Chapter 107 Mingmei Wants a Divorce
The Li family was also surprised that the people from the neighborhood committee had come just two days ago, and now they were here again.
Li Dazhu hadn't finished get off work yet, so his parents received him.
Since ancient times, Chinese people have been afraid of officials, and Li's father and mother were no exception.
Even if the comrades from the neighborhood committee said something that displeased them, no matter how dissatisfied they were, they would at most offer a small defense, but they certainly wouldn't dare to treat Tang Mingmei the same way they did.
The people in the neighborhood office appreciated their attitude.
"Young people are impulsive, so you elders should try to calm them down and not join in the commotion. Do you really want to see them break up?"
Li's mother nodded habitually, "Yes, yes."
No matter how dissatisfied they were with Tang Mingmei, they never considered preventing their son and daughter-in-law from living together.
If the two really break up, not only will their son be unable to remarry, but it will also be virtually impossible for their daughter to break up with Deng Qingyuan. Their family will be gossiped about for who knows how long.
“When your son comes back, you should talk to him properly. It's almost Chinese New Year, so you should bring your wife and children back too. I've met your daughter-in-law, and her personality isn't like what you're saying. You're parents too, so put yourselves in her shoes. If your daughter gets married in the future, how would you want her in-laws to treat her? It's not easy for her to leave her parents and come to live with you.”
Li's mother: "You're right, you're right."
He verbally agreed, but he felt somewhat aggrieved because he thought the comrades from the neighborhood committee believed that they had forced their daughter-in-law away.
"Alright, now that you understand, I won't say any more."
After the people from the neighborhood committee left, Li's mother was so annoyed that she kept saying "I'm so annoyed" several times.
“Why is our family so unlucky to have married a daughter-in-law like Tang Mingmei? Since she came into the family, we have a small argument every day and a big argument every three days. This time she even threw a tantrum and went back to her parents’ house for so long that even the neighborhood committee came to our door.”
Mr. Li remained silent, but his expression said it all.
After smoking a few cigarettes, as if he had made up his mind, he said, "Let Dazhu go and bring the person back. It's almost the New Year."
"Um."
Li's mother sighed.
That's true. Even if you don't like your daughter-in-law and granddaughter, it's still important to have a family reunion during the New Year.
When Li Dazhu came home from get off work that evening, his mother told him about it.
In fact, Li Dazhu had been thinking about this matter for the past two days. Now that his mother had spoken up, he took the opportunity to pretend to be unwilling to give in.
"Alright, I'll go to the Tang family's place after get off work tomorrow."
He used to talk about his father-in-law's family, but later he didn't want to mention it at all.
Li's mother was also listless, and didn't even bother to give any more instructions. She just said, "That's fine then," and went on to prepare her own dinner.
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Li Dazhu and his family all thought that bringing Tang Mingmei back would be a very simple matter. Over the past year, she had thrown tantrums and gone back to her parents' home countless times, and every time they went to pick her up, she came back.
However, this time, they were all wrong.
When Li Dazhu appeared at the Tang family's house, he couldn't even get through the door.
Tang Mingmei didn't even ask him why he came; she simply said coldly, "You're not welcome here."
Li Dazhu was both surprised and angry, and his face turned red with excitement.
Tang Mingmei looked at him with even more disgust, and she really didn't know how she could have ever liked him before.
Li Dazhu, unaware that he had been thoroughly rejected, still put on airs and said, "Tang Mingmei, don't go too far."
“I’m at my parents’ house, I can be as unreasonable as I want.” She then gave a mocking smile and retorted, “Besides, am I being unreasonable? Is it unreasonable to not welcome you?”
Li Dazhu was completely enraged and forgot the purpose of his visit. He pointed at Tang Mingmei and said, "Fine, since you're so ungrateful, you can continue to stay at your parents' house."
After saying that, he left without looking back.
I ran into Li Hong, who was coming back, as I was going down the stairs.
Li Hong opened her mouth, hesitating whether to greet him or not, when Li Dazhu brushed past her like a gust of wind.
Good grief, is this ignoring her?
Li Hong suddenly got angry. If she hadn't turned around and couldn't see Li Dazhu anymore, she probably would have started cursing.
Even so, he grumbled all the way home.
As soon as he entered the house, he hurriedly asked, "What brings Li Dazhu here?"
When Tang Mingmei saw her mother return at this time, she knew that they had run into each other.
She said, "I don't know, I didn't ask."
"That person is getting more and more rude. I ran into him on the stairs and he didn't even say hello."
Tang Mingmei gave a cold laugh.
Given how she treated him, it's no wonder that petty and narrow-minded Li Dazhu wouldn't even greet her.
Instead of explaining how she treated Li Dazhu, she took the opportunity to sow discord between her and her mother.
"That's what I was saying, he's just a good actor. I never knew he was like this before. Now he doesn't even care about you. You can imagine what kind of life I had when I was in the Li family."
Tang Mingmei originally just wanted to take the opportunity to vent her anger, but when she thought about the grievances she suffered in the Li family, she couldn't help but tear up.
Looking back on the past year or so, she really doesn't know how she managed to put up with it back then.
They must have lost their minds, thinking that if they stood up to the Li family, they wouldn't suffer any loss, and that silencing the Li family meant they had won.
Now that I understand, it's clear that no matter what, she was the one who suffered injustice.
Feeling increasingly aggrieved, Tang Mingmei decided to tear down the facade completely and tell her mother everything about how Li Dazhu and his family had treated her since her daughter's birth.
In the past, I would hide things from my parents to some extent because I didn't want them to worry too much.
Now, forget it. Since things have already come to this point, she'd rather let her mother see Li Dazhu and the Li family for who they really are, and stop being afraid of divorce for the sake of saving face.
As Li Hong listened, tears streamed down her face, and her heart ached.
I used to think that Li Dazhu's mother was the one who was hard to get along with, but it turns out that Li Dazhu himself is the worst person.
“Yes, he’s a complete scoundrel.” Tang Mingmei seized the opportunity to say, “Mom, I really can’t live with him anymore. Waaah.”
"My poor daughter."
The mother and daughter embraced and wept bitterly.
It wasn't until Tang Mingmei's daughter, nestled in her arms, seemed to sense her mother's sadness and suddenly burst into tears that the two adults finally snapped out of their daze and quickly stopped crying to comfort the child.
That evening, when Tang Jianguo returned home, Li Hong couldn't wait to tell him about Li Dazhu's situation and also about the grievances her daughter had suffered at the Li family's home.
After saying all this, he glanced at the direction of his daughter's bedroom door with red eyes.
“Her father, I think my daughter really can’t live with Li Dazhu anymore.”
Having clearly heard about the grievances his wife and daughter had suffered over the past year, Tang Jianguo, who had never wanted his daughter to divorce, was now wavering.
His lips trembled, and after a long pause, he finally said, "If our daughter has really thought it through, then we should just let her be."
Li Hong had been thinking the same thing all day, but then she felt uneasy.
She truly regretted her past actions; why didn't she fight to the death to stop her daughter from getting married when she was so blinded by greed?
She feared that she made a mistake by not organizing her daughter's marriage the first time, and that she would make a mistake by not stopping her daughter's divorce now.
Hearing his wife's concerns, Tang Jianguo said, "No, marriage has taught Mingmei too many painful lessons. Haven't you noticed how much she's changed?"
How could Li Hong not have noticed? That was her daughter, whom she had carried for ten months and raised with great difficulty. How could she not have noticed that her daughter had changed?
She just...
Now that things have come to this, Li Hong can no longer deceive herself.
She was just too scared and heartbroken to admit it.
Why are Mingmei and Mingli, both children of the Tang family, so different?
Thinking of Tang Mingli, Li Hong suddenly perked up.
"Her dad, should I go find Mingli and discuss this with her?"
Tang Jianguo shook his head: "Don't you know what Mingli's attitude is?"
Li Hong became dejected again.
Tang Mingli had disliked Li Dazhu even earlier than they did; the things she said last time she came over implicitly supported her daughter's divorce.
But she still wanted to go find Tang Mingli.
For some reason, she felt more at ease talking to Tang Mingli about such an important matter.
Seeing that she insisted, Tang Jianguo didn't know what to say.
Anyway, after making that decision just now, he actually felt much more relaxed.
The reason I don't want my daughter to get divorced is simply because I'm afraid she'll be criticized, afraid she'll have difficulty finding a partner with a child, and afraid she won't have a good life with the child...
But all of this is unknown. What is certain now is that the daughter is not having a good time with the children in the Li family.
Since that's the case, instead of thinking about so many unknown things, it's better to face reality first.
He said to his wife, "If you want to go see Mingli, go ahead. I won't object. Anyway, I've already made my stance clear today. I'll support whatever Mingmei wants to do."
Tang Mingmei happened to hear that last sentence when she opened the door.
Tang Mingmei hurriedly asked, "Dad, what are you talking about? What are you supporting me for?"
"I support you..." Tang Jianguo realized halfway through his sentence that the word "divorce" was really hard to say, so he changed it to: "Whatever decision you make, I will support you."
"Really?" Tang Mingmei blurted out, "Even if I want a divorce and come back with the child, you'll support me?"
Tang Jianguo felt heavy-hearted.
He tried to nod, but found his head was heavy.
The fact that she didn't immediately object like before gave Tang Mingmei hope.
She seized the opportunity to say, "If I get a divorce, I will definitely want the child. The Li family wants a grandson, so they will probably be willing to give him to me in the end. Then I will change the child's surname to mine."
If the child can change his surname to Tang, it will definitely be an unexpected surprise for the parents, and it will be some comfort to them.
Sure enough, Tang Jianguo and Li Hong stared in astonishment.
Can the child take the surname Tang?
These words were indeed a heavy blow to Tang Jianguo and Li Hong.
Both of them shamefully felt tempted; if the child could take Tang's surname, divorce didn't seem like such a bad thing.
After exchanging glances, Tang Jianguo nodded emphatically, "I support whatever you do."
"dad……"
Tang Mingmei was extremely excited.
After the initial excitement, seeing how much her parents had worried about her and how much they had aged in just over a year made her very sad.
She's such a bad daughter, making her parents worry about her at their age.
Tang Mingmei vowed in her heart that she would be more sensible in the future, and would never be as self-righteous as before, nor would she ever hurt her parents' hearts like before.
She assured her parents, "Dad, Mom, believe me, I will never do anything to worry you again."
Li Hongzhen hadn't heard such sensible words in years.
She was also moved and said, "Silly child, you are your parents' child. It's instinct for your parents to worry about you, not because of anything you've done."
Now that Tang Mingmei has children of her own, she understands very well the feelings her mother was expressing.
Indeed, her child is very well-behaved, but she still can't help but worry about all sorts of things.
Even when it's just drinking milk, I worry about whether it will choke.
Even when I'm just lying quietly in bed sleeping, I worry that I might stop breathing.
Not to mention when the child cries loudly, I feel so guilty for not taking good care of her and making her cry so heartbreakingly at such a young age.
After having a daughter, she truly understood the saying, "Raising a child means worrying for ninety-nine years."
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