(Word Count: 2735)
Mother Wu had the same thoughts as Wu Hongmei. She didn’t care whether her son-in-law took the wrong medicine or not. As long as her son-in-law treated her daughter well and didn’t dislike her for not giving him a son, she would be happy.
Her daughter’s current life dispelled Mother Wu’s worries for many days. She clapped her hands and went to kill a chicken to stew chicken soup. Her son-in-law said that her daughter was breastfeeding and had to drink soup every day. Thinking of this, the smile on her old face was almost piled into a flower.
Mother Wu prepared a particularly rich lunch, with chicken, fish, meat, and wine. Of course, the chicken, meat, and wine were brought by Han Ze. Wu Hongmei’s eldest brother Wu Hongjun was also called over to accompany the wine.
Wu Hongmei thought about taking the fourth girl back, and she felt a little guilty when she saw her eldest brother.
Han Ze had already picked up the wine glass with Wu Hongjun with a calm face. After the meal, Wu Hongjun’s wife Nian Aiying came over with three children.
Han Ze finally saw the fourth girl, a child less than three years old, dark and thin, like skin and bones, with a sweatshirt that was too big for her small body. The clothes seemed to be picked up from others. She was barefoot and her face was stained, like a harlequin cat, and her eyes looked around timidly.
He looked at the two children next to him, a boy and a girl, both wearing brand new clothes, with white and fleshy faces and bright eyes. One can tell at a glance that they must be loved at home.
Han Ze narrowed his eyes, looked at the fourth girl and said with a smile: “This is the fourth girl, she has grown so big.”
As soon as Han Ze said this, the dinner table suddenly became quiet.
Nian Aiying smiled and said: “Is his brother-in-law hysterical? Where did the fourth girl come from? This is our second girl.”
He was still thinking about the child who was handed to her. She was greedy for more. What had she been doing before?
Han Ze looked at the fourth girl and called out, “Girl, come here, let me see.”
The fourth girl looked at Nian Aiying timidly. The little child was naive, but she also knew that her mother didn’t like her. If she wanted her mother to like her, she had to listen to her in everything and would only go if her mother asked her to.
Nian Aiying sneered and said nothing, but just glared at the fourth girl fiercely.
The fourth girl trembled with fear and stood there, not daring to move anymore.
Nian Aiying hummed with satisfaction. The little girl was not born by her, but she raised her. She should listen to whoever raises her. Even if Han Ze is her biological father, what does it matter if he has never raised her for a day?
Han Ze felt very sad when he saw it.
Wu Hongmei quietly wiped her tears and looked at the fourth girl reluctantly. She handed the fifth girl in her arms to Han Zhaodi, walked a few steps to Nian Aiying, and begged with red eyes: “Sister-in-law, please give the fourth girl back to me.”
Nian Aiying looked at her in doubt and asked sarcastically: “You begged me to take the child away at the beginning. Now I have raised the child and want to take her back? It’s not that easy.”
Wanting the fourth girl back, even brothers and sisters would not do this.
Wu’s father, mother, and Wu Hongjun looked at Han Ze in surprise. Was it the Han family’s intention that Hongmei wanted to take the child back? Or was it Hongmei’s own intention?
Han Ze was also stunned. The expression clearly showed that he did not expect Wu Hongmei to do this. Father Wu, Mother Wu, and Wu Hongjun knew that this was Hongmei’s own intention. They immediately felt guilty. Hongmei did not give the Han family a son, and now she wanted to take the fourth girl back. Would Mrs. Han agree?
“Sister-in-law, please give the fourth girl back to me, I beg you.” Wu Hongmei choked and cried, “Please, please…”
Nian Aiying’s face was full of resentment. She looked at Wu’s father and mother and Wu Hongjun’s faces. Seeing their doubtful expressions, she moved her gaze to Han Ze and asked loudly: “Are you going to go back on your word?”
Han Ze stood up, grabbed Wu Hongmei, and whispered: “Hongmei, the child has been given to brother and sister-in-law, don’t make trouble.”
Wu Hongmei sobbed, looked at Wu Hongjun and his wife, and begged: “Brother, please give the fourth girl back to me? Just think of it as your sister begging you.”
“This…” Hu Hongjun looked at Nian Aiying. She was just a girl, not his own child. He had nothing to be reluctant about. He would give her away, but Aiying had raised her for several years. Would she disagree?
“I took care of the child before she was even a month old, feeding her and washing her diapers, and I spent all my money and effort to raise her. Now you say you want to leave, and you can leave at that moment. There is no such good thing in the world.” Nian Aiying said angrily.
“What do you want in order for you to return the child to me?” Wu Hongmei looked at her expectantly with tears in her eyes.
“I won’t give it to you no matter what.” Nian Aiying said without thinking. The girl was almost three years old, and she could eat and drink by herself. She didn’t need to worry about her. If she raised her for a few more years, she would be able to help with housework, and she would be relieved by then. Even if Wu Hongmei was willing to compensate her with money, she would not be willing to return the child to her.
Han Ze looked at Wu Hongmei and sighed, “The child is given to my eldest brother, so it belongs to him. We can’t go back on our word.”
“Hongmei, you shouldn’t embarrass us, even my brother-in-law can understand this.” Nian Aiying agreed disdainfully.
Han Ze looked at Wu Hongmei with guilt, and said reluctantly, “Hongmei, let’s get a divorce. I have no son, and I have caused you to suffer. It’s all my fault that you and your daughter are separated, so let’s get a divorce.”
Wu Hongmei was stunned and stared at Han Ze blankly. Didn’t she come here to ask for her daughter? Did Han Ze have planned to divorce her long ago?
Han Ze looked at Wu’s father and mother, full of apology: “Dad and Mom, the old blind uncle in our village told me that I will never have a son in this life. It’s my fault that Hongmei gave birth to so many girls. I can’t hurt her anymore. I want to divorce her and let her find a man who can give birth to a boy, so that she won’t be scolded for not being able to give birth to a son…”
“What?”
“What?”
Father Wu and Mother Wu looked at Han Ze in disbelief. Bullshit about not having a son, they said angrily: “What’s the point of divorce? What kind of divorce? Can you believe what fortune-telling says?”
“What do you mean?” Wu Hongjun was both amused and annoyed. His sister and brother-in-law were making trouble. Can they still live a good life? He can’t believe the fortune-teller just because he gave birth to several girls in a row. How could he not know that his brother-in-law is so superstitious.
Nian Aiying had nothing to do with it. They didn’t give birth to a son for so many years. It’s not nonsense to say that they don’t have a son.
Han Ze choked up and said, “It’s me who harmed Hongmei. She was scolded for her sins in her past life, and that’s why she can’t give birth to a son in this life. It’s all my fault. I’m destined to have no son. I’m sorry to Hongmei.”
Father Wu and Mother Wu were dumbfounded. They were not superstitious people, and they didn’t believe in the saying that they were destined to have no son. It was the couple’s responsibility that they couldn’t give birth to a son. The son-in-law took all the sins on himself, and they didn’t know what to say. After all, if that was the case, the son-in-law would feel guilty about his own daughter, and he wouldn’t dislike her, and would treat her better from now on. As for divorce, they would not agree.
Wu Hongmei’s tears kept falling, but she still couldn’t believe that her man actually wanted to divorce her?
Han Zhaodi was stunned and panicked. Her father was seriously poisoned by superstition. How could she wake him up?
Wu Hongjun thought his brother-in-law was really weird. He wanted to divorce his sister because of a fortune teller’s words.
Han Ze said sincerely: “Mom and Dad, this is the result of my careful consideration. I decided to let Hongmei go and let her find a man who can give birth to a son. What’s the point of her being with me? I can’t even give her a son, and even my own daughter has to be given away. She missed the fourth girl every day at home, and her eyes are almost blind from crying. I can’t bear it…”
“I don’t agree to divorce.” Wu Hongmei came back to her senses and burst into tears: “I don’t want a son. Is it not okay that I don’t want a son?”
Han Ze turned his face away from her, and his tone was reluctant: “You don’t want a son, don’t you want the fourth girl either? If you divorce and go back to your parents’ home, you can take care of the fourth girl every day. I’m doing this for your own good.”
“I don’t want you to do this for my own good. Anyway, I won’t divorce.” Wu Hongmei kept wiping her tears.
Han Ze sighed deeply, as if he was in endless pain: “I can’t even keep the child you gave birth to, what’s the point of following me? Divorce, and find a good man after the divorce, find a man who can keep your child.”
Father Wu narrowed his eyes and said: “After all, you still want to divorce?”
Han Ze hung his head, his face full of guilt and reluctance: “I don’t want to divorce, but I can’t hurt Hongmei, what can I do?”
“I don’t want a son. I don’t want a son…” Wu Hongmei murmured.
Wu Hongjun looked at her with reluctance, because she was his own sister. He said with red eyes: “It’s wrong for Han Ze to believe in superstition, and you can’t break up this family and hurt yourself because of superstition.”
Han Ze said seriously: “Brother, other fortune tellers may be false, but Old blind Han in our village is very accurate in fortune telling. He has predicted our younger sister and third brother accurately. There are ready-made examples, so we can’t help but believe it.”
Wu Hongjun frowned and said angrily: “My sister just said that she doesn’t want a son, and you still want a divorce?”
Han Ze looked at the fourth girl and said reluctantly: “Brother, believe me, I am doing this for her own good.”
Wu Hongjun was so angry that he trembled: “Divorcing her is still for her own good. How come I didn’t know there was such a strange thing.”
Han Ze lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Han Zhaodi looked at her father and then at her mother, and said: “Uncle, my father meant that after he divorced my mother, my mother would go back to her parents’ home and see my sister every day. My mother has been crying all night for missing my sister in recent years. My father didn’t know that it was his fault that our family always gave birth to girls. Now that he knows, he can’t hurt my mother. After all, my father and grandmother always disliked my mother for not being able to give birth to a son…”
Wu Hongjun said unhappily: “You also want your parents to divorce?”
What does the little girl know?
Han Zhaodi was uneasy: “I don’t want to, but I feel sorry for my mother…” She paused and looked at Wu Hongjun.
Wu Hongjun said angrily: “Why do you feel sorry for your mother?” If you feel sorry for your mother, you should persuade your father not to let him divorce.
Han Zhaodi plucked up her courage: “I feel sorry for my mother and she cries all night long. It’s because she misses my sister. If my sister is with my mother, my mother won’t cry and won’t care whether my father has a son or not. They will definitely not divorce.”
Wu Hongjun looked at his sister and asked: “Do you really miss the fourth girl so much that you cry all night long?”
Wu Hongmei looked at him blankly.
Wu Hongjun already believed Han Zhaodi’s words, and sighed, “If that’s the case, then take the fourth girl back. I can’t let brother-in-law feel guilty because of a girl and let you two divorce.”
Nian Aiying objected loudly, “I don’t agree.”
Wu Hongjun roared, “You have to agree even if you don’t agree. Do you want my sister and brother-in-law to divorce? What do you want?”
Han Ze smiled bitterly and said, “Brother, don’t blame my sister-in-law. I understand her. No one wants to give the child they raised with great effort to someone else. I would not be willing to do that either, so forget it.”
Mother Wu thought about her daughter crying all night long. Wouldn’t her eyes be blinded by crying? Why didn’t she tell her before? No wonder she looked so haggard before. Did she want to make her mother die of heartache? She said stubbornly: “The elders, return the child to your sister.”
Nian Aiying looked at her mother-in-law angrily and said unwillingly: “I don’t want to. Why?”
Mother Wu snorted: “You have to be willing even if you don’t want to. You have raised the fourth girl for three years, and you have spent money and effort on her. I know it. Let Han Ze compensate you for your efforts in these three years. Is that treating you unfairly?”
Nian Aiying knew that it was related to whether Wu Hongmei would divorce or not. If she didn’t want to give the girl, the man would not agree. After all, she was his sister. Thinking of this, she said: “You also know that raising a child is not easy. I have worked so hard, In the end, I got nothing…”
Han Ze asked, “Whatever compensation my sister-in-law thinks is right, that’s it. I won’t be vague.”
Nian Aiying glanced at her father-in-law and her husband, and then at Wu Hongmei’s family, whose clothes were all patched. She knew that they didn’t have much money, so she gritted her teeth and said, “One thousand yuan. Give me one thousand yuan and take the child away.”
Han Ze was about to agree, but Wu Hongjun said angrily, “You are greedy for money. What do you mean by one thousand yuan? How can they give you one thousand yuan when they are like this?” She is looking for trouble. What if her brother-in-law has no money? What should I do if I want to divorce my sister?
Nian Aiying said unwillingly: “Five, five hundred is five hundred.”
Anyway, the girl is very well-behaved. She didn’t cry or make a fuss when she was brought home. She lay in bed for half a day without asking anything. She grew up eating porridge and soy milk powder, and she didn’t feed her with milk powder. She made a profit of five hundred yuan.
Han Ze, who was prepared to spend two thousand yuan: “…”
However, no matter how much money it is, as long as she is willing to return the child to him, it doesn’t matter.
Father Wu suddenly said, “Wait a minute…”
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152