The Stunningly Beautiful and Delicate Darling in the 1980s Military Compound - Chapter 4

Song Mingyue threw on a light coat and quietly pushed her door open.

Outside, the moonlight was transparent, casting a milky-white glow like frost upon the floor tiles. The light illuminated the side of her face, making her look dazzlingly pure—like a delicate, innocent “white lotus.” Liu Jiabao froze for a moment, momentarily entranced, before remembering he was there to settle a score. So what if she’s beautiful? Her heart is the exact opposite of her appearance.

Ever since Jiajia told him what happened at the store, she had been crying until her eyes were swollen and red. Liu Jiabao’s heart ached for his “weak” fiancee. He was furious, but before he could even demand why Mingyue had bullied her, Mingyue spoke first.

“Liu Jiabao, remember this forever: you and Song Jiajia are the ones who owe me. You strung me along while having an ambiguous affair with my cousin. Are you even a man? I was blind before and couldn’t tell a human from a dog, but the harm you’ve caused me is something you and Song Jiajia couldn’t make up for if you kowtowed to me every day for the rest of your lives. Therefore, anything I do to you from now on is perfectly justified. If you ever dare come here again with that self-righteous attitude to criticize me, don’t blame me for showing no mercy. Now, get lost!”

Having finished her piece, Mingyue didn’t want to hear a single word from him. She turned and went back inside, closing the door with a sharp click.

However, that night, Mingyue found it difficult to sleep. She thought about her parents’ words. In her previous life, she had money but lacked love; she was alone, living a free and happy life. But things were different now. The Song family were good people who truly loved her; she couldn’t bring herself to ignore their feelings.

Normally, she would never agree to a blind date. She didn’t believe in finding true love that way. But she also couldn’t bear the thought of marrying someone she didn’t like. Her best-case scenario was that she and the man would dislike each other, so their parents wouldn’t have anything to say.

Then, a thought struck her. The man’s father was in the provincial capital, and the man himself was a battalion commander… and his father’s surname was Chen.

Wait!

Mingyue sat up in bed, agitated. In the original novel, there was a character named Chen Che. Though his introduction was brief, he was described as noble and heroic. He worked for an artillery research institute and possessed incredible professional skills.

But there was one crucial detail: he died young. Before he could marry or have children, he sacrificed his life heroically during a rescue mission.

In the book, at Song Aiguo’s 70th birthday party, Chen Che’s father had attended. Seeing the original Mingyue’s happy family, the old man had been overcome with grief. He asked Mingyue if she knew they had once been betrothed. He lamented that if they had married, his grandson would have been a teenager by then.

The original Mingyue knew about the betrothal but never took it seriously, seeing it only as a joke between elders. But seeing the lonely old man so pitiful had made her feel terrible.

The current Mingyue felt terrible, too. If the plot followed the book, Chen Che would sacrifice his life in about a year and a half. She was about to go on a blind date with a man whose tragic end she already knew.

Should I warn him? But telling someone ‘I think you’re going to die in eighteen months’ might get me punched. Mingyue struggled with the dilemma for hours but couldn’t find a perfect solution.

The next morning, she woke up with dark circles under her eyes. At the breakfast table, her mother, Wang Yufen, smiled gently. “My little lady, since you have nothing to do today, go back to sleep. I’ll save breakfast for you.”

Mingyue shook her head and asked quickly, “Dad, your old comrade’s son… is his name Chen Che?”

“It is. How did you know? Do you know him?”

She didn’t know him, but she knew he was a “short-lived ghost” (doomed to die young). Mingyue sat down and said loudly to cover her guilt, “I don’t know him! Didn’t you mention a betrothal with someone named Chen Che before? If it wasn’t him, did I have two betrothals?”

Wang Yufen laughed. “Do you think your parents are so unreliable that we’d arrange marriages all over the place? There’s only this one. Don’t overthink it; we’ll just let nature take its course.”

Wang Yufen was cautious and hadn’t told anyone about the prestigious blind date. But she couldn’t stop others from stirring up trouble.

That evening, as soon as Wang Yufen got home, Song Jiajia’s mother, Sun Xiangcui, came over to make a scene. She shamelessly shouted for the neighbors to gather and watch. “Everyone, look at this! Their Song Mingyue went to the department store to cause a scene and got my Jiajia fired! What are her intentions? Liu Jiabao didn’t want Mingyue; they weren’t even officially engaged. Just because she was dumped, she has to make life miserable for my daughter? What a wicked family!”

Wang Yufen wasn’t afraid. She stepped forward, ready to tear into Sun Xiangcui. “How Song Jiajia crawled into Liu Jiabao’s bed is something everyone here knows perfectly well! Only a shameless person like you would brag about your daughter’s ‘seductive’ skills! So what if he’s the son of a factory director? Our family isn’t as narrow-minded as yours, letting a daughter act like a vixen just for a director’s son.”

“Who are you calling a vixen? Your daughter is the one who wanted to die over a man! I want to see who will ever marry a ‘broken shoe’ (disgraced woman) like yours!”

Wang Yufen was livid. All her refined upbringing vanished as the two women were barely held back by neighbors. Just as they were about to come to blows, Mingyue appeared. She was carrying a basin of pig’s blood.

Before throwing it, she kindly warned the bystanders to move. Then, she accurately splashed the entire basin onto Sun Xiangcui.

“Auntie,” Mingyue said calmly, “In ancient times, having pig’s blood splashed on your doorstep was an ill omen. You should go back and drive out your bad luck. Next time you stand in front of my door to scream, I won’t be throwing pig’s blood. It will be boiling water.”

Sun Xiangcui was stunned. Before she could react, Mingyue pulled her mother into the courtyard. “If you don’t get out, I’m getting that basin of boiling water right now. Since you all say I’m crazy, I’ll show you what crazy looks like!”

Recalling the rumors of her mental instability, the crowd quickly dragged the blood-soaked Sun Xiangcui away.

Inside the gate, Wang Yufen grumbled, though she was touched, “Why did you get involved in adults’ business? Now they’ll gossip about you even more.”

“Let them gossip,” Mingyue said dismissively. “I couldn’t just stand there and watch you get bullied. Besides, once I marry into a good family, they’ll change their tune soon enough.”

Wang Yufen’s heart softened. Her little girl had grown up; she knew how to stand up for her mother now.

The next day, Mingyue ran into Song Jiajia. Since Jiajia had quit her job (at Liu Jiabao’s insistence), she was home all day.

“Cousin, I should thank you for last time,” Jiajia said, no longer pretending to be innocent. “If you hadn’t made a scene, I wouldn’t have been able to quit that job so easily.”

Mingyue glanced at her with pure disdain. “No need for thanks. Spending all day figuring out how to please a man… you really haven’t changed at all.”

Jiajia’s face fell. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just a reminder not to make the same mistake twice.” Mingyue didn’t want to offer guidance to this woman. In her past life (before her rebirth), Jiajia had become a mistress to a married man and ended up as a tool for him to please his superiors, meeting a tragic end.

Now, even with a second chance, Jiajia was repeating the same pattern—just with a different man. She saw that in the book, the original Mingyue and Liu Jiabao lived happily ever after, but she didn’t realize that men are fickle. If Liu Jiabao could be seduced away from Mingyue, he could be seduced away from her, too.

Mingyue despised them both, but she hated Liu Jiabao more. If a man’s convictions are firm, no one can steal him.