Reborn as a Tough Army Wife

Chapter 620 - 615: The Past

Zhou Yunmei’s voice was permeated with a touch of sorrow and also with a tinge of incomprehension as she retorted to Luo Honglan, "Hong Lan, I never mistreated you, why are you treating me this way?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Honglan let out a cold laugh and roared back over the phone, "You haven’t mistreated me? If it weren’t for my sister-in-law coming to my rescue with others on that day, you would have already sold me off. How much worse does it need to get for you to consider it mistreatment? Are you trying to kill me or what?"

After Luo Honglan finished speaking, she was so angry that she almost hung up the phone but was stopped by Li Yuchun and Li Aihua, two nosy people.

Li Yuchun whispered in Luo Honglan’s ear, "Don’t hang up. Let’s see what she wants to say. She definitely called with a purpose."

Only then did Luo Honglan remember that after all their conversation, she still didn’t know the real reason behind Zhou Yunmei’s call. She sighed, suppressing the anger in her heart, and voiced out, "Stop beating around the bush, just tell me what do you want with this call?"

There was a silence on the other end of the phone from Zhou Yunmei, who finally tentatively said after a while, "I called just to ask how your dad’s health is. Where is he?"

Luo Honglan naturally knew she wasn’t that well-intentioned and had no intention of entertaining her, so she replied directly, "My dad..."

Originally, Luo Honglan planned to hang up immediately after saying this, no matter what Zhou Yunmei on the other end would say. But just at that moment, Luo Dashan and several children came back. As soon as Luo Dashan saw Luo Honglan on the phone, he assumed it must be a call from Luo Zhiyong, because if it were a call from Fang Pingying’s family, Fang Pingying would be at home now and would not let Luo Honglan answer the phone.

He excitedly walked over quickly, while snatching the phone from Luo Honglan’s hand, he said, "Is it your older brother calling? Let me talk to him, I haven’t spoken to him for a long time; I want to ask about how his troops are spending the New Year."

However, as soon as Luo Dashan put the phone to his ear, Zhou Yunmei on the other end, recognizing Luo Dashan’s voice, excitedly shouted, "Dashan, is that you?"

"..." Luo Dashan was stunned for a moment, and upon recognizing Zhou Yunmei’s voice on the phone, he paused.

Thinking Luo Dashan hadn’t realized it was her, Zhou Yunmei immediately yelled, "Dashan, it’s me, your wife Yunmei. Do you recognize my voice?"

The smile on Luo Dashan’s face disappeared, and after being silent for a while, he responded with a cool tone, "What do you want calling here?"

Zhou Yunmei could sense the coldness in Luo Dashan’s voice over the phone, and she felt rather uncomfortable, but for the sake of the purpose of her call, she couldn’t just hang up.

So, pretending not to notice Luo Dashan’s reaction, she asked with a bit of a pleasing tone, "Dashan, when are you coming back?"

"I won’t be coming back."

Upon hearing that, Zhou Yunmei quickly said, "Why won’t you come back? This is your home after all."

Luo Dashan also understood that Zhou Yunmei’s call would surely not bring anything good; the family was probably struggling to get by.

He sighed and gently admonished Zhou Yunmei with a few words, "Yunmei, we’ve already separated, you should stop mentioning our past. Just take good care of Zhiming and the others; Zhiming has children now, don’t let him idle around at home. Have him go out and work, don’t let the home turn into a mess."

As Luo Dashan got to this point, Zhou Yunmei suddenly broke down, and she started to cry over the phone, "The home is already a mess, you left, and what resembles a home anymore? Old man, do you know how I spent the New Year today?"

Luo Dashan remained silent, and Zhou Yunmei, while still crying, started to tell her story, "Xu He, seeing that I had 100 dollars last time we divided the family assets, has been coveting to take that 100 dollars from me to save up. I planned to keep the money in case I fell ill and needed it for medical expenses. Seeing that I refused to give it to her, on this New Year’s festival, she deliberately took Zhiming to her mother’s house to celebrate, leaving only me all alone at home on New Year’s Eve, without even getting to eat dumplings, I just ate a few steamed buns."

"This..." Luo Dashan, after hearing Zhou Yunmei finish talking and her wailing sobs, felt extremely pained and somewhat softened, but what could he do? Just as Luo Honglan said, he was now being supported by Luo Zhiyong and his siblings, what could he do?

After "This" for quite a while, Luo Dashan didn’t know what else to say and ended up just sighing deeply without uttering another word.

After a long silence over the phone, and Zhou Yunmei not hearing Luo Dashan speak, she cautiously asked, "Old man, are you still there?"

"I am."

Zhou Yunmei, realizing that continuing this way was futile, directly stated the purpose of her call, "Dashan, if you really aren’t coming back, can you send some money back? It’s not for me, it’s for Zhiming’s child. In a few more months, the baby will be born, and we have nothing left at home. When the time comes..."

Zhou Yunmei stopped mid-sentence, hesitated for a moment, then clenched her teeth and suddenly said, "No matter what, Zhiming is your biological son, and the child he’s about to have is your biological grandchild. No matter what, in your heart, his child can’t be less than Zhiyong’s, right?"

That remark made Luo Dashan’s heart skip a beat. He hadn’t expected Zhou Yunmei to bring up that matter suddenly and he sought to stop her, "You..."

But before he could finish, Zhou Yunmei continued on, "Old man, regarding the past, I had promised you before that I would never bring it up, and I haven’t for all these years. But you need to be fair, how have I treated Zhiyong over the years? Even if I haven’t doted on him like Zhiming, I’ve never treated him unfairly, I’ve always considered him like..."

At this point, Luo Dashan’s forehead veins throbbed, unable to listen any longer, and he interrupted her abruptly, "Enough, if you’ve finished what you have to say, I’m going to hang up."

After a brief pause, Luo Dashan quickly added, "I’ve heard what you’ve said."

After saying that, Luo Dashan didn’t wait for Zhou Yunmei to speak again and hung up the phone directly.

After hanging up, Luo Dashan stood there, dazed next to the phone for a good while, his mind in turmoil from the words Zhou Yunmei had just said, completely unsure of what to think.

Fang Pingying and the others, who were wrapping dumplings on the side, although they were chatting, were also all ears to Luo Dashan and Zhou Yunmei’s conversation, curious about what kind of trouble Zhou Yunmei was in now. But they couldn’t make anything out from Luo Dashan’s responses and were somewhat disappointed.

Seeing Luo Dashan’s demeanor change for the worse after finishing the call, Fang Pingying pushed Luo Honglan a bit and pointed in Luo Dashan’s direction, signaling her to go ask.

Luo Honglan saw this and immediately ran over to Luo Dashan’s side, asking, "Dad, what did mom say to you?"