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

The next morning, before dawn.

Fang Chu woke up early, lay on her side, and looked at Zhi Xia, who was fast asleep beside her.

She was breathing evenly, her cheeks were rosy from sleeping and pregnancy, and her long eyelashes looked like two small fans.

The more he looked, the more the sourness and unease he felt because of "Zuoqi" swelled in his heart, mixed with the ecstasy of receiving a response last night, forming an extremely complex possessiveness.

He couldn't help but lower his head and gently touch her forehead. When she didn't react, he tentatively kissed the tip of her nose. Finally, as if he were addicted, he held her soft lips in his mouth and kissed them tenderly until he kissed Zhixia awake from her sleep.

Zhi Xia was disturbed from her sweet dream in a daze, and a surge of anger suddenly rose up.

She jerked her eyes open, forcefully shoving Fang Chu's face away from hers, her voice trembling with anger: "Fang Chu! Are you crazy?! What's wrong with you so early in the morning?!"

Fang Chu was pushed away, but instead of being angry, he found her angry expression incredibly cute.

He leaned in, forehead to forehead, his eyes shining brightly with a reckless, almost cloying intensity, and blurted out, "I love you, baby."

"!!!" Zhi Xia's eyes widened instantly, as if she had been struck by lightning, and all the sleepiness in her body was scared away.

She looked at Fang Chu in alarm, instinctively reaching out to touch his forehead: "You... what's wrong? Are you running a fever? Are you delirious?!" This was so abnormal! When did he become so... cheesy?!

Fang Chu grabbed her outstretched hand, holding it tightly, and stubbornly asked, "I'm fine. From now on, I'll call you 'baby,' okay?"

Zhixia felt uneasy at his unusual behavior and struggled to pull her hand back: "What's wrong with you?! What triggered you?!"

Seeing her flustered state, Fang Chu finally couldn't hold back her jealousy and resentment any longer. She said in a sullen, accusatory tone, "Zuo Qi...does he always call you 'Xia Bao'?"

Zhi Xia froze, as if a pause button had been pressed. The anger on her face was instantly replaced by shock, and her voice stammered, "You... how do you know Zuo Qi?!"

"Mom told me yesterday," Fang Chu confessed honestly, then stared intently at her with an interrogative gaze, "He called you 'Xia Bao'?"

Xia's heart skipped a beat at the question, and her eyes flickered.

Seeing her reaction, Fang Chu felt even worse, so she decided to go all in and confess, "He wrote you a letter. It was sent to our hometown, and my second brother forwarded it to me. I...I read it."

"Where's the letter?!" Zhi Xia's heart jumped into her throat.

"Burn it." Fang Chu answered crisply and decisively, with a hint of smugness in his deliberate attempt to cover up the crime.

"Burned?!" Zhixia exclaimed anxiously, "What did he write in the letter?!"

Fang Chu immediately feigned ignorance, his eyes darting around, his tone incredibly "sincere": "I don't know. I only read the first four words, 'My wife Xia Bao,' and it made my liver ache with anger. I didn't read the rest; I just burned it!"

He would never admit that he actually read the entire letter, filled with the concern of childhood sweethearts, word for word, with gritted teeth, before burning it in frustration and anger.

"What right did you have to burn my letter?" Zhi Xia's voice rose with anger, her chest heaving violently.

That was not just a letter, but also proof of her past youth. Even if the feelings had faded, it was not his place to deal with it!

Fang Chu's anger flared when she questioned him. He straightened his back, trying to intimidate her with his status, and said in a firm tone, "Why? Because I'm your husband! The rightful father of the two children in your belly!"

"We're a fake!" Zhixia blurted out, stabbing him with the sharpest truth. "You know perfectly well why we got married!"

These words struck Fang Chu's sore spot precisely. His expression changed several times, and suddenly he leaned down, placing his hands on either side of her body, trapping her between himself and the headboard. He stared intently at her, his tone carrying a stubborn determination to regain his advantage:

"Fake? You agreed to go get our marriage certificate with me last night, Zhixia. Let me tell you, whether it's true or not, you are now my, Fang Chu's, rightful wife! I won't let any other man use such a disgusting term to covet my wife!"

To be fair, Zhixia and Zuoqi hadn't seen each other for four years and had barely corresponded. Even the deepest girlish feelings had long been diluted by time and circumstances.

Fang Chu's domineering and unreasonable act of burning her personal belongings without explanation completely ignited her anger.

"If you have nothing else to do, then get out of here! I don't want to see you!" She turned her head away, giving him the order to leave.

When Fang Chu saw that her eyes were red with anger, her anger was instantly replaced by worry.

He quickly softened his tone and gently coaxed, "Don't be angry, okay? The doctor said you shouldn't get angry, it's bad for the baby..."

"Get out!" Zhi Xia was furious and wouldn't listen to anything, shouting loudly.

At this moment, Fang Chu displayed an unprecedented level of shamelessness. Instead of leaving, he moved even closer and, in a sticky tone that could give anyone goosebumps, repeatedly called out, "Baby, I'm sorry... I'm such a jerk, don't be angry..."

"Don't call me baby!" Zhi Xia shuddered, her hair standing on end from his address.

Fang Chu readily complied, immediately switching to a more "refined" yet equally cheesy form of address, his eyes brimming with tears as he looked at her like a large dog that had done something wrong:

"My love... baby... please forgive me this time, okay? I was wrong, I really know I was wrong..."

His shameless and persistent way of apologizing made Zhixia feel like she had hit a wad of cotton, unable to vent her anger or swallow it down. All she could do was glare at him fiercely, feeling like she was about to be driven mad by him.

Looking at her puffed-up cheeks, Fang Chu couldn't resist leaning in again and quickly pecking her lips.

Zhi Xia reacted as if she had been stung by a bee, immediately wiping her mouth vigorously with the back of her hand, as if trying to wipe away something dirty, her eyes blazing with anger.

Fang Chu ignored her anger and instead pressed his advantage, continuing to bombard her ear with his sickeningly sweet words:

"My dear, stop rubbing, you'll break your skin if you keep rubbing." He reached out to pull her hand away, but she shook it off forcefully. He wasn't annoyed, and continued to express his love tenderly, "I love you, really."

Zhi Xia felt her scalp tingle and her whole body uncomfortable from his barrage of nauseating sweet talk. The anger that had been ignited by the burning of the letter was somehow turned into something else entirely by this unreliable guy.

She pushed hard against his firm chest, wanting nothing more than to get this major source of pollution out of her sight: "Go away! Get to work! Just looking at you annoys me!"