Chapter 30: Wanting a Divorce

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Fang Xiaoying could finally leave the hospital. The moment the doctor gave her permission to go, she was so excited that tears nearly sprang to her eyes.

“Mom, I’ve missed everything about home.” As she said this, Fang Xiaoying suddenly remembered the bedding the Chen family had snatched away, and her heart began to ache. “My bedding… The cotton was brand-new, and you had sewn it for me yourself. The inner and outer covers were new too. Whenever I think of such good things being taken by the Chen family, I feel as though I let a dog eat them.”

“Xiaoying, don’t insult dogs. Dogs are far more lovable than the Chen family. At least dogs can guard a house, and they know who treats them well. What does the Chen family know? They’re a whole family of thieves with rotten hearts.”

“Mm, you’re right, Mom. I just hate losing all those things.”

“Why regret them? After those vile people from the Chen family have used them, wouldn’t looking at them make you sick?”

“It would.”

“The Chen family is suffering far more than you are now. Didn’t you see? Your mother made them pay.” Su Qiao secretly glanced around. Seeing that no one was paying attention, she lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear. “With the brigade leader and village chief of Chaoyang Brigade helping push things along, having to pay you a thousand yuan will trouble them for a very long time.”

Remembering that, most of the gloom in Fang Xiaoying’s heart vanished at once.

“Mom, you’re amazing!”

“I know.” Su Qiao was not modest in the slightest when it came to this matter. “I deposited all that money into a savings passbook in your name. I’ll give it to you when we get home.”

“Mom?” When Fang Xiaoying heard that her mother had deposited a thousand yuan for her, she felt as if she were floating, her feet barely touching the ground. “Mom…” She quickly grabbed her mother’s arm. “Don’t scare me.”

“I’m not scaring you.”

“Mom, why don’t you keep the money for me? I think my ears have stopped working properly. Even my own voice sounds as though it’s coming from far away and then suddenly close again.”

“What’s wrong with your ears?” Su Qiao placed the net bag at her feet and held it there between her legs. Only then did she raise both hands and gently rub her daughter’s ears.

“Mom, I’m just afraid that if I keep so much money in my hands, I’ll be so nervous that I won’t sleep properly every night. Please keep it for me.”

Su Qiao thought about it and did not refuse. A thousand yuan was an enormous sum in those days. Let alone an eighteen-year-old girl—even a grown man carrying that much money in his pocket would probably feel his heart pounding and walk with his legs tangled together.

“All right. I’ll keep it for you. Whenever you want to use it, just ask me.”

“Mm-hmm.”

The moment Fang Xiaoying heard she would not have to carry the money herself, the pressure lifted from her body. She immediately began chattering again. “Mom, I still want to see you beat up Chen Weimin’s mother, along with those two shameless sisters-in-law of his.”

“Heh. That probably won’t happen in this lifetime.”

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“Why not? I haven’t seen enough.”

“It’s unlikely that we’ll ever go to their place again. But if they dare come here, your mother will absolutely make sure you get your wish.”

Fang Xiaoying wanted to laugh. “Mom, I really do want to watch them get beaten. But honestly, I never want to see them again. I’d lose my appetite.”

“Then they’d better not come. They should preserve what little dignity they have left and stay out of our world.” Su Qiao suddenly remembered something else and reminded her daughter, “Once we get home, write Chen Weimin a letter and explain the entire matter to him in detail, from beginning to end.”

Then Su Qiao brought up an even more serious issue. “After something like this, if Chen Weimin takes your side, then the two of you can live your own life together from now on. But there is one condition: no one from the Chen family is to appear before you.

“If Chen Weimin takes the side of his family, then there’s nothing more to discuss. The only outcome will be divorce. Even if it’s a military marriage, you must still get divorced.”

“Mom, I know. Right now, I just want to divorce Chen Weimin.”

Su Qiao was silent for only two seconds after hearing this, yet she immediately understood her daughter’s thoughts. Eighteen was the age of flowers, when a girl’s mind should be filled with hopes for a beautiful future.

But Fang Xiaoying had been terribly unlucky. First, those two shameless wretches from the Fang family had signed her up to go work in the countryside. Then Chen Weimin, a man without a brain, had dragged her into the Chen family’s muddy pit.

Any normal person, upon crawling out of such a pit, would have only one thought: run. The farther away, the better. Ideally, never see them again for the rest of one’s life.

“Xiaoying, whatever decision you make, as long as it’s the right one, your mother will support you unconditionally.”

“Mom, I knew you were the best.”

“All right, the vehicle is here. Let’s go home.”

…

Fang Xiaoying’s father and mother sat in the shade, chatting as they looked at the neat little courtyard they had cleaned up.

“Xiaoying can finally come home today.”

“At last, the worry weighing on our hearts has been lifted.”

“She still needs to rest for a few more days.”

“Mm.”

“Did you explain that matter to Xiaoying?” Fang Xiaoying’s mother lowered her voice.

Fang Xiaoying’s father gave her a meaningful look, indicating that they should wait until their daughter and granddaughter returned before discussing it.

The elderly couple changed the subject and began talking about the vegetables growing in their garden and the two hens they kept for laying eggs.

“It was right to have our second son and his wife go home first.”

“Yes. I feel bad always asking the little girl next door to feed the chickens for us.”

“Speaking of that little girl, she really tugs at the heartstrings. When we get back, let’s buy her a pound of biscuits for a snack.”

“Better not buy biscuits. You know what that old woman in her family is like. No matter how much food you give the little girl, the moment that old hag sees it, she’ll take it all away without leaving her even a single piece.”

“Just thinking about that old crow makes me angry. Aren’t boys and girls all members of the same family? How does she manage to rank them into different classes? She treats her granddaughters especially badly, calling them ‘money losers’ at every turn. She never stops to think that she’s a woman too. By her own logic, wouldn’t she be the biggest money loser of all?”

“Hahaha!”

“I suspect there’s a hole in her head. Otherwise, how could she think so differently from the rest of us?”

“When Xiao Qiao comes back, ask her whether any of the clothes Xiaoying wore to school are still around. If there are, find a set and give them to that child.”

“All right. That poor girl is truly pitiful.”

“Just look at the clothes on her. One patch is sewn over another. Yet that old crow had a flowered padded coat made for herself last winter. Then she paraded all over the village just so everyone could praise how pretty it was.”

“What a shameless old woman. At her age, she still flaunts herself like that. It’s an assault on the eyes.”

“I told you, there’s something wrong with her head. Her ideas are nothing like those of a decent person.”

“Isn’t that the truth? If it were us, after having several grandsons, we’d finally have a granddaughter and would cherish her like a treasure.

“But not her. She spoiled those grandsons rotten. All they think about is food. Every day at mealtime, they fight over the dishes and even snatch the little girl’s food.”

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