Chapter 40: Broken Happiness

The combination lock suddenly beeped a few times, and the people outside were making a lot of noise but couldn't open the door. Hua Hudie changed the combination of the door lock yesterday, and no one could come in without her permission.

He Xiaolan was just about to stand up and open the door to take a look when Hua Hudie grabbed her clothes.

"It must be my parents, or my parents-in-law. Don't open the door, they're annoying."

Butterfly's mother stood outside the door and called out a few times, "Xiaoxiao, are you home? Open the door, dad and I are coming to see you."

"Open it! It's so late at night and it's noisy and makes people watch." Qin Tiantian quickly persuaded and signaled He Xiaolan to open the door.

Hua Hudie didn't object and let the four old men and one scumbag standing at the door in. He Xiaolan and Qin Tiantian wanted to leave, but Hua Hudie stopped them, "Don't go, stay here. You two are also parties involved, help me to hold the scene." Hua Hudie's hands were cold, so He Xiaolan pulled off the heat pack that Jasmine had given her and handed it to Hua Hudie to give her some strength.

Qian Helin was no longer as meticulously dressed as before. His hair was disheveled like a chicken coop, and he looked like grass that had been urinated on by a dog. He couldn't lift his head, his hair was greasy and stuck to his forehead, and he looked listless.

Qian Helin's parents and Hua Hudie's parents huddled together on the sofa, like four silent mountains. Qian Helin, on the other hand, huddled alone on a nearby sofa, his fingers unconsciously picking at the thread in the seams. After a long while, he couldn't pull out a single thread.

"Stop scratching. If you break something, you'll have to pay for it. Everything in the house belongs to me." Hua Hudie couldn't stand this kind of silence. She just said whatever she wanted to say. What's the point of just sitting there?

"This is a self-torture trick," Qin Tiantian typed a few words on her phone and sent them to He Xiaolan. The two sat face to face in the restaurant, chatting on WeChat. "Otherwise, we can't just leave like this. We have to struggle a few times before we drown."

He Xiaolan suddenly felt like everyone in the room was trapped in a cricket jar. Qian Helin wanted to escape, Hua Hudie wanted to win, and her parents wanted to keep the lid on tighter, hoping the two would rekindle their fighting spirit and spark their love. She and Qin Tiantian were just spectators outside the jar, quietly waiting for the outcome of the game.

When I came to Hua Hudie's house before, Qian Helin and Wang Qingwei were always playing games in front of the TV, and occasionally they would form a mahjong game and fight to the death. Now, with so many people in the house, it was eerily quiet, and every now and then, a sigh would fall to the ground.

Qian Helin squatted beside Hua Hudie's legs, wanting to grab her hand and ask for her forgiveness, but Hua Hudie shook him hard and he sat down on the ground.

Qian Helin's father didn't help him, but let him sit on the ground. He even felt a little annoyed looking at his good-for-nothing son, and kicked him again, "Xiaoxiao, Helin told us everything last night. He explained everything clearly. He just played games with that little girl a few times. There was nothing else."

"Do I need to call you husband when playing games? Qian Helin, your last name is Qian, not Gong, so don't lie to me. Don't you know what you've done?" Hua Hudie shrank back into the sofa, her butt moved to the very edge, and the sofa cushion was pressed down a bit.

"Xiaoxiao, let's be honest. When two people live together, they are bound to make mistakes. You have been married for so many years, and this is the first time he has made a mistake. Why don't you forgive him?" Hua Hudie turned her head abruptly, her eyes wide open, as if she had seen a ghost. "You are my mother, whose side are you standing on? Your own daughter has been cuckolded."

No matter how big a mistake a man makes, it's easily forgiven. If they're public figures, they'll hold a press conference or post a Weibo post, and a simple "I'm sorry" will automatically lead to excuses and forgiveness. Ordinary people will have relatives explaining and interceding for them, as if no matter how big a mistake they make, it's a minor matter. They offer empty promises. In their minds, mischief is a man's nature, and whether it's infidelity or domestic violence, even jail time, they're considered reformable young men.

"He didn't do anything, we were just chatting. There's no need to hold on to it like this. Just don't do it again in the future. You should watch him more closely next time. Qian Helin, quickly give your phone to Xiaoxiao and let him check it." Qian Helin's mother poked Qian Helin, and he connected very quickly. He quickly handed the phone to Hua Hudie, but she took it and threw it directly at the TV. With a "Duang" sound, the TV hanging on the wall was smashed into a spider web, and everyone's eyes were deformed.

"Xiaoxiao, if you have something to say, just tell me. What are you doing?" Hua Hudie's father walked over, picked up Qian Helin's phone and handed it to him, complaining with a hint of reproach in his voice that Hua Hudie didn't control her temper.

In order to maintain a marriage that looks respectable to outsiders, these people have become abominable. They usually say they love their daughter, but now they are just asking her to be tolerant. Divorce seems to be a huge mistake. Why is it so difficult to go from living together to living alone?

"Mom, he cheated on me, why are you still telling me not to get a divorce?" Hua Hudie's voice was already filled with tears. Her mother turned to look at Qin Tiantian and He Xiaolan for help, but the two of them sat there not knowing what to say.

"We are all old. It will be difficult for you to find another one now that you are divorced. How will you live alone after we leave?"

"I'll commit suicide after you leave, okay? If you insist on me spending the rest of my life with him, I'll commit suicide now." Hua Hudie said, standing up and walking towards the window. He Xiaolan and Qin Tiantian quickly ran to her and hugged her.

"Uncle and aunt, why don't you go back first, we will talk to Xiaoxiao later." He Xiaolan saw that Hua Hudie's emotions were a little out of control, so she quickly ordered her to leave.

"What are you doing, kid?" Butterfly's mother was very unhappy with her daughter's behavior. She probably felt that she had embarrassed herself in front of her in-laws, as if she had not educated her child well.

Qin Tiantian stood behind this group of lobbyists and pushed them out like chickens, "Don't stay here, she is sad now, whatever you say will hurt her, she is not the one who made the mistake, don't force her."

After everyone left, the living room became quiet again. Their puppy then sneakily poked its head out of the bedroom and watched the farce.

"I just don't understand. When I got married, my dad said that if Qian Helin dared to bully me, he would cut him into pieces. Now, he has cheated on me and my dad is trying to persuade me not to get a divorce. It's the 21st century, what's wrong with getting a divorce?"

When advising someone not to divorce, they invariably say, "If you divorce now, it'll be hard to find another partner later." Since marriage is a dangerous river, why step into it twice? Advising a divorced person to remarry is like asking them to chase a probability: the first fruit is poisonous and rotten, while the second has a 50% chance of being a good fruit. Persuading others to swallow the fruit with hope, even when they're about to be poisoned, is perhaps the curse of marriage.

One of the street lights in the community broke down at some point, and Qian Helin stood next to the bare iron pole and refused to leave.

"If he doesn't leave, let him stand here. This isn't the end of it." Qian Helin's father, still furious, interrupted Hua Hudie's parents who were trying to persuade him.

Winter was so cold. In the past, there was a small stall selling teppanyaki and sausages at the entrance of the community. When the two of them closed the shop and returned home, they would buy some junk food there, snuggling together and watching variety shows while laughing and eating. But now, Qian Helin stood downstairs, looking at the light of his home that was within his reach. This light would no longer belong to him.

This time, he still thought it was just "play." He'd just met a girl while playing games, and she'd been begging to add him on WeChat, asking to be called "husband." He'd casually agreed, dismissing it as an online joke, like calling a classmate "big brother" when they were kids, and hadn't taken it personally. It wasn't until Hua Hudie dropped her phone and smashed the TV that he panicked, yet also felt a strange sense of grievance. In his heart, he even harbored a tinge of resentment towards Hua Hudie, blaming her for setting the bar too high for marriage, for not even giving him a chance.

Butterfly insisted on rewatching the wedding video. The hole-in-the-wall TV played back their past happiness, absurdly like performance art. But their marriage was like a shattered LCD screen, shattered and impossible to put back together.

The lively sounds in the video filled the entire room. Qian Helin knelt in front of her, carefully looking at the roses in his bouquet, some of which had wilted, and shouted "Marry me". Accepting his bouquet meant accepting the responsibility for the family and becoming his wife's mission.

Everyone is shouting "May you have a happy marriage" and "May you have a son soon." It's really ironic that everyone shouts these eight words when getting married, but in the end, few couples live to be a hundred years old. No one dares to touch such a scary thing as "a son."

He Xiaolan and Qin Tiantian were already a little sleepy. He Xiaolan lay on the sofa and stretched, "If I had known earlier, I should have said "Congratulations and Prosperity" and "Live as Long as the Southern Mountains" when we got married. These two are much more practical than those."

"He Xiaolan, I saw you. What are you laughing at in the corner? You're sneaking around like you're trying to steal something." Qin Tiantian pointed at a corner of the TV. He Xiaolan was hiding behind Wang Qingwei, laughing so hard that her body was shaking.

"You asked this question, it's been so many years, who would remember it?"

"She was laughing at Qian Helin for putting the shoes on the wrong feet and being so flustered that he couldn't tell left from right." In the video, Qian Helin was squatting at her feet, holding her wedding shoes. He held the right shoe in his left hand and pinched the left shoe with his right hand, and hurriedly put them on her feet.

"They said 'Tension reveals true love' back then. What bullshit!" Butterfly took a sip of her wine, her eyes glued to the TV screen. A happy couple will always remember their happy moments, while a marriage worn down by conflict, until the two people's original edges are no longer visible, is the only way to maintain longevity.

When it came time to exchange rings, all three of them fell asleep. No one listened to Qian Helin's vows, nor paid attention to the tears of emotion on Hua Hudie's face. The wedding came to an end.

The emcee's passionate voice read out the clichéd ending, "Now, I'd like to invite all the friends and family present to raise your glasses, whether it's red wine, white wine, or even sweet juice. Let's toast together and offer our most sincere blessings to the newlyweds: May the bride and groom enjoy a life of warmth and companionship, three meals a day, four seasons a year, for the rest of their lives. May you witness the prosperity of the world side by side, and also shoulder the trivialities of life hand in hand in the long years to come. May you always remember the original intention of today, and live your days as bright and warm as the sunshine today!"

The sky outside the window was gradually getting brighter, and the morning light shone through the gaps in the curtains onto the three women. When they woke up and opened their eyes, it was another busy day with children, family, career, and studies. Only in these few hours could they allow themselves to be little girls, have a sweet dream, eat as much cake as they wanted without gaining weight, have a whole room full of dolls, and have a playground where they didn't have to queue.