He Yong was speechless, and Dan Niang continued, "I'm already showing you some conscience by keeping you here and letting you live peacefully in this house. Don't be ungrateful."
After saying that, she turned around and went to do other things. She had bought a few more handkerchiefs to embroider today and was still working on them.
Good days are just around the corner, and she dares not relax at all.
However, this time she wasn't busy alone; she brought her eldest daughter along to learn with her.
This experience taught her a lesson: a woman must have the ability to support herself and have a way out in times of crisis.
The eldest daughter is very sensible. Since the incident, she hasn't asked a single question and has fully cooperated with her choice. She is also very serious when learning embroidery.
Looking at her eldest daughter studying diligently, Dan Niang suddenly asked, "Yun Ya, if your father and I were to divorce, would you hate your mother?"
The eldest daughter's name is Yunya. She is nine years old this year. She will be able to find a husband in another year. If she gets divorced and her reputation is damaged, she probably won't be able to find a good husband.
Yun Ya didn't expect her mother to discuss this matter with her, but since her mother asked, she couldn't not answer.
She put down her needlework and said, "If Mother had divorced him a few years earlier and kicked him out of the house, we wouldn't be living this kind of life."
Dan Niang was stunned and asked Yun Ya, "Aren't you angry with your mother? This...this might make it hard for you and your sister to find good husbands!"
"Mother, do I really have to get married? Marry a man like Father and let him drag the whole family down? Mother, I don't want to get married. I want to stay by your side. We can work together and make a good life."
She looked at her mother with burning eyes and great anticipation.
Dan Niang was quite surprised that her eldest daughter would have such thoughts. Getting married wasn't a good thing, but it would allow her to have children.
She is now divorced from her husband, but she still has three children by her side, so she won't be lonely when she gets old. But her daughter is still so young and beautiful. If she lives like this for the rest of her life, what will happen when she gets old and no one takes care of her? How will she be able to care for her in her old age and see her off in her final days?
She couldn't even imagine how cruel it would be to let her daughter grow old alone.
"But you don't have children, how will you manage in the future!"
Dan Niang's eyes reddened. In the end, it was all her fault. She had met such a useless man who had ruined her life and her children.
The eldest daughter hugged her, gently patted her back, and said, "Mother, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
This is telling her that as long as she is at peace and agrees to a divorce, everything will be alright.
Tears still streamed down her face. She thought her children would resent her, but her eldest daughter was completely on her side.
As for her second son and youngest daughter, she didn't care too much about one, and the other was still too young to understand. She could explain it to her in the future. By then, it would be a done deal, and even if her daughter resented her, it wouldn't change the fact.
Let her be selfish just this once.
The group of people came again at noon the next day, and followed the same procedure as yesterday: they first dragged He Yong out and beat him up.
He Yong hadn't recovered from the beating he received yesterday, nor had he eaten. He passed out today without any effort to clean him up.
These people knew their limits; they didn't beat the person to death, but instead went to the yard and smashed things, causing damage to almost everyone nearby.
Dan Niang hid the five taels of silver that Jiang Jiu Niang had given her yesterday. Today, instead of using it to repay the neighbors for their losses, she cried and kowtowed to everyone, begging for their forgiveness.
Everyone was furious. Although these people were just making a scene in the yard and the things they were breaking were not valuable, and sometimes they would just kick the door a few times, they were so innocent. Why should they be implicated?
But seeing Dan Niang like this, they felt sorry for her. She was just a woman with nowhere else to turn, so what could they say?
But today, even more people are urging her to divorce, and even the village chief came, but he only made the decision to let these people leave, saying that he would give them an explanation.
Those people left satisfied. In front of the villagers, the village chief said, "This can't go on. For the sake of peace in the village, you should make a decision as soon as possible and divorce him."
"Village chief, you can't divorce her! How will my daughter live in the future? What will happen to our three children?"
Blind Li couldn't see exactly where the village chief was, so she knelt down in the direction the sound was coming from and kept kowtowing.
"It's all my and her father's fault. We chose the wrong husband for her years ago, which led to this situation. But now, for the sake of the children, how can we easily get a divorce? The future of several children will be ruined! Village chief, please have mercy and show leniency! I beg you!"
Her words instantly provoked everyone's dissatisfaction, with someone immediately saying, "Then don't send people to our village to cause damage! Who's going to pay for the things we broke? You can't be so selfish, think about us! We're completely innocent!"
"That's right! If you don't want a divorce, then move out and don't stay in this village. Then we naturally won't let you get a divorce!"
"Yes, let's move!"
This commotion caused the tide to turn instantly. Dan Niang became anxious and hurriedly asked her eldest daughter to pull her mother away, preventing her from kowtowing any further.
As she was wondering how to bring it up, the village chief said, "Well then, I have a good idea, everyone listen. We're all from the same village, and we know that Danniang's family is struggling financially and can't afford to move. The main reason Danniang doesn't dare to divorce is because she's worried about ruining her reputation and jeopardizing her three children's future."
"Today, I'm standing up for Danniang. If she agrees to a divorce, it will be a sacrifice for the whole village, a last resort. From now on, no one is allowed to gossip behind her back and ruin her reputation. When her three children grow up and reach marriageable age, all the villagers will be witnesses to ensure that nothing happens to the children. What do you all think?"
This is nothing to many people, after all, it's just a matter of saying something, and Dan Niang has truly been more than kind and righteous to this man, so there's no question of a bad reputation.
Someone immediately said, "No problem! Not to mention the three children needing to find spouses later, even if Danniang wants to remarry in a year or two, that's fine too! We've all watched Danniang get through these years, it's really not easy for her, and there's no need for her to stay with such a useless and incompetent man for the rest of her life. She should find someone better to marry!"
"Hey! You know what, it's true! We have a few widowers in our village, all honest and kind, any one of them is better than this He Yong!"
...
The more they talked, the more excited they became, and some people were already preparing to arrange marriages for Dan Niang.
Dan Niang was so moved that tears streamed down her face. She knelt down before everyone, kowtowed three times, and said, "Thank you, village chief, thank you everyone. I will divorce this person right away. Please help us write a divorce agreement, village chief, and please all of you be my witnesses!"
Her hands were trembling with excitement, as were her eldest daughter. If she hadn't had to support her grandmother, she would have rushed over to hug her mother.
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