Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 837 - 827 Same Without You

At last, they returned to the military compound from Taoshu Village.

Li Hongjun had taken nearly half a month of leave, and as soon as he returned, he hurriedly attended to the piled-up work on his desk.

After Shen Yunfang came back, the first thing she did was to take the two children to the bathhouse for a good bath.

They had been back in their hometown for nearly ten days without the facilities for bathing. They had just made do for those days.

This was a case of "It is easy to adapt from frugality to luxury and hard to return to frugality from luxury." When they were living in the countryside, not bathing for ten days or half a month didn’t feel odd. Now accustomed to bathing regularly, even skipping two days felt unbearably itchy all over.

When she was walking home with the children after their baths, they met several military wives who, seeing the mourning bands on their arms, gathered around to inquire what had happened.

There was nothing she couldn’t say. Shen Yunfang briefly shared the news of her mother-in-law’s death but didn’t elaborate on the specifics; she merely mentioned it was due to illness. This was agreed upon with Li Hongjun; they couldn’t recklessly discuss how the old lady had frightened herself to death after being detained.

Only then did everyone realize why Commander Li had hurriedly returned to his hometown.

"Hey, that’s not right. Your mother-in-law passed away; why didn’t your sister-in-law go back?" Everyone knew that Commander Sun and Commander Li were brothers-in-law, and Commander Sun’s wife was Commander Liu’s younger sister.

"My sister-in-law has young children, she couldn’t leave," Shen Yunfang repeated the reason Li Xianghe had given her, not caring what others might think.

"But that doesn’t make sense, your kids are also young, yet you all still had to go. Besides, it is her own mother who raised her daughter to adulthood. Now that she’s gone, she should at least go to mourn and wear the hemp and filial piety bands," one of the military wives muttered, clearly upset.

Shen Yunfang just smiled. Everyone knew these principles, but there truly were such heartless children, and there was nothing she could do about it.

As a daughter-in-law, she had no right to criticize Li Xianghe for not being filial to her mother, but neither was she obliged to cover up such misconduct. Right and wrong were clear to those who saw; she didn’t need to say more.

After briefly chatting with these trustful ladies, she took her children home.

These days had been hectic; they finally returned to their own home, where both children and adults needed a good rest.

After arriving home, Shen Yunfang busied herself in the kitchen and swiftly prepared a meal. After the family ate lunch, they all snuggled into bedding for a nap.

She didn’t know when Li Hongjun had left, and by the time she woke up, it was already past four in the afternoon. The children were still sleeping; Shen Yunfang got up and started tidying up.

The family had worn several sets of clothes during their outing, which all needed a good wash. Although their home had a twin-tub washing machine, which was not as convenient as the future automatic ones, it was considered high-tech at the time. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

As the washing machine in the bathroom washed the clothes, Shen Yunfang prepared a feast in the kitchen.

At dinner, when the children saw the delicious food on the table, they were visibly delighted.

Over the past days, the atmosphere at their old home had been very oppressive. The children were not allowed to play around or laugh freely; they had barely seen their grandmother, so to expect them to grieve or cry along with the adults was indeed hard on them. Finally, back at home, they could resume their regular life.

After dinner, Sun Chengbin came over with Li Xianghe and Niuniu.

When Shen Yunfang opened the door and saw who it was, she immediately called for Li Hongjun to take care of it and went inside to wash the dishes.

Li Hongjun came and immediately blocked the door when he saw Li Xianghe, who was shying away at the back.

"What’s the matter? If there’s nothing, then go back. It’s getting late, and we’ve just returned home; we need to rest," Li Hongjun said ungraciously.

In the past, although he hadn’t thought highly of his sister, for the sake of them having the same mother, he had at least given her some respect in front of her husband.

But this time, he was utterly disappointed with his own sister. His own mother had passed away, and she hadn’t even come back to give a final farewell. He couldn’t understand how she could do that. As for her husband, he had never liked him much to begin with, and now that his mother-in-law had passed away, he didn’t even come to visit. Li Hongjun thought even less of him now.

Having his uncle so bluntly ask them to leave made Sun Chengbin’s face burn. "Second Brother, I know what we did was wrong. I truly didn’t mean for it to happen like that. By the time I found out that Old Lady had passed away, my wife had already left with the child..."

"Enough, stop talking about that. Even without you and your wife at the funeral, my mother has been peacefully buried," Li Hongjun didn’t want to hear his excuses. If Sun Chengbin had been away on a mission during this time, he wouldn’t have said anything since the greater family must come before the smaller one. But he wasn’t on a mission, nor was there any important business that he couldn’t leave, so why couldn’t he come home at least once? Even if he found out late, what of it? Does he need someone to lead him by the hand to find his way home? He could have simply bought a ticket himself. In the end, all these are just excuses for not wanting to return home for the funeral.

"No, Second Brother, I really didn’t expect things to go this way. At the time, Xianghe hid it from me..." Sun Chengbin still tried to explain something.

"Yes, it’s my fault, Second Brother," Li Xianghe cut in, sounding determined. She stepped forward from behind Sun Chengbin, clutching Niuniu in her arms. "I was too concerned about saving money for the child’s medical treatment. Mom cared about the children the most, she definitely wouldn’t blame me..."

Li Hongjun looked deeply at Li Xianghe, as her voice grew quieter and quieter.

"Saying all this now is useless. If you feel what you did was justifiable to our mother, then say whatever you want to say. After all, she can’t rise up to scold you anymore. I hope that when your time comes to go below, you’ll have the heart to explain these reasons to her," Li Hongjun coldly addressed his younger sister.

Li Xianghe, thinking of that day, stuttered and couldn’t continue speaking.

"Is there anything else? If not, you should go. Mother is gone now, and our relationship ends here. From now on, whether there’s anything or nothing, don’t come looking for me. Just live your own life," Li Hongjun said and with a bang, shut the door.

Sun Chengbin clenched his fists and with red eyes, stared at the tightly closed door.

"Chengbin," Li Xianghe said softly while tugging at Sun Chengbin’s sleeve. "My Second Brother is still angry. Let’s go back for now and come back after some time. My Second Brother loves me the most; he will definitely forgive me."

Sun Chengbin suddenly turned, glaring fiercely at Li Xianghe.

"What’s wrong with you? Don’t be angry, I admitted my mistake isn’t that enough?" Li Xianghe shuddered from his expression, involuntarily softening.

"Shut up," Sun Chengbin growled, and then turned to look again at the closed door before he strode downstairs.

Li Xianghe watched her husband walk away, calling after him several times without any response. Not caring about her brother anymore, she hurriedly followed.

In her anger, she unintentionally squeezed the child she held in her arms tightly. "You useless brat, your dad has run off and you didn’t even make a sound. What’s the use of raising you all these years."

The corridor was left with the quiet cursing of Li Xianghe and the soft crying of the child.