Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
He said I worried too much and kept a file on everything.
As I laid out the papers that day, I realized I had preserved every important moment of the children’s twelve years. The only things I hadn’t documented were the indignities I had swallowed myself.
Zhao Ming’s lawyer contacted me soon afterward.
The tone was polite, but every word had an edge.
“Mr. Zhao believes the children have spent too long under their mother’s authoritarian parenting. They are becoming increasingly distant from their father, which is detrimental to their development.”
“They’re distant because he eats with them once a week.”
“Mr. Zhao is busy with work.”
“So am I.”
“He can provide better financial circumstances.”
“How much does he give the household each month?”
There was no answer.
I ended the call and opened my household budgeting app.
Every payday, Zhao Ming transferred a fixed five thousand yuan to me.
The mortgage had long been paid off. What remained went toward the children’s daily expenses.
The rest of the money he kept was spent on Zhao Xue’s family.
Last year, he had sent twenty thousand yuan for her daughter’s tutoring.
The year before, he had contributed eighty thousand toward Zhao Xue’s car.
He had also been paying his mother’s monthly living expenses.
Those transfers were enough to show that the financial strength he boasted of largely depended on me carrying the household expenses.
That evening, he came home with two of the children’s favorite cakes.
Zhao Nian wouldn’t take hers.
“Dad, did you apply for custody of us?”
His hand stopped in midair.
“Who told you that?”
“The lawyer called Mom.”
He looked at me.
“You told them about this too?”
“It concerns them. They have a right to know what they’re facing.”
“You’re using them against me.”
Zhao Heng picked up his schoolbag.
“We want to stay with Mom.”
Zhao Ming crouched in front of them.
“I can take care of you too.”
“Can you cook?” Zhao Nian asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Do you know what time I finish school?” Zhao Heng asked.
Zhao Ming pressed his lips together.
“I can learn.”
Zhao Nian clung to my arm.
“We don’t want to go to Grandma’s.”
His mother called that night. When she heard Zhao Nian’s voice, she snatched up the phone.
“You two ungrateful children! All Grandma’s love was wasted on you.”
Frightened, Zhao Nian hung up.
Zhao Ming looked at me.
“You’re just letting her hang up like that?”
“Your mother insults them, and you expect them to apologize?”
“She’s just upset.”
“Does that give her the right to take it out on the children?”
He produced an agreement.
“Mom and I have talked. Add my name to the property certificate, and we can forget about the custody issue.”
I looked at the document.
“When did you discuss this?”
“Today.”
“So you applied for custody to get this apartment?”
His expression changed.
“I just want the children to have a whole family.”
“Your name goes on the certificate, your mother moves in, Zhao Xue can come whenever she likes. That’s your idea of a whole family?”
“Stop thinking the worst of people.”
I tore the agreement in half.
He snatched the remaining paper from my hand.
“You’ll regret this.”
“You’ve all said that often enough.”
He slammed the door on his way out.
That night, my mother called.
She asked what I intended to do.
I told her I wanted a divorce.
For a long time, she said nothing.
“Wanqing, the children are still young. Raising two on your own will be hard.”
“I know.”
“Zhao Ming may be blindly devoted to his mother, but ordinarily he treats you reasonably well.”
“He’s trading my apartment for somewhere his mother can retire.”
Mom sighed.
“You need to think it through.”
“I have.”
The next day, I went with my lawyer to file for divorce.
After receiving the notice, Zhao Ming didn’t come to see me.
His mother, however, posted a long message in the group.
She said that in twelve years of marriage into the Zhao family, I had produced only two children and failed in my duties as a daughter-in-law.
She said I had seized the marital home and forced an elderly woman onto the streets.
She said Zhao Ming had married the wrong person.
The relatives took turns telling me to be sensible.
Some said that within a family, all it took was swallowing your pride.
Others said my mother-in-law was old. Why make an issue of everything?
I posted screenshots of the messages in which she had refused to help after I gave birth.
Messages from twelve years ago.
I added just one sentence.
“These are her exact words to me back then.”
Nobody offered any more advice.
Zhao Xue messaged me privately.
“Who are you trying to entertain by posting this?”
“I’m posting the truth.”