Chapter 1: Eight Years of Marriage, Worth Eighty Thousand

The night my husband was promoted to major general, I received a taunting message from his female adjutant.

There was a video attached, too.

I didn't cry or make a scene. I quietly saved all the evidence.

The next day, Han Yansen came home with a military-family benefits card and a divorce agreement.

“There are eighty thousand yuan on the card. Consider it compensation for the eight years you spent with me.”

“Sign the divorce papers. Xuanxuan keeps insisting I give her a proper title.”

I looked at the man standing before me.

I'd spent more than a decade struggling alongside him in the military district.

I had paid for his research. I had covered the household expenses. I had handled the gifts meant to cultivate connections.

I'd spent at least a million yuan on him, and yet he thought I was worth only eighty thousand.

A few seconds later, I calmly took the agreement and signed my name.

My phone screen lit up with a message from his female adjutant.

[Shen Zhihui, I won. You've been an ugly old wife for eight years. Now it's my turn to take your place as the major general's wife.]

I turned off the screen and gave a faint, scornful smile.

Is that so?

Too bad. This time, you might not win in the end.

And I certainly won't be the one who loses.

…

I handed the signed divorce agreement to Han Yansen.

He gave me a loaded look. “Shen Zhihui, you've surprised me.”

I glanced at him, puzzled.

“I thought you'd cry and make a scene. At the very least, you'd demand something more.”

I laughed coldly. “Major General Han, have you mistaken me for someone else? When have I ever thrown a tantrum or begged you for anything?”

The smile on his lips froze. His face went pale in an instant.

Not now—not even when we first fell in love at the military academy—had I ever behaved that way.

The one who did that all the time was Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan, who was always declaring that a girl's love came before everything, yet openly pursued Han Yansen in the military district right in front of me.

Lin Xuan, who called on our wedding anniversary in the middle of a heavy snowstorm and threatened to freeze to death downstairs unless Han Yansen came out.

Lin Xuan, who had to buy every item I owned for herself—from the tactical watch on my wrist to my custom-made belt.

And me?

I was the one who had poured all my energy into researching and developing aviation weapons.

I was the wife who had stood by Han Yansen from the time he was a junior noncommissioned officer, through his rise to command, all the way to his current position as a major general of the military district.

And in the end, I was worth only eighty thousand yuan.

Twelve years of love, eight years of marriage—all of it had come to nothing.

I couldn't be bothered to hear whatever else he had to say.

I picked up my military training bag and got ready to go to the research institute.

But the military vehicle that usually drove me was no longer in its parking spot.

Han Yansen's voice came from behind me.

“Lin Xuan wasn't feeling well today, so I sent a subordinate to pick her up.”

“Get in. I'll take you there.”

I remembered the photos Lin Xuan had sent me. In them, the two of them had had sex countless times in this very car.

My stomach lurched with nausea.

“No need. I'll take the shuttle from the compound.”

He sighed. “Shen Zhihui, I may not have loved you for a long time, but we've still stood side by side for years. There's no need to be so formal.”

My heart gave a small pang.

Not because I was heartbroken.

Because it all seemed so pitiful.

The bottle of folic acid I was taking to prepare for pregnancy was still in my military bag.

While I had been hoping for the child who would be the fruit of our love,

my husband had been making love to another woman hundreds of times.

My lips curled in bitter mockery.

“Major General Han, we're divorced now. Lin Xuan is your official girlfriend.”

“I don't make a habit of being the other woman.”

His expression darkened.

I ignored him and walked straight out to wait for the shuttle.

Only halfway there did I call Zhou Hui, the military secretary assigned to support my research work.

“Put together an archive of all the project-approval records and ownership documents for every major scientific research project at the institute.”

“For each project, make sure the researchers, dates, and review records are clear and documented.”

Zhou Hui sounded excited. “I knew you wouldn't just let this go!”

I smiled.

Even Zhou Hui understood me better than Han Yansen did.

Han Yansen had no idea that when I wanted to reclaim what belonged to me, I never resorted to humiliating tantrums or begging.

By noon, Zhou Hui had organized everything I'd asked for.

She had not only gathered the research-project ownership records, but also the investment agreements and resolutions transferring project results from earlier review meetings.

I looked at her in surprise.

She raised her brows proudly. “I've been preparing these ever since Major General Han started fooling around with his adjutant, Lin Xuan.”

“I was afraid that by the time you wanted to investigate, they would have tampered with the files.”

My nose stung.

The husband I'd lived with for eight years was always plotting against me.

Yet the military secretary who had worked by my side for only five years had always been thinking of me.

There were hundreds of pages of documents.

They even included private photos of Han Yansen and Lin Xuan at the military guesthouse and during off-site training exercises.

I examined every picture carefully.

From their first private business trip together, to their frequent visits to a secluded apartment in the military family housing compound.

From Han Yansen applying for the special allowance for accompanying family members on Lin Xuan's behalf, to the two of them traveling elsewhere to attend equipment exhibitions together.

Just then, Han Yansen walked in.

I suddenly realized that his clothes looked nothing like the ones in the earlier photos.

He used to wear his uniform impeccably, carrying himself with discipline and restraint.

Now, whenever he wore civilian clothes, he liked to accessorize in a youthful style.

They were all matching items with Lin Xuan.

He sat down on the sofa across from me and said in a low voice,

“You don't need to attend this afternoon's signing meeting with Aviation Equipment.”

“The new head of the equipment department has been appointed. It would be more appropriate for her to go.”

When he saw me staring at him, he put on an air of helplessness.

“The other side is sending their equipment department's chief of staff. Your position isn't suitable.”

“This is the research institute committee's decision. It's also to bring more standardization to our scientific research system going forward.”

I glanced at the proposal on the table.

I had spent more than half a year negotiating the joint research project with Aviation Equipment.

All that remained was the final review and signing meeting.

And with a single sentence, he wanted to steal the fruits of my labor.

It wasn't that he'd suddenly decided to take them from me.

He'd taken them so easily before that he assumed he could do it again.

But he didn't know that the only reason he'd been able to lay his hands on my achievements so easily was that I had always handed them over myself.

This time, I didn't intend to give them away.

“Even as department head, Lin Xuan would still only be a deputy-battalion-level officer. Does that make her position suitable for the other side?”

When I named Lin Xuan outright, he didn't deny it.

Instead, he grew angry at being exposed.

“She's still more suitable than a researcher from Research Division Four, isn't she?”

I went still.

Then I laughed scornfully.

“Why am I only a researcher? Do you really not know?”

Over the years, I'd served as acting deputy director of the research division, chief project engineer, and head of specialized research programs.

But whenever someone needed promoting, I was expected to step aside.

A senior colleague needed cultivating? Give them the post.

A newcomer needed experience? Promote them first.

All because I was his wife.

I did the difficult work no one else would take.

I went to the desert test sites no one else wanted to visit.

At the institute, everyone addressed one another by rank.

Yet everyone called me “Ms. Shen.”

It wasn't an attempt at familiarity.

Calling me Captain Shen felt too lowly for a major general's wife.

Calling me Chief Engineer Shen or Director Shen was risky: I might be out of that post by tomorrow.

So, for me—the institute's longest-serving member—they had tacitly settled on a form of address that conveyed sufficient respect.

I hadn't cared before. The institute and its projects were the work Han Yansen and I had built together.

He headed the unit.

To me, one post was as good as another.

Only now did I understand.

During the selection for the Military Science and Technology Progress Award, I'd voluntarily moved my name down the list and given up applying for professional advancement so Han Yansen could be listed as the principal contributor, win the award, and gain promotion.

From then on, my standing at the institute had been no better than an ordinary researcher's.

Even ordinary researchers received promotions and raises for their seniority and achievements.

I was merely a stepping stone Han Yansen used to climb higher.

My eyes grew hot.

Yet my mind was clearer than ever.

I tapped the table a few times.

“I'm the one who arranged the Aviation Equipment project, supervised the tests, and negotiated the framework. Do you really think they'll cooperate just because you send anyone over?”

My reaction seemed to surprise him.

He watched me for a moment, then sat up straight, wearing a faint, unreadable smile.

“Then what if a major general like me personally backs her?”

He adjusted the epaulettes on his uniform.

The ring on his hand caught the light.

It wasn't our wedding ring.

It was the matching ring he shared with Lin Xuan.

He wore it openly, without the slightest embarrassment.

I couldn't help wondering when I'd become someone he thought he could bully so easily.

Someone whose dignity and self-respect he could trample whenever he liked.

When I didn't answer, he stood and left as if he had just won.

“Shen Zhihui, I came to inform you, not to discuss it.”

“But don't worry. You won't be shortchanged on your performance bonus for the project.”

Zhou Hui trembled with anger.