Chapter 128: Divorce

Malice steadily gathered in Li Xihua’s heart, and in a moment of impulsiveness, she blurted out, “Divorce. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the commune to get a divorce certificate.”

Thanks to her younger brother’s wife, she now knew that both marriage and divorce required official certification from the commune.

Originally, it was just a casual remark, but once spoken aloud, Li Xihua felt a surprising sense of relief. She realized that perhaps divorce wouldn’t be so bad after all.

After all, they had no children. If she went back and worked diligently to care for her parents, her natal family would surely accept her.

Qian Darong, who had been silenced by Li Xihua’s words, could only shed tears that struggled to fall. Hearing his wife want a divorce truly wounded him.

“Don’t you care about our marriage? Are you only thinking about divorcing me?” he asked, heartbroken.

He knew well that his preference for women outside was one thing, but such women could never be brought home as daughters-in-law.

Given his circumstances, it was hard for him to find anyone better than Li Xihua.

Weighing the pros and cons, divorce was absolutely not an option.

Yet, watching his tear-streaked face, Li Xihua couldn’t help but laugh.

In the past, even the slightest disrespect toward her mother-in-law would earn her a long lecture from Qian Darong.

But now, despite her striking out at her mother-in-law, she had escaped scolding entirely.

If that was the case, Li Xihua felt even more justified in seeking a divorce.

This man was too calculating; she never knew what might happen if she stayed with him.

Seeing Li Xihua silent, Qian Darong decided to try harder to win her back.

He knew his wife’s nature well—she responded to gentleness, not force. If he could soften her heart now, there was still hope.

Her elder brother’s wife was formidable and cunning; if she succeeded in bringing Li Xihua back to their home, Qian Darong knew all would be lost.

He quickly reflected that he had actually treated her well—he never scolded her or rejected her for being unable to bear children.

Of course, all the bad things were his mother’s doing.

With this in mind, he felt confident about reclaiming his wife’s affection.

Without hesitation, Qian Darong slapped himself hard, then began to sob dramatically, “Wife, it’s my fault. I’ve held you back.”

“They always said you couldn’t have children, but I thought, if that’s the case, we could adopt. In my heart, you were always the wife I chose.”

With another self-inflicted slap, even more forceful this time, he cried out, “I truly didn’t mean it. I don’t understand these things between men and women.”

He continued, “Wife, you know how I feel about you. I’ve always wanted to spend my life with you.”

Li Xihua remained unmoved, knowing how the original story unfolded. Listening to such words, Tang Xin was utterly amazed.

She’d encountered shamelessness before, but never imagined such shamelessness could exist in such a simple time.

Qian Darong had been fooling around for more than a year. Even his manhood was ruined by an outside woman, yet he still had the audacity to say such things?

Looking at the stern expression of the eldest sister-in-law, Tang Xin wondered if she had really been swayed by this scoundrel.

But Tang Xin couldn’t expose Qian Darong’s infidelity; after all, she only knew the story and had no evidence.

So she looked at Qian Darong and said deliberately, “Sister-in-law, your mother-in-law calls you a hen that can’t lay eggs, but it turns out you really do have a hen in the house. Your mother-in-law just doesn’t know that roosters don’t lay eggs.”

This was a veiled insult directed at Qian Darong.

His face flushed red—partly from anger, partly from the self-inflicted blows.

Tang Xin was even more furious as she turned to the solemn-looking parents behind Li Xihua and said, “Sister, if you’re really coaxed back by this scoundrel, how can you face your parents?”

Tang Xin understood Li Xihua well. To her, her parents were far more important than a husband who played little real role in her life.

Hearing this, Li Xihua recalled every time her mother-in-law insulted her, the scornful look on her face, and how she treated Li Xihua’s parents with no respect.

Every visit to her natal home was filled with the fear that bringing anything from the in-laws would be seen as stealing, leaving Li Xihua feeling deeply ashamed.

The gifts she brought back only brought her humiliation.

Especially since her eldest younger brother—the heir of the Li family—was getting married, and as his brother-in-law, Qian Darong had refused to attend simply out of spite.

And during the New Year...

One thing after another weighed heavily on Li Xihua’s heart.

As Tang Xin said, year after year, how much sorrow her parents must have endured because of her.

If it were only her mother-in-law’s scolding and beating, Li Xihua might still endure.

But because of her, her mother-in-law had repeatedly insulted her parents.

Suddenly, Li Xihua found it all absurd. When she first accepted the bride price from the Qian family and married, she had hoped to help her parents and improve the lives of her siblings.

When did it become that she was neglecting her own family, and because of her mother-in-law’s abuse, her parents could no longer hold their heads high?

Meanwhile, Qian Darong continued to whimper, muttering incessantly.

His general message was, “Come back home with me. Your sister-in-law is so willful and unreasonable; if you go back to your family, you’ll only be humiliated.”

In the past, whenever she returned to her natal home and then went back to the in-laws, it was just typical marital complaints. Li Xihua would casually complain to Qian Darong.

Mostly, she’d say that the younger sister-in-law was lazy, and their mother had to do all the housework, making her even more exhausted.

These were just grumbles. Deep down, Li Xihua didn’t truly think poorly of the younger sister-in-law.

Even though her younger sister often accused their mother of favoritism, Li Xihua had to admit that the sister-in-law was sweet-tongued, well-liked by their parents, and wholeheartedly good to the Li family.

Li Xihua’s complaints were habitual rather than heartfelt; she wasn’t the type to openly voice her true feelings.

Yet every time, Qian Darong would echo her complaints and add more.

In his mouth, Tang Xin was portrayed as utterly vicious—married into the Li family but arrogant and bullying the elders. Hearing this so often, even Li Xihua began to believe the younger sister-in-law was truly terrible.