Chapter 157: It Was Painful to Hide It From Me
Chapter 157: It Was Painful to Hide It From Me
In this world, things often unfold as expected. In the end times, most people turn into zombies. Zhan Lian, however, is willing to travel thousands of miles from the northwest to Xiangcheng to find his ex-wife, who has signed a divorce agreement. Isn't this the most he can do?
Xiangcheng is Zhan Lian's final destination. If he can find Anran here, everyone will be happy. If not, he and Lao Mao will head to Fuzhou together. As for Anran, she’s adrift in this chaotic world, and Zhan Lian has done his best.
Lao Mao believes that no matter whether the child is alive or dead, Zhan Lian, as a man, must find Anran. He must dedicate his entire life to getting to the bottom of this matter.
In the well-lit bedroom, on the wide bed where he and his ex-wife once shared intimate moments, Zhan Lian flips through Anran’s pregnancy journal page by page. It details when she first discovered she was pregnant, ultrasound photos of the child, complaints about him, and the discomforts she endured during her pregnancy.
The more he reads, the more frightened Zhan Lian becomes. When he reaches the final page, he suddenly stands up, screams, and runs headfirst into the wall.
Lao Mao rushes in quickly, catching Zhan Lian’s body before it hits the wall. He grips him tightly and shouts, "Ah Lian, are you crazy? Your ex-wife and daughter aren’t dead. What are you doing now?"
Zhan Lian collides with the wall, but he is unharmed. A large hole forms in the wall. He shakes his head, dust falling from his hair, and stares at Lao Mao as if he’s an enemy. Hot tears fill his eyes, and then his expression grows blank. He nods, choking on his words.
"Yes, she came back. October 11 was her due date. She wrote it down. After giving birth, she came back again."
"Yes, your ex-wife came back, and then left again." Lao Mao, rarely showing such wisdom, twists the collar of Zhan Lian’s clothes with both hands and yanks him. "They might be somewhere, waiting for you to rescue them. Who are you doing this for?"
"You don’t understand."
Zhan Lian slaps Lao Mao's hands away. He leans against the wall, gripping the pregnancy journal tightly in his hands, and begins banging his fists against the wall, making the entire structure tremble.
He sobs uncontrollably. "This woman… it’s so hard for her to hide it from me, so hard."
He is furious with his ex-wife, so angry he wants to bash his head against the wall. After ten months of pregnancy, Anran had this child, which was conceived while they were together in the northwest. But since then, she had been asking for a divorce every day.
When Anran cried and said those words, Zhan Lian reflected on himself. He’s a soldier, and a soldier’s time belongs to the country. When it comes to family, he had neglected Anran.
Since Anran wanted a divorce, he signed the agreement. He did it simply to make her feel at ease and stop pestering him about it. But had she really gotten rid of him? Was military marriage really so easy to divorce?
He waits. Waiting for Anran to take the divorce agreement and exchange it for a divorce certificate, waiting for her to run around completing the formalities, waiting for her to ask him, angrily, why it’s so troublesome to divorce a military marriage.
By that time, he will have retired from the army, and he will have plenty of time to spend slowly with her.
He thought he had everything under control. He thought, with Anran’s little ability, how could she ever escape his grasp?