Free Web NovelChapter 140: Chapter 140: Submission
Su Li had been staring blankly at the bedroom door. When she came to her senses, the first thing she saw was the letter paper in Tang Yuanxiao’s hands.
She shot to her feet, her mouth opening and closing without a sound.
Looking at Su Li’s reaction, Tang Yuanxiao’s lips twitched. "I’ve written it."
He walked over and handed the letter paper to Su Li.
Su Li took a deep breath as she accepted it. After looking it over carefully, she let out a long sigh.
"You haven’t signed it yet?"
Tang Yuanxiao’s voice was hoarse. "You sign first."
"Okay." Su Li nodded, sat down, and carefully wrote her name, stroke by stroke.
Tang Yuanxiao stood to the side, watching her sign her name without a hint of hesitation. He closed his eyes.
After he’d written the application, he found he couldn’t bring himself to sign his name. He had hesitated and struggled for a long time, yet still hadn’t signed.
But Su Li had signed without the slightest hesitation.
Her decisiveness, her complete lack of hesitation, extinguished the last tiny spark of hope in Tang Yuanxiao’s heart.
"I’ve signed it. I also checked it over, and there are no mistakes or typos. Once you sign it, you can submit it tomorrow."
Tang Yuanxiao took the application and went into the room without a word.
He stood before the desk for a long while. Only when his breathing had calmed did he place the letter paper inside a drawer.
He opened another wardrobe, took out a quilt, and walked out of the room again.
"You should go to sleep."
Su Li froze for a moment. "What?"
"You sleep in the room. I’ll make a bed on the floor out here," Tang Yuanxiao said without looking at Su Li.
He set the quilt aside and began arranging some stools together.
"Don’t. You should sleep in the room," Su Li said hurriedly.
’Even though it’s summer, it still gets chilly at night.’
Tang Yuanxiao finally looked up at her. "The duvet cover and sheets are clean. I won’t come in. You can just lock the door from the inside."
"That’s not it..." Su Li paused. "I’ll sleep in Little Mo’s room."
"That bed is too small," Tang Yuanxiao frowned. "Just go sleep, don’t worry. You must be tired from your journey..."
He seemed to realize something and trailed off. After a pause, he said,
"I’ll go to the office. There’s a duty room there."
There was no such thing as a duty room, but they were used to sleeping in all kinds of conditions. A night hunched over a desk in the office would be a luxury.
Tang Yuanxiao gathered the quilt back up.
Su Li stood to the side, watching him quietly the whole time.
"Lock the door," Tang Yuanxiao told Su Li as he stepped out, intending to leave.
"What I mean is, I’ll bring Little Mo over to sleep with you. I’ll sleep in Little Mo’s room." This was the arrangement Su Li had decided on when she agreed to stay.
Tang Yuanxiao stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Su Li.
Su Li’s gaze rested quietly on the Orchid as she spoke in a low voice, "Even though I’m insisting on a divorce, Tang Yuanxiao... as a person, I... I trust you."
’She had never thought Tang Yuanxiao would try to take advantage of the situation or force himself on her.’
’Even in her past life, when she had hated Tang Yuanxiao for a lifetime, he had never been that contemptible in her eyes.’
’No matter what, she could trust Tang Yuanxiao’s character.’
After a long moment, Tang Yuanxiao turned away, a bitter smile on his lips. ’Should I feel honored?’
Su Li went into the room and carried out the sleeping Little Tang Mo.
Little Tang Mo was sleeping soundly. He stirred when Su Li picked him up, but upon smelling her familiar scent, he drifted back to sleep.
When Su Li came out, she didn’t say anything more to Tang Yuanxiao and went straight into the second bedroom.
After lying down, Su Li slowly let out a breath.
Although the thought of the impending divorce made it hard for her to sleep, Su Li still managed to drift off around dawn.
Tang Yuanxiao, however, did not sleep at all.
「The next day」 Before six o’clock, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Tang Yuanxiao left the house.
He spent an hour on the training ground, working up a heavy sweat, then watched the others go through their routine drills.
A little after seven, still in his sweat-soaked clothes, Tang Yuanxiao went to the mess hall, bought breakfast, and returned home in silence. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Little Tang Mo wasn’t awake yet, but Su Li was.
She had woken up to the sound of the reveille and had already finished washing up by the time Tang Yuanxiao returned.
Tang Yuanxiao was covered in sweat, with dark circles under his eyes. The new stubble that had appeared overnight gave him an even colder, more somber appearance.
When Su Li looked up and saw him like this, she narrowed her eyes, her expression shifting for a moment.
Tang Yuanxiao walked straight to the table and put down the breakfast.
"Let’s eat first. I’ll go submit the application once the commanding officers get to work."
The thousand words in Su Li’s heart ultimately condensed into a single one: "Okay."
Just as Tang Yuanxiao opened the bedroom door, he saw Little Tang Mo waking up and rubbing his eyes.
"Papa..." After being picked up by Tang Yuanxiao, Little Tang Mo curiously touched his father’s stubble, his face full of wonder.
"Good boy. Time to brush your teeth, wash your face, and eat." Tang Yuanxiao took over the morning routine from Su Li, patiently attending to Little Tang Mo.
He watched Little Tang Mo brush his teeth seriously and patted his head.
In this era, toothpaste and toothbrushes were still a rarity in the countryside. Aside from a select few, most people didn’t brush their teeth.
Some people went their entire lives without ever properly brushing their teeth once.
Tang Yuanxiao had never brushed his teeth when he was a child, either.
The fact that Little Tang Mo knew how to brush his teeth was all thanks to Su Li.
The family ate breakfast, and thanks to Little Tang Mo’s innocent chatter, the atmosphere was tolerable.
After breakfast, unable to wash up properly with Su Li present, Tang Yuanxiao simply changed his clothes. He finally sat down at the table and signed his name on the application.
It was just his name, but for Tang Yuanxiao, putting pen to paper felt as if he were lifting a mountain.
But no matter how heavy the burden, in the end, he signed.
He put the application into an envelope and came out. Looking at Su Li, who was staring at him intently, he spoke, his voice strained.
"I’m going to submit it."
The tense look on Su Li’s face relaxed. "Okay."
Tang Yuanxiao started to walk away, averting his eyes from Su Li. "Don’t go out. Wait at home. They’ll probably want to talk to you."
Su Li nodded. "I know."
Tang Yuanxiao walked out in silence, his steps heavy.
Su Li watched his retreating back and suddenly realized that Tang Yuanxiao’s perpetually straight back... wasn’t so straight anymore.
It seemed to have acquired a slight stoop.
Su Li stood frozen. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
’That retreating figure... that stoop, or rather, the memory of Tang Yuanxiao’s back, far more stooped than this... it was both familiar and strange to her.’
’In her last life... Tang Yuanxiao’s back had always looked like that.’
’No matter how straight he tried to stand, that stoop had always followed him like a shadow.’
Su Li’s mouth opened, but in the end, no sound came out. She simply watched as Tang Yuanxiao’s back disappeared from sight.
The unlatched door swung back and forth in the wind.
But Su Li’s heart, bit by bit, grew quiet and still.
’Divorce... is never an easy thing.’
’Even though she had been so determined to get divorced, now that the day had actually come, alongside the relief, there was a sense of listlessness.’
’Her entire being, her whole heart, felt hollow—an uncontrollable emptiness.’
’In her last life, the divorce had happened during a time of chaotic pain, so she hadn’t felt it this deeply. But in this life, she was finally experiencing the normal psychology of a divorce.’
"I’m divorced, I’m finally free, I should be happy... but I still want to cry. I want to have a good, long cry..."
Those were the words an acquaintance had said to her when they got divorced in her last life.
’Back then, she didn’t really understand that feeling. In this life, the moment of the actual divorce hadn’t even arrived yet, but her heart was already in such turmoil. She was beginning to understand what that person had meant.’
’After all, whether good or bad, it was all a part of her life.’
