Chapter 882 Divorce! "Explain what? Explain that you've been secretly sending her money since 1985? Explain that you've been corresponding? Or explain,"

Fang Xiaojing's gaze was fixed on the photo. "What's going on with the child in her arms?"

Zhou Fang seemed to have all her energy drained away, and her shoulders slumped.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single complete word.

The living room was deathly silent, except for the second hand of the old-fashioned wall clock, ticking away with a startling sound.

His silence was the cruelest answer in itself.

Fang Xiaojing's heart, in this deathly silence, grew cold and sank, freezing into a block of ice.

She no longer needed any words.

"Yes, isn't it? That child... is yours."

Zhou Fang abruptly raised his head, his face drained of color. His lips moved, and finally, he managed to squeeze out a few broken syllables through his teeth:

"That time I was drunk and acted recklessly. Later, she..."

"Then she got pregnant." Fang Xiaojing finished speaking for him, her tone eerily calm.

"And then? You two secretly had this child behind my back? Zhou Fang, you're really something."

"No... Xiaojing, listen to me, she, she went to the hospital for a checkup, and the doctor said that she has a special constitution, and if she aborts this child, she may never be able to get pregnant again."

His explanation was weak and unconvincing, full of self-justification: "I know I was wrong, terribly wrong! But I can't bear to see her suffer for the rest of her life because of my mistake. I just want to make amends and take responsibility."

"Responsible? Responsible to her? Zhou Fang, what responsibility do you have for our family, for me, for Niu Niu? You kept it from me, settled her in Haishi, gave her a home, and what are Niu Niu and me then? What are we?!"

"No, Xiaojing, this is my home!" Zhou Fang pleaded urgently, trying to step forward, but was driven back by the cold despair in Fang Xiaojing's eyes.

Fang Xiaojing interrupted him, tears finally streaming down her face uncontrollably, but her eyes were even colder. "If you really care about this family, about me, Niu Niu, and Xiao Jun, you should have thought of this day when you made the mistake. You should have thought of this day when you made her give birth to the child. You should have thought of this day when you sent her money and wrote her letters time and time again to maintain this ambiguous relationship."

Pointing to the home they had painstakingly built, her voice choked with emotion, yet every word was clear and powerful: "Every single item in this home represents my hard work. From the day Niu Niu was born until now, I've been taking care of her every single day. You were out running your business, and I was at home supporting the family, taking care of the elderly and the young, thinking about how to make a good life for us... I thought we were a couple, Zhou Fang. I thought that no matter how difficult things got, as long as we were united, there was no obstacle we couldn't overcome!"

She sobbed uncontrollably, overwhelmed by immense pain and a sense of betrayal: "But what about you? You already have another home, another child outside. Where do you leave us, mother and child? What do you take all our love for you for?"

Zhou Fang also cried, tears of regret streaming down her face. "Xiaojing, I'm such a bastard! I deserve to die! You can hit me, you can scold me, just please don't say that... I can't live without you and the child..."

"It's too late, Zhou Fang." Fang Xiaojing wiped away her tears, took a deep breath, as if she had used up all the energy in her body.

“From the moment you decided to keep it from me, let her give birth to that child, and continued to keep in touch, it was over between us. You have to take responsibility for your mistakes and for your flesh and blood. That’s your business. But from now on, Niu Niu and Xiao Jun have nothing to do with you anymore.”

Let's get a divorce.

She uttered the last three words, light as a feather, yet heavy as a thousand pounds, striking Zhou Xin's heart and shattering everything they once had.

Fang Xiaojing didn't look at him again, turned around and went into the bedroom. She took out her old, worn-out suitcase from the closet, spread it out on the bed, and began to pack clothes into it one by one, first hers and Niu Niu and Xiao Jun's, then their daily necessities.

Zhou Fang followed her to the bedroom door, watching her back, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he couldn't utter a single word.

"Mommy, where are we going?" Niu Niu stood at her bedroom door, rubbing her sleepy eyes, while Xiao Jun followed behind his sister, still half asleep.

Fang Xiaojing turned around and forced a smile: "Niu Niu, be good, take your little brother to put on his coat, we're going to stay at Grandma's house for a few days."

Children are naturally sensitive to atmosphere. Niu Niu looked at her mother's red, swollen eyes, then at her father's pale face, and whispered, "Is Daddy going too?"

"Dad... has something to take care of." Fang Xiaojing's voice trembled slightly, but she steadied herself. "Go quickly, be good."

Zhou Fang wanted to go forward and hug the child, but Fang Xiaojing stopped him with a look.

That gaze was icy cold, drawing a clear line between them.

At one o'clock in the morning, Fang Xiaojing held Niu Niu's hand in one hand and Xiao Jun, who was already asleep on her shoulder, in the other, dragging her not-so-large suitcase, and walked into the home she had been running for almost a year.

Zhou Fang stood at the door, watching their backs disappear around the corner of the stairs, listening to their footsteps descend step by step, finally hearing the "bang" of the downstairs unit door slamming shut. The sound wasn't loud, but it made his heart clench with pain.

He slumped down on the cold cement floor, clutching his head, and finally let out a controlled sob.

When Fang's parents saw their daughter return late at night with two children, they were startled. After Fang Xiaojing calmly recounted what had happened, Fang's father was so angry that he trembled and almost smashed his teacup on the ground.

"You bastard! I... I'm going to find him right now!" Mr. Fang stood up abruptly and was about to rush out.

"Dad," Fang Xiaojing pulled him back, her voice tired but firm, "Don't go. I've already made up my mind."

Holding Niu Niu, who was sobbing softly, Fang's mother couldn't stop the tears from flowing: "This child, how could she be so foolish... Xiaojing, you have to think this through. Divorce... this is no small matter, Niu Niu and Xiao Jun are still so young..."

“Mom, it’s precisely because the children are young that I don’t want them to grow up in an environment full of deception and betrayal.” Fang Xiaojing’s tears had dried up, leaving only a numb clarity. “Now, whenever I think about him touching me, I feel… dirty.”

These words were extremely harsh. Fang's mother opened her mouth, but ultimately did not try to persuade her further.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Fang appeared downstairs at the Fang family's building.

He didn't dare go upstairs, so he just stood there. Overnight, his beard became unshaven, and his eyes became dark and swollen, making him look 20 years older.

When Mr. Fang went downstairs to buy groceries and saw him, his anger flared up again.

Mr. Fang, his voice low and furious, shouted, "How dare you show your face here! Zhou Fang, what did I tell you back then? I entrusted my daughter to you because I saw you as reliable and loyal! Is this how you show loyalty? Having an illegitimate child outside?"

"Dad, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong..."

Zhou Fang was so ashamed that she almost knelt down. "Please, let me see Xiaojing and the child, I..."

"Don't call me Dad, I can't accept that title." Mr. Fang's chest heaved with anger. "See Xiaojing? She doesn't want to see you right now, son? Think about what you've done, do you even deserve to be a father?"

Mr. Fang sighed: "Let's not make a big fuss about this for now, not for your sake, but for Xiaojing's and the children's reputation. Go back first, calm down, and think about how to deal with the mess you've made outside. As for whether Xiaojing will forgive you, that's up to her."

Zhou Fang grasped at the last straw: "Dad, you mean... there's still something left?"

Mr. Fang waved his hand irritably, "I have no interest in this. Whether or not Xiaojing can continue like this depends on her own wishes. But remember, no matter what, you are still Niu Niu and Xiao Jun's father. That's an unchangeable fact. If you have any conscience, cut off all ties with the outside world and take responsibility for what you should. But don't come here to disgust Xiaojing anymore!"

This statement is both contradictory and realistic, reflecting the struggles older generations face when confronted with such shameful events, to balance saving face, their children, traditional values, and their daughter's happiness.