Qi Miao listened to Jiang Ling's advice and nodded through her tears, "Okay, I'll go."

She lowered her head to wipe away her tears, then turned to Fang Qiao and asked, "Sister Qiao, can you come with me? I'm a little scared to go alone; I'm afraid they'll beat me again."

Fang Qiao readily agreed.

She untied her apron, first asking Wang Yun to look after the two children, then took Qi Miao's arm and followed behind Jiang Ling to the Women's Federation office building.

The mediation took place in a conference room. When Fang Qiao and Qi Miao arrived, Qi Miao's husband, Xiao Lei, as well as Xiao Lei's mother and sister, were already inside.

Fang Qiao was surprised to see Xiao Lei.

Because Xiao Lei was far from the frail appearance Fang Qiao had imagined. On the contrary, he was tall and straight, with regular features and slightly dark skin, a true tough guy. Just by looking at his appearance, you would never guess that he was a cowardly, indecisive mama's boy.

Fang Qiao sighed inwardly, "You really can't judge a book by its cover."

At this moment, Xiao Lei's mother was wiping away tears and making a tearful accusation, while his sister occasionally chimed in, but Fang Qiao couldn't understand her because of her heavy dialect.

Xiao Lei stood to the side, listening silently, without saying a word.

"Miao..." He was the first to see Qi Miao enter the room and subconsciously took a step forward, but as soon as he moved, his sister pulled him back.

"Brother, whose side are you really on?"

Xiao Lei glanced back at his younger sister, then looked at his mother who was wiping away tears with her head down, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes.

He clenched his fist, his thin lips pressed into a thin line, and said nothing more.

Qi Miao was extremely disappointed in him. Seeing him like this, she was not surprised at all. He had always been like this, a filial son who would never disobey his mother.

She gave a self-deprecating smile, lowered her eyes, and stopped looking at him.

Jiang Ling led Qi Miao and Fang Qiao to sit down, then brought out a thermos and poured a cup of warm water for everyone present.

A long table in the conference room separated the two groups of people, with Jiang Ling's superior sitting in the middle.

Jiang Ling's female boss is around fifty years old and has somewhat old-fashioned ideas. She adheres to the principle of advising reconciliation rather than separation and insists on mediating between the two parties.

Qi Miao lowered her eyelashes and remained expressionless, letting these words of reconciliation go in one ear and out the other.

Xiao Lei's face was expressionless, making it difficult for others to discern his thoughts from his appearance.

The couple remained silent, but Xiao Lei's mother stood up after the leader finished speaking and began to speak arrogantly.

In front of her superiors, she didn't speak those obscure and difficult dialects, but instead spoke broken Mandarin. Although her words still had a heavy accent, one could still understand the general meaning if one listened carefully.

She said that as long as Qi Miao could kneel before the ancestral tablets, kowtow and apologize, and swear that she would never dare to talk back to her elders again, she would be merciful and accept her back, and not let her son divorce her.

Fang Qiao almost laughed out loud.

Should Qi Miao be made to kowtow and apologize?

What crime did Qi Miao commit?

What kind of family is your Xiao family? How dare you put on such airs?

How ridiculous!

Qi Miao, however, did not react.

This old woman had used this trick before. Whenever she was unhappy, she would run to Xiao Lei's father's memorial tablet and wipe her tears, crying that her son was unfilial and her daughter-in-law was disobedient. She was used to it.

She used to willingly let herself be manipulated for the sake of her lover, but now she doesn't want to put up with it anymore.

Qi Miao looked at Xiao Lei and asked in a calm tone, "Xiao Lei, your mother made me kowtow and admit my mistake. Is that what you think too?"

"Of course not," Xiao Lei quickly defended himself, also explaining for his mother: "Besides, that's not what my mother meant. She was just saying it in anger. She won't really make you kowtow."

"You don't know how?" Qi Miao sneered.

Xiao Lei hesitated, wanting to open his mouth to explain for his mother, but for a moment he didn't know how to start.

"Whether it's true or not doesn't matter now. I don't need your mother to take pity on me and accept me. I don't need to." Qi Miao looked at Xiao Lei, her clear eyes devoid of any emotion: "Xiao Lei, I'm divorcing you."

Xiao Lei's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly stood up from his chair: "No, I won't leave."

"But I want a divorce," Qi Miao said bluntly. "I've had enough!"

"No, I won't accept it." Xiao Lei shook his head, quickly walked to Qi Miao, and reached out to take her hand: "Miao Miao..."

Qi Miao put his hands behind his back to avoid her touch.

Xiao Lei panicked immediately and whispered, "Miao Miao, don't divorce me, I don't want to divorce you..."

Upon hearing Xiao Lei's words, Xiao Lei's mother was the first to object. She stopped speaking Mandarin and began muttering curses in her dialect. Although others couldn't understand her, her fierce tone clearly indicated that she wasn't saying anything nice.

Xiao Lei's sister chimed in, "Brother, don't spoil her! If she wants a divorce, let's divorce her!"

"A divorced, secondhand woman—who but a bachelor would want her? I'd like to see what kind of family she can marry after this divorce!"

As Xiao Lei's sister spoke, she looked Qi Miao up and down several times, her eyes filled with contempt.

Qi Miao's face turned pale, and her body instantly stiffened.

Although she mustered the courage to divorce, she was still largely traditional in her thinking and longed to find a loving husband to be her wife and mother.

Xiao Lei's sister's words successfully annoyed her.

Fang Qiao held Qi Miao's suddenly frozen body and couldn't help but curse Xiao Lei's sister in her heart.

No wonder she's the old woman's biological daughter; she's just as mean as her mother.

At such a young age, he speaks so viciously.

"The Qing Dynasty has been gone for so many years, are you still dreaming? So what if you get a divorce? With Miaomiao's looks and figure, she can find someone ten times, a hundred times better than your brother after the divorce!"

"A spineless coward who can't even protect his own wife, only you guys treat him like a treasure!"

Fang Qiao spat at Xiao Lei again: "If you listen to your mother so much, why even bother getting a wife? Are you just going to spend your whole life with your mother?"