Chapter 7: You Can Only Stay by My Side

Jiang Xia was mentally prepared; she had overheard the conversation between Tian Caihua and him.

Turning around, Jiang Xia looked at him calmly. "Okay."

Zhou Chenglei was not surprised by her prompt agreement; all her previous outbursts had been attempts to get a divorce.

He continued, "My household registration and grain ration connections are still at the military camp and haven't been transferred back yet, so we can't process the divorce certificate for the time being. We can only go once my registration is transferred back. If you don't want to stay here, I will send you back to your parents' home tomorrow. If you can endure it, you can wait until the divorce certificate is issued before leaving."

The last sentence was purely out of politeness.

He knew she likely wanted to leave tonight.

However, until the divorce certificate was processed, she was still his wife, and he could not drive her away, so he gave her the choice.

Jiang Xia thought for a moment. "Then I'll leave after the divorce certificate is obtained."

Since she had no memories of the original host, returning to the original host's parents would make it very easy for her to be exposed.

Furthermore, at this time, identity cards had not yet been introduced to the public, and traveling required a letter of introduction to stay in hotels, which would be highly inconvenient. Therefore, staying at the Zhou family home temporarily before getting the divorce certificate was the best option.

If she gave herself a month or two, she could earn enough money to buy a room in the village. Even after the divorce, she would have a place to settle down, and then she could slowly get to know the original host's parents.

Zhou Chenglei gave her a surprised glance: wasn't she dying to return to the city?

It felt as though she had truly become a different person after the fever.

Knowing he was suspicious, Jiang Xia explained, "My parents won't agree to our divorce. If I go back after getting the certificate, there's nothing they can do."

Jiang Xia had a basis for saying this.

In the book, the original host's parents indeed disapproved of the divorce. When the original host returned home after divorcing the male lead, her parents wouldn't even let her through the door, forcing her to go back to live with him.

Left homeless and unwilling to return to the male lead, she was forced to seek out that abusive man, following him without any legal status, which led to a series of subsequent tragedies.

This made sense, and knowing that Father Jiang would certainly not agree to the divorce, Zhou Chenglei nodded. "Alright."

Being strangers, the two fell into silence.

Awkwardness drifted through the air.

Seeing that she had nothing more to say, Zhou Chenglei said, "Go to sleep early."

"Oh, you too," Jiang Xia replied.

Zhou Chenglei turned and walked out. Seeing the basin of dirty clothes sitting by the door, he picked it up and carried it out.

Jiang Xia didn't know how to wash clothes; since they married, he had washed all of her clothes.

Lost in thought, Jiang Xia didn't notice that he had taken her changed clothes.

After going out, Zhou Chenglei washed the clothes for Jiang Xia in the courtyard.

When Tian Caihua finished soothing her youngest son to sleep and came out, she saw her brother-in-law washing his wife's clothes again. She rolled her eyes, then remembered that he had just come out of his parents' room and then entered Jiang Xia's room. She asked, "Fourth Brother, have you and Jiang Xia reached an agreement?"

"Yes."

"So, are you planning to divorce? When are you going to get the certificate? Tomorrow is Friday, so it can be done then. If not tomorrow, you'll have to wait until next Monday."

"We aren't divorcing for now. My household registration hasn't been transferred back yet; we can only divorce once it's back."

Tian Caihua sounded a bit unhappy upon hearing this.

But she also knew that when they registered their marriage, Zhou Chenglei hadn't yet been discharged. He had even applied for a transfer, but who knew that after returning from a mission, he had lost the hearing in one ear, forcing his discharge.

"Then is she going back to her own home tomorrow? Since you're getting a divorce, she can't just stay in our house eating, drinking, and living for free, can she?" Tian Caihua truly couldn't stand Jiang Xia and had no desire to serve that "young lady."

Zhou Chenglei paused his movements but still said, "She will leave after the divorce certificate is issued."

Upon hearing this, Tian Caihua's face immediately darkened. "Wait until the certificate is issued to leave? How long will that take?"

Zhou Chenglei fell silent for a moment, thinking of the commander's words when he was discharged...

This marriage might be hard to dissolve. It would likely take more than a month or two. Even if he applied, since they had only been married for a short time, the application might not be approved. It could drag on for half a year.

"Probably about six months."

"What? Six months? She's going to stay in our house for six months eating and drinking for free? Is that even a divorce? If she stays another six months, she could have a child by then!"

The thought of having to serve a sister-in-law who couldn't do anything for half a year made Tian Caihua irritable.

Zhou Chenglei's eldest brother, Zhou Chengxin, returned from outside and said in a low voice, "Why are you making such a fuss? Since when is it your business to manage Fourth Brother's affairs?"

"You think I want to manage it? If I didn't have to serve her, you'd see if I cared!" With a dark face, Tian Caihua went straight into the house.

She truly couldn't stand it; she actually had to endure this for six months!

Who knew if they would even still be divorcing after six months?

Why should everyone be a daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, with her doing everything while this woman did nothing just because she didn't know how?

Zhou Chengxin said to Zhou Chenglei, "Don't mind your sister-in-law. You and Fourth Sister-in-law can settle your own matters. She only has an issue because she has to do a bit more work, but without Fourth Sister-in-law, wouldn't she still have to cook? What's the difference between doing one more task or one less? She's just being meddlesome! I'll go talk to her."

"I know," Zhou Chenglei responded.

Zhou Chengxin went back into the house to coax his wife, fearing that if she made a scene, their parents and Jiang Xia would hear it, making it difficult to resolve.

Zhou Chenglei worked quickly, washing and hanging the clothes in no time.

He had made a decision and was about to tell his parents when, unexpectedly, Jiang Xia walked out.

With Tian Caihua being so loud, it was impossible for Jiang Xia not to hear. She had come out, and seeing that the clothes Zhou Chenglei was hanging were actually hers, she felt a bit embarrassed. She said, "I'll move out tomorrow."

Jiang Xia had just organized the original host's belongings and found over a hundred yuan, which was enough to stay in a guesthouse for a while, so she wouldn't be left without a way out.

Zhou Chenglei glanced at her. "Let's talk inside."

The two returned to the room, one after the other.

Zhou Chenglei asked directly, "Where do you plan to move to?"

Since she said "move out" instead of "go home," he guessed she didn't intend to return to her parents.

Jiang Xia spoke truthfully, "I'll stay in a guesthouse or a hotel in the city, but I'll have to trouble you to help me ask the village chief for a letter of introduction."

Zhou Chenglei frowned upon hearing this and refused without a second thought. "No need. I plan to split the family assets. After that, you and I can move out together."

Until the divorce certificate was issued, they were still husband and wife. It was perfectly reasonable for her to live at home. Furthermore, Father Jiang had helped him in his career; when he first entered the military, he was a soldier under Father Jiang's command, and the man had taught him many things. He could not let Jiang Xia live in a hotel by herself, nor was he comfortable letting a young woman stay in a hotel alone.

Jiang Xia looked at him. "If you only want to split the family because I'm not going back to my parents, there's no need. I can stay in a hotel temporarily; you just need to help me get a letter of introduction from the village chief."

She didn't like being indebted to others. If she left, she would leave. She had hands, feet, a brain, and wasn't incapable of surviving.

However, she didn't even have her household registration booklet on her, and the village chief didn't know her, so she could only ask for his help with the letter of introduction; otherwise, she would have just left.

Zhou Chenglei said honestly, "It's not entirely because of you. We were going to split up sooner or later. My second brother has already moved out, and my eldest sister-in-law has issues with me too. I want to split the family as well."

He knew that ever since he arranged a job for his second brother, his eldest sister-in-law had held a grudge against him.

The eldest sister-in-law was actually pushing for a family split.

It would be better to split early to avoid growing tensions from living together.

Zhou Chenglei looked at Jiang Xia and added a very firm sentence: "Before the divorce certificate is issued, since you aren't going back to your parents, I will not let you live in a guesthouse alone. You can only stay by my side."