Old Mrs. Xia took a deep breath, walked in, and sat down on the bench.
Old Chen turned to look at her, and neither of them said a word.
After a while, Chen Xiangbei came in noisily. He didn't take the slap just now seriously at all. He almost forgot about it after walking a few steps. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted that he was hungry and wanted to eat.
Both ignored him.
Chen Xianghong came in with the two siblings from the Yu family. She was still covering her face and hadn't recovered from the shock yet. However, given the atmosphere between her parents, she didn't dare to say a word and just started to clean up.
Seeing this, the Yu brothers and sisters also helped to clean up, at least to make the house look presentable.
Old Chen didn't dare look at her anymore. He put out his cigarette and said the first thing as if nothing had happened, "Have you eaten?"
Chen Xiangbei: "I didn't eat, I didn't eat! Dad, did you cook? There's nothing in the pot."
Mrs. Xia: "Old Chen, after the New Year, we will get a divorce."
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Xiangbei was stunned and was immediately pulled over by Yu Hongzhen. The children instantly turned into little quails and stared at the two of them.
Their mother said this calmly and seriously without any warning, without consulting any of them or giving them any time to calm down.
Old Chen's hand trembled, and the pipe fell to the ground. "Divorce?"
Old Mrs. Xia nodded and said, "Yes, divorce."
Old Chen stood up and said, "Why? I don't agree. Stop joking around, and don't even think about using this to threaten me or my children. Marriage is a lifelong commitment, and there's no way I'm divorcing you."
After thinking for a moment, he walked towards the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast for you and the kids. Calm down after you eat. Don't say such things casually. I'll clean up the house with them later. If you don't want to, don't do it. There's no one home. Get some rest. Yesterday...yesterday you were exhausted too."
Mrs. Xia: "Let me make it clear today. I can't live with you anymore. I'm not threatening you. I'm different from you. I wouldn't threaten you with such things. I have thought it through very clearly. I want to divorce you now."
Old Chen still didn't understand. What happened yesterday was that the third son of the family made a small mistake because of his bad mouth. The others had no fault at all. This old woman suddenly exploded and knocked the third son unconscious. He was anxious and hit her in desperation, so he was wrong. But then this damn old woman hit him with a stool and almost killed him. He didn't even get so angry that he wanted a divorce. Why should this damn old woman divorce him?
He really couldn't figure it out, so he told her what happened yesterday, without any exaggeration, just throwing the facts in front of her. "Old woman, tell me clearly, what are you angry about? If you are angry about the slap I gave you, then I apologize to you, I'm sorry. Don't talk to me about divorce so seriously, I can't divorce you, there is no such thing as divorce here."
Old Lady Xia looked at him, the man she had lived with for half her life. "Old Chen, we've spent half our lives together. We gave birth to five children and raised four. People outside think you're a good man, making a lot of money and not beating your wife. But only I know how tiring it is to live with you."
"You like to put on airs, but you're a rotten person on the inside. I lost my temper yesterday and didn't come home all night. You must be mad at me, right?"
Old Chen wanted to say that he didn't think so, but Old Lady Xia didn't give him a chance to interrupt. "You don't have to say you don't have any resentment. If you really knew what I was angry about, this family wouldn't be in such a mess until now."
"Is your decision to wait for me to admit my mistake or wait until I arrive to clean up? I don't know, but whichever it is, it makes me sick. You think I'm wrong, which makes me sick; you want to wait for me to see you clean up to show off, which also makes me sick. You used to do this for others to see, for outsiders to see, but now you do it for me."
Old Chen, struck by his weakness, suddenly sneered, "You make me sound so disgusting, but what good are you doing yourself? Before, you were unreasonable outside, quarreling and making a scene with others. Now you're unreasonable both inside and outside, beating us up and driving us away at will. What good things can you say about us?"
Old Mrs. Xia: "Well, since we don't have any feelings for each other anymore, let's get a divorce. We'll get a divorce after the New Year."
Old Chen became angry: "I won't divorce you. You are not a good person anyway. Otherwise, how could you stay with me? You have lived with me for more than 20 years, and you should live like this until you die. What is there to divorce? If you want a divorce, you have to die before I can do it. Even if I die, you are still the daughter-in-law of my Chen family, and you are still my wife, Chen Weiguo."
Old Lady Xia: "What's the point of doing this?"
Old Chen said, "Even if it's boring, I won't get a divorce. Everyone is like this, why do we have to get a divorce? We've all been through this. When we're unhappy, we fight, and when we're happy, we get together and eat something delicious. Isn't that how it's always been?"
"If we get divorced, how will people look at me, how will they look at you, how will they look at our entire family? What will my parents-in-law say about us behind our backs? How will the third child get married? Have you ever thought about these things? As a parent, you can't just think about your own happiness. Can you also think about the children?"
"Did you hear what I said to you and the others yesterday? Now it's not just you who makes me sick. It's all of you, including my own children. I feel so hopeless and exhausted. I don't see any family affection or hope in you."
"I've wasted so many days on you and them. I'm so unhappy. I'm unhappy every day. The moment I open my eyes, I go to work to earn money, do housework, raise children, and worry about their affairs."
Old Mrs. Xia's eyes were red again. "Every day I quarrel with this person, fight with that person. With you, with the children, with the relatives, with the neighbors, everyone wants me to intervene. No matter how much I care about you, you all think I'm not doing enough, not doing well, and that I'm too partial. Which of you has ever thought about me? Does anyone care if I'm tired?"
"Who doesn't want a peaceful life? I also want a stable life where I don't feel like cursing people the moment I open my eyes. From childhood to now, I can count the good and happy days I have lived on my fingers. I don't want to live my whole life and feel that I have lived my whole life for others when I die."
"Since you're all going to call me selfish no matter what, then I really want to live the life I want for the next few decades from now on."
"And the days I want to live are without you!"
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