1970s: My childhood sweetheart ran away, and I turned around and married the wildest chief.

"Chen Jin, you're a company commander, right? I heard you might be promoted to battalion commander soon. I think that as a state cadre, you should be very capable in handling things. You keep saying you care about me, but all you do is slander me. You don't have the kind of handling skills that a military officer should have."

"Your mother came to cause trouble for me more than a month ago. She saw that I was married but couldn't get my dowry. She turned around and blamed me. Many of the women in the family compound know about this. Now that you're back, you're doing this again. You're just trying to frame me because you're resentful. You want everyone to think I'm not decent and ruin my reputation so you can get a sense of revenge. You're just trying to get back at me."

"No, I didn't..." Chen Jin hurriedly retorted.

"If you didn't, then it's because you're incompetent. You clearly didn't intend to harm me, yet none of your actions were for my benefit. Your abilities are truly low. Even if you and I have some kind of relationship, I'm already married. Given your standards as a military officer, even if you're unwilling to accept this, you would have privately confronted me to clarify things, instead of making a scene for everyone to see. You lack even this basic sense of crisis. I wonder how you became a company commander?"

Chen Jin was shocked. "Qiao Wanqing, how could you say that about me?"

Qiao Wanqing laughed, "What did I say wrong? If it were some uneducated women in the family compound who meant well but did something wrong, that would be understandable, since they don't know some rules. But you, Chen Jin, are different. You are educated, you are an officer, you are a leader, and you have many subordinates. How to handle these relationships, how to lead troops, and how to avoid unnecessary trouble are all essential abilities for an officer."

"Given your abilities, you should know what kind of impact your public outcry will have on me, yet you still did it, which means you did it on purpose."

"Otherwise, are you implying that you can't even handle this simple problem?"

Chen Jin: "..."

He stood there in silence for a long time because the Qiao Wanqing in front of him was so different from what he had imagined. He was stunned and had no idea what to do.

Qiao Wanqing wanted to continue digging, but these people were like lunatics and wouldn't leave, which annoyed her.

"Aren't you leaving yet?"

Xu Yanran, who was standing next to her, did not expect things to develop like this. Why was Qiao Wanqing able to dodge every time?

She really, really hated that confident look on her face!

"Cousin, we've had such a long-standing relationship with the Chen family, and we grew up together with Brother Jin. Even if he's done something wrong, it's because he cares about you. How can you be so heartless..."

"You like him?" Qiao Wanqing asked.

Xu Yanran was stunned. Her words were interrupted again. She was unhappy that she couldn't fully express the emotions she had prepared. She was also taken aback by Qiao Wanqing's words. How should she respond?

After I accept the call, will she ask me some questions that I can't answer?

Seeing their stunned expressions, Qiao Wanqing sneered inwardly. She did it on purpose. When arguing with someone, it's a taboo to follow their line of thought. You just need to output according to your own thoughts. She actually hated the performances of Xu Yanran and Chen Jin, but unfortunately, these people just liked to perform in front of her.

There are many such people in the upper circles. They are shameless and thick-skinned. As long as they can achieve their goals, they can be shameless to the point of having no bottom line.

"Why aren't you saying anything? I see you calling him 'Brother Jin' so affectionately, you like him, don't you?"

She then looked at Chen Jin, her voice distant, "Chen Jin, you're not young anymore, and you're a cadre. You should have more discernment than the average person. You can't possibly not see that she likes you, can you? You know she likes you, you know she's my cousin, yet you don't know how to avoid suspicion. You come to me pretending to be affectionate, but at the same time, you don't reject my cousin's intimacy. Are your personal relationships really that messed up?"

"Shut up!" Chen Jin said angrily.

In his eyes, Qiao Wanqing was always just an ordinary young lady from a prestigious family, the kind of girl he knew who spent her days discussing food and clothing, comparing new clothes, men, and then children. Many of the young ladies he had met were like that.

Qiao Wanqing was at most a little more opinionated than those people, but she was still a girl at heart. Chen Jin thought she was easy to deal with.

Chen Jin's face was cold now, no longer the affectionate look she had before. "Wanwan, our two families were clearly discussing marriage, why did you suddenly get married?"

"Because I don't like you!"

Chen Jin: "..."

Everyone: "..."

This girl really doesn't hold back when she speaks!

Qiao Wanqing looked at the two people in front of her and laughed. "What? Are you surprised by our reaction? Do you think everyone will play along with your act? Chen Jin, last time your mother came over and said I was discussing marriage with you, and she sounded just like my mother-in-law. Now you've come again, what are you trying to prove?"

"You thought I would beg you, but in the end you found that I didn't care about you at all, and you're still angry, aren't you?"

She smiled and looked at the people around her, "Ladies and gentlemen, many of you probably know about the scene where his mother, Zhou Lan, came to make a scene with me last time. All she does is try to make everyone think I'm unfaithful and promiscuous. What's with all this pretense of deep affection?"

"I'm too lazy to explain what our relationship is anymore, because there's no relationship at all. Think about it, sisters-in-law, if there really was any relationship, we would both be keeping it a secret and wouldn't dare to bring it up. After all, I'm married now, so I definitely wouldn't bring it up, and neither would they, because if people knew, wouldn't everyone know that he lost to Lu Mingzhou?"

"Your partner ran off with someone else. Is that something to be proud of? Why make such a big fuss about it? But it seems like both Chen Jin and his mother Zhou Lan want the whole world to know. Everyone knows what their motives are."

Qiao Wanqing took two steps forward, stood in front of Chen Jin, raised her chin, and said in a clear and resolute voice, "I've known about your little schemes for a long time, so from the very beginning, you were never a consideration for my marriage partner. I never even considered you. Do you understand?"

After saying that, she turned around and continued digging. "Get out of here, stop making a fool of yourself!"

Chen Jin's face was more gloomy than ever before. His fists were clenched so tightly they seemed about to explode. "Qiao Wanqing, it's you who betrayed us!"

Qiao Wanqing didn't even turn to look at him. "If you think I'm treacherous, you can go and report me to the leaders. Married couples can get divorced, and couples can break up. You've been talking for so long, and all you've brought up is this marriage proposal, making it seem like I've done something heinous. Go ahead and report me. Let the leaders see what's going on in your head, you cadre!"

"Go ahead and sue me, or I will sue you for falsely accusing a military wife!"