Chapter 24: Leave A Way Out, I’ll Do Anything

You don’t know, Er Da Niang has been bedridden for the past few years, and it’s his first wife who has been taking care of her. She’s been more devoted than a daughter. They have a son and a daughter. This man, I don’t know where he gets such a cruel heart. He just throws away a good wife and says that the previous marriage was arranged, not something he wanted. But when she gave birth, no one forced him to do it, did they?

As women, they naturally sided with the woman, and the heartless man had to be condemned.

Otherwise, if this kind of thing got out, who knows if it would be their turn next?

When they arrived, they saw a crowd of people gathered around. In the middle of the crowd, a woman with a bitter expression was kneeling on the ground, her forehead already bleeding from the kowtows.

Not far away, the woman who was being held tightly by the man was still nagging, “Shameless bitch, you’re divorced, why are you still hanging around here? Don’t you want to die? If you have the guts, go ahead and die now. If you really die, I might even respect you a little.”

The frail girl held her injured mother in her arms, her eyes filled with anger but helplessness. Her whole body was trembling. Beside her, a little boy was crying loudly. It was her younger brother.

The person who was still cursing was Zhou Shugen’s wife he married in the city.

Zhou Shugen desperately held his wife, but she hit and scratched him, and he didn’t let go.

“Stop scolding. If she really goes to kill herself, we’ll be implicated too. Besides, haven’t I already explained to you? We’ve been over for a long time. She just has nowhere to go. My parents felt sorry for her, so they kept her at home. And with her taking care of them at home, we’re less worried in the city, aren’t we? If she really leaves, we’ll have to bring my parents to the city to live with us. My mother’s legs are still bad, and you can’t take care of her…”

Zhou Shugen tried to persuade his wife, but she slapped him in the face, not giving him any face at all.

“Zhou Shugen, don’t give me that hypocritical talk. I was fooled by your lies and married you. I would have been blind to even look at you, a good-for-nothing, if I had known you had a wife and children.”

From this, it could be judged that the woman had been deceived, leading to the current situation.

His ex-wife was a pushover, allowing him to abuse her. He wanted to do the same to her, but there was no way.

“I’m telling you, since you’re divorced, then be clean about it. You’re my man now. If you dare to have one wife at home and another outside, I’ll break your legs and make sure you can’t get along in the city. Don’t give me that crap about taking care of your mother. I’m not buying it. If you want to live a good life with me, get rid of this woman as soon as possible. Don’t make me upset.”

“No, Father, where can I go?” The injured woman cried miserably. At her age, her parents were old, her brother and sister-in-law had already split up, and she couldn’t go back to her family. If they really drove her away, what would she do? “I beg you, please leave me a way out. I don’t want anything. Really, I won’t compete with you…”

Zhou Xiaoju desperately pulled her mother, “Mother, don’t beg them. We have hands and feet, we can earn our own food. We won’t starve to death. Even if we build a straw shed outside, it’s better than being bullied here. Get up, get up!”

She couldn’t pull her, and she couldn’t stop her. She could only cry in frustration.

The people around also came to help pull her, unwillingly persuading her, “Shugen’s wife, we’re all women. Why do women have to make things difficult for other women? Shugen doesn’t come back to the village for a year or two. Xiaoju’s mother living here doesn’t bother you. She can help take care of the elderly, so you don’t have to worry. Why do you have to force her to death?”

“It’s not my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame Zhou Shugen for being a heartless bastard. When he married me, he didn’t tell me he had a previous wife. I was a virgin, and I was a city dweller who ate rationed food. I wasn’t unmarriageable. Why would I marry a divorced man? Who can see my grievances?” The woman also started crying, “If she doesn’t leave, what’s the difference between Zhou Shugen and having two wives? It’s a new era now, don’t play that old game with me. If you piss me off, none of us will have a good time!”

She was not kind. She was too kind at the beginning, and she believed this man’s lies.

At first, he lied to her that he was single. Later, he said he was divorced, but his ex-wife had nowhere to go, so she was temporarily living at home. Then he said that his parents needed to be taken care of.

If she hadn’t seen the woman wiping his face with her own eyes today, she would have been fooled.

They were divorced, but they could still act so intimately. What was the difference between that and not being divorced?

And this time she saw it. When he came back alone, who knows what shameless things they did.

Zhou Shugen wanted to enjoy the best of both worlds, but he had to see if he could really handle it!

The two of them, one refusing to budge, the other clinging on for dear life, it was a real drama.

Xiaoju’s mother was finally pulled away by the crowd and went to the neighbor’s house to avoid the storm. Zhou Xiaoju pulled her brother and followed.

Someone saw how pitiful she was and started to persuade her, “Xiaoju’s mother, they’re already like this. It’s no use for you to stay in this house. Why don’t you go to another family? At least you’ll have someone to rely on in the future. It’s better than suffering in their house. Look at Shugen’s new wife. She stole another man’s wife and still thinks she’s right. She’s as fierce as a tigress. Their family will suffer for it.”

Someone next to him patted the man’s arm, “What are you talking about at a time like this?” Isn’t that rubbing salt in her wounds?

“Rough words but true. I’m doing it for her own good. If she doesn’t find someone else while she can still find someone, if she delays for a few more years and gets old, it will be useless. No one will want her then.”

Xiaoju’s mother cried even harder, pushed Zhou Xiaoju’s hand away, and ran out of the crowd.

“Mother…” Zhou Xiaoju cried and chased after her.

“You, you. She’s feeling bad right now. You’re mentioning this now, aren’t you just provoking her?”

Jiang Nian listened to Shiliu lamenting about how women’s lives were hard. They had to follow their husbands and work like oxen and horses. If they met a good one, they had a way out. If they didn’t, they would be miserable for the rest of their lives!

She was about to say that life was hard or not, it depended on how you chose.

But before she could speak, she saw a figure dart past her.

Zhou Xiaoju was chasing after her, “Mother, wait for me!”

Behind her was a group of people, all rushing out.

Shiliu patted Jiang Nian’s arm, “Quick, look at Xiaoju’s mother. She’s probably going to kill herself, right?”

“Oh, what a sin!”

Sure enough, not far ahead, at the pond, she ran over without even pausing, and plunged headfirst into the water.