, and I told him you two are divorced. Hey, Lin Jie, didn't you say you and Zhang Man were settled? You should at least bring her home to meet us, shouldn't you?"

"Mom, please don't worry about my affairs. Getting married so soon after the divorce would be inappropriate. I want to wait a bit longer."

"You're almost forty. If you wait any longer, your mother will be in the grave. Son, your work unit has allocated you an apartment. It's time to think about your personal matters. Leave Hao Hao with me, and you two can have two or three more children."

"Mom, don't interfere in my affairs. Hao Hao is also my son, and I will take responsibility for his matters."

As Lin Jie spoke, he took out ten brand-new ten-yuan bills from his pocket: "From now on, I will give you one hundred yuan every month. Don't shortchange Hao Hao. His food and daily necessities cannot be worse than those of other children. After all, the Fifth Nursery is full of children from prominent families."

Li Chunlian was overjoyed. She wiped the grease off her hands and was about to get the money when someone knocked on the door.

He stuffed the money into his pocket and shouted at the door, "Coming! Coming!"

The person who arrived was Han Dan. Li Chunlian was somewhat surprised and sneered, "Oh my, what a distinguished guest!"

"Mom, is Lin Jie home?"

"Wait a minute, who's your mother? Han Dan, don't try to get close to me. You cheated my son out of 500 yuan for a divorce, and you still have the nerve to call me 'Mom'? Bah! I don't have such a shameless daughter." Li Chunlian has always been outspoken.

"Auntie, I'm looking for Lin Jie," Han Dan said tactfully, changing her address.

"Not here!" Li Chunlian coldly blocked the doorway.

"Lin Jie, come out here!" Han Dan shouted into the house.

Lin Jie put down his chopsticks and walked to the door. He was surprised to see Han Dan and said, "Why are you here? Come in."

"This is my home, and shameless people are not allowed to come in," Li Chunlian said, preventing them from entering.

Lin Jie frowned: "Mom, what are you doing? Even if we can't be husband and wife, we can still be friends."

"Friends? Shameless friends who only care about money? If it weren't for you, would she have a city residency permit? If it weren't for you, would she have gotten a job at the popsicle factory? The two of you couldn't make it work, so you broke up peacefully. You didn't even touch her, and you still want 500 yuan in divorce fees. It's outrageous! Han Dan, I feel disgusted just looking at you. Get out of here, I never want to see you again in this lifetime."

Li Chunlian forcefully pushed Han Dan away.

Having no other option, Lin Jie said to Han Dan, "Let's go outside and talk."

As I turned around, a timid voice called out, "Mommy, Mommy, are you here to pick me up?"

Hao Hao stood in the living room, opened the door, and looked at Han Dan pitifully.

At that moment, Han Dan's heart was touched. She pushed Li Chunlian away, ran to Hao Hao's side, and hugged him tightly: "Hao Hao, I'm sorry, it's all Mom's fault. Mom missed you."

Hao Hao started crying too: "Mommy, all the other kids have mommies. I miss my mommies too. Let's go home."

Go home? Wang Hongqi is still at that house. How can I go back?

Hao Hao was born and went to live with Han Dan for half a month. He didn't know he was adopted, and he believed that Han Dan was his mother.

He was scared when his mother hit him, and afterwards he still missed her.

The two hugged and cried for a while. Then Li Chunlian pulled Hao Hao away and scolded, "What mother? Did she give birth to you or raise you? Everything you eat and drink is paid for by your father."

Hao Hao couldn't understand, he just cried and shouted for his mother.

Lin Jie gave Han Dan a push: "Let's talk outside."

There were benches for relaxation in the woods of the residential area, and the two sat down.

"Don't come here anymore. It will make Hao Hao sad."

"Lin Jie, you got married again?" Han Dan asked.

"Who told you that? If I get married, will I still be able to come back for dinner?"

Lin Jie was stunned for a moment. Although they weren't married, he and Zhang Man were only missing a marriage certificate.

He and Zhang Man had just moved into the staff quarters and were preparing to decorate the place nicely for a grand wedding.

"Which woman are you with?" Han Dan asked again.

Lin Jie found it amusing: "Han Dan, we were husband and wife, and I never treated you badly. Now that we're divorced, it's none of your business how I handle things."

"Lin Jie, let me ask you this: before we were divorced, you were already a section chief, right? And that woman, you were having an affair, weren't you?"

"Han Dan, are you kidding me? The divorce was a mutual agreement. We have no feelings for each other. Being tied together will only make you miserable, and it will make me miserable too. As for what you said about the section chief and the woman, that's just your speculation."

Lin Jie felt inexplicably angry. "Han Dan, you're too greedy!"

"Yes, it has nothing to do with me, but I need to find out if you lied to me about the divorce." Han Dan glared at Lin Jie.

Lin Jie scoffed, "Han Dan, are you out of your mind? If you're with that kid who drives the ice cream factory, I'd suspect you two have been having an affair for a while now?"

"I got together with Wang Hongqi after my divorce from you. You can check that out," Han Dan said earnestly.

"I'm not interested in when you two get together, and you shouldn't worry about my affairs. We're divorced, and we have nothing to do with each other anymore."

After Lin Jie finished speaking harshly, he got up and left.

She was a crazy woman; thankfully, I divorced her.

As Han Dan watched Lin Jie's retreating figure, a thought popped into her mind.

Han Dan returned home exhausted, but Wang Hongqi wasn't there. She poured herself a glass of water to calm her agitated heart.

Someone knocked on the door, and Han Dan muttered, "Why didn't you bring your keys again?"

When the door opened, it wasn't Wang Hongqi, but two workers wearing chemical plant work clothes.

"Hello, we are from the housing management office of the chemical plant. This apartment was previously allocated to Section Chief Lin Jie, but he has now been reassigned to a cadre apartment, and we are taking this apartment back," the female staff member explained.

"Take it back? He didn't tell me."

"We heard you're Section Chief Lin's ex-wife, right? You're not an employee of our unit, so you have no right to live in our company housing. Housing is scarce these days, and a bunch of young workers are waiting to get housing and get married. Section Chief Lin has already been allocated a new apartment, so you can no longer live in this one. We're giving you a week. If you haven't moved out by then, we'll have to ask the police for help."

The male employee spoke frankly and told us to move out within a week.

"Okay, okay, I'll figure something out. Comrade, may I ask if Lin Jie has remarried?"

"We're from the Housing Management Bureau, and we're not sure whether Section Chief Lin has remarried. You'd better pack your things quickly; we'll come back to collect the apartment in a week."

The two staff members said nothing more and turned to leave.

No wonder Lin Jie never let her move out; it turns out he already knew she was going to be allocated a cadre apartment.

The last shred of goodwill that Han Dan had left vanished completely.