Marriage in the 1970s: The Political Commissar's Contract Wife

In 76, Zhixia graduated from high school. To avoid being sent to the countryside, her parents sent her to join her older brother in the army, saying she would help her sister-in-law take care of her children. They planned to send her back home once they found her a job.

In July, under the scorching midday sun in the military family compound, Zhixia stood bewildered among rows of almost identical red brick bungalows, carrying a worn-out canvas bag.

She went to the address in the letter, but after circling around twice, she still couldn't find which house her brother Zhilin lived in. Sweat streamed down her temples, clinging damply to her face, making her feel itchy and annoyed. Just as she was standing on tiptoe, trying to make out the house number, the gate of a house next to her creaked open.

A tall figure stumbled out and almost bumped into her.

Zhi Xia was startled and took a step back, looking up. It was a very young officer, dressed in a neat military uniform. His posture should have been upright, but at this moment it was slightly hunched. One hand was gripping the door frame tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. His face was abnormally flushed, his forehead was soaked with sweat, and a few strands of hair fell messily on his brow bone. His breathing was heavy and rapid. When he looked at her, his eyes seemed to be burning with two dark flames, deep and heavy, carrying a kind of chaos and struggle that Zhi Xia could not understand, almost like that of a wild beast.

She was afraid, but she mustered her courage and asked, her voice slightly breathless from the journey, "Comrade, may I ask which household Commander Zhilin lives in?"

The man stared at her, his lips moved, but no sound came out. The fire in his eyes intensified, as if he was desperately suppressing something. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Zhixia's wrist.

The grip was incredibly strong, like an iron clamp, squeezing Xia's bones until they ached.

"What are you doing! Let go of me!" Zhi Xia panicked and struggled violently, not even caring that her canvas bag had fallen to the ground.

The man seemed deaf, panting heavily, and almost violently dragged her into the room they had just come from. Zhixia's cries and resistance seemed insignificant in the face of his absolute strength. The courtyard gate was slammed shut, and she was pulled into the house, where the light instantly dimmed.

"Help! Brother—!" Tears of fear welled up in her eyes as she kicked and struggled in vain. "Who are you! Let go! I'm going to tell my brother, and he'll beat you to death!"

The only response she received was the dull thud of the door closing behind her. She was pressed against the door, and in her struggle, her fingernails seemed to scratch his neck, but he was completely unaware.

……

The sudden, inexplicable heat lingered from the afternoon until the moon rose above the willow branches.

When Zhixia woke up, the room was pitch black, with only a few cold stars dotting the night sky framed by the window. She felt completely drained, and after a moment of stunned silence, her memories returned. She clutched the thin blanket wrapped around her tightly. She turned her head and saw Fang Chu sitting on the muddy ground, his clothes disheveled, his head buried deep in his knees.

"You scoundrel!"

Her curses, laced with sobs, pierced the silence with a sharp edge.

Fang Chu looked up abruptly, as if she had been whipped, her face showing genuine regret and panic: "I...I'll take you back."

"Get out!" The single word, chillingly cold, struck him.

Fang Chu scrambled to her feet, hesitant to approach, and handed over her coat, her voice hoarse: "Please... please wear my clothes first."

Zhixia grabbed a piece of clothing and haphazardly put it on. The oversized men's clothes made her look even more vulnerable.

"Is your brother Zhilin?" Fang Chu asked in a hoarse voice, a chill running down her spine.

"You know my brother is Zhilin, and you still dare to do this! When he finds out, he'll beat you to death!" Zhixia glared at him hatefully, tears welling up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

Fang Chu rubbed her face, trying to calm herself down: "I'll take you home quickly while it's still dark."

Zhi Xia, however, was more clear-headed and more afraid of gossip than he was. She instructed, "Go outside and see if anyone is there."

On summer evenings, families would gather outside to cool off, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and chatting idly.

"Okay." Fang Chu agreed, turned to leave, then hesitated and stopped, her voice so low it was almost inaudible, "Do...do you want to...wash yourself?"

His response was a pillow and an even angrier shoo: "Get out!"

Fang Chu silently retreated to the door, carefully opened a crack, squeezed out, and disappeared into the thick night.

Zhixia was suddenly left alone in the room. Her tense back slumped, and tears finally rolled down her cheeks silently. She smelled the unfamiliar masculine scent on his clothes, mixed with sweat and humiliation, and felt a wave of nausea.

Outside the courtyard wall, the faint sounds of opera from the neighbor's radio and indistinct laughter could be heard.

The world keeps turning, but she's in this corner, and everything is turning upside down.

At this moment, Zhilin was like a trapped beast, pacing around the courtyard again and again. He had asked the gatekeeper, and his younger sister, Zhixia, had entered the compound at noon, but now it was completely dark, and she was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where could I go? I'm such a big person, I can't just get lost..." He didn't dare to think too deeply about it, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

Meanwhile, Fang Chu was walking step by step towards Zhi Lin's house, following the dappled shadows cast by the moonlight. He knocked on the door and saw his sister-in-law, Zhang Meili, fussing over her two mischievous sons.

"Sister-in-law." Fang Chu's voice was a little dry.

Zhang Meili was somewhat surprised to see him: "Political Commissar Fang? Please come in quickly. Zhilin went out to look for Xiaxia and hasn't returned yet."

"I know," Fang Chu interrupted her, lowering her voice even further, "Zhi Xia... is at my house."

"What?" Zhang Meili dropped the palm-leaf fan in her hand with a "thud." She almost thought she had misheard. "What's Xiaxia doing at your house? What... what's going on?"

She sized Fang Chu up and down—his upright posture, a proper military academy graduate, from Kyoto, his father a division commander, and his grandfather an even more remarkable figure. He was just going through the motions, getting some prestige, with a bright future ahead of him. She never thought that someone with such a background would be interested in her straightforward and unassuming sister-in-law.

In an instant, countless bad thoughts flashed through her mind, leaving her speechless with shock.

Fang Chu didn't explain, but simply repeated, "Take some clothes with you and come with me to bring her back."

This confirmed Zhang Meili's worst suspicions. She didn't dare ask any more questions, fearing that she might ask something that would lead to an uncontrollable situation. She hurriedly went back into her room, grabbed a set of clean clothes haphazardly, and followed Fang Chu out the door, her mind in turmoil.

The two walked one after the other in the night, silence weighing on their chests like a heavy stone. The streetlights stretched and shortened their shadows, each step treading on unknown anxieties.