Chapter 3 — A Retreat Called Love

My voice is very light. But it was like a giant rock falling into a calm lake. Chu Nghi was dumbfounded. My mother-in-law also forgot to cry. She rolled her eyes at me. As if I had just heard something shocking.

“What...what did you just say?”

Chu Nghi's voice was low. Bringing familiar dangers. I looked straight into his eyes.

“We are divorced.”

“I don't want to continue this life anymore.”

Chu Nghi completely exploded. He grabbed my wrist. The force was so strong that it hurt.

"To Tinh! Are you crazy?"

"Divorce? Don't even dream!"

"I tell you, the house is in my mother's name! The car is also an asset I bought before marriage!"

“If you divorce, you can only walk out of the Chu family empty-handed!”

Wrist pain. But I didn't struggle. Just quietly looked at him. He had planned everything out a long time ago. I nodded slightly.

“Empty hands are empty hands.”

My calmness made him stunned. Maybe he thought I would cry. Will cause chaos. It will be like countless times before. In the end, I still chose to give in. But this time. I don't need anything else. Even him. I don't need it either. I pulled my hand out of his. Take the phone. Then call Lam Man. The bell only rang once before the phone was picked up. I don't beat around the bush. Just say one sentence.

“Man Man, bring a lawyer to People's Hospital No. 1 to help me.”

“I want a divorce.”

Lam Man arrived faster than the lawyer. She almost rushed into the hospital room like a whirlwind, behind was a woman wearing a business suit, looking calm. At this time, Chu Nghi and his mother were still standing in the hospital room. A person curses non-stop. One person cried and lamented the sky. The content is very consistent: I To Tinh is an ungrateful, cruel woman who does not know how to be filial, and even wants a divorce to embarrass the Chu family.

“Shut up for me!”

Lam Man shouted loudly. Her voice resounded, instantly drowning out both her mother-in-law's cries and Chu Nghi's curses. She firmly placed the thermos she brought with her on the bedside table. A loud noise startled everyone.

"Whoever dares to say another word, I will put this pot of hot soup on that person's head!"

Lam Man put her hands on her hips, her sharp gaze like a knife sweeping over the mother and daughter. Chu Nghi knew that she had a hot temper. If she said she could do it, she was suddenly scared and stood still. The mother-in-law was also frightened by that atmosphere, did not dare to cry loudly anymore, only dared to whimper softly.

“Tinh Tinh, how are you?”

Only then did Lam Man turn to me. Seeing the plaster on my leg, her eyes immediately turned red.

"Does it hurt a lot? Who the hell hit you?"

“It's okay, I just fell on my own.”

I shook my head, signaling her not to worry.

“Hello Ms. To, I am lawyer Truong Tinh.”

The woman accompanying Lam Man gave me a business card.

"On the way here, Ms. Lam briefly told me the situation. Regarding the issue of divorce and property division, do you have any requests?"

Attorney Truong's voice is very professional and calm. Give others a sense of peace of mind.

“Lawyer Truong, my request is very simple.”

I looked at Chu Nghi. He was looking at us with wary and angry eyes.

"First, I want a divorce. The sooner the better."

“Second, I want to get back what belongs to me.”

“Your stuff?”

Chu Nghi seemed to have just heard a big joke world, burst into high-pitched laughter.

"To Tinh, what do you have? Eat from me, stay at my house. Is the salary you have earned in the few years of marriage enough to buy clothes for yourself? And ask for property? I haven't asked you to compensate for my mother's mental damage, so you're lucky!"

“Chu Nghi.”

I looked at him, my eyes cold as ice.

“When I got married, the five hundred thousand yuan my parents gave me as a dowry... have you forgotten?”

Chu Nghi's face immediately changed. The mother-in-law's sobbing also stopped. Her eyes avoided, not daring to look at me.

"What five hundred thousand? You voluntarily took it out so we could buy a house! That's retirement money for your mother! Now that you're a family, you still mention this?"

He intentionally raised his voice, as if he wanted to use the volume to hide his guilt.

“That's right, one family.”

I repeated softly, my voice filled with sarcasm.

“So those five hundred thousand were naturally used to buy a house that was only in your mother's name, right?”

This is the biggest thorn in our marriage. That year when they bought a house, my parents were afraid I would suffer a loss, so they used their old age pension to contribute five hundred thousand to me as a deposit. But Chu Nghi and his mother, one soft, one tough, coaxed me that writing my mother-in-law's name could avoid some policies, and it would be more convenient for my children to go to school in the future. I believed. Believe in the saying "we are one family, what's mine is also mine, what's mine is also mine" that Chu Nghi said. Thinking back now, from that moment, they had already paved the way for me to leave empty-handed.

“To Tinh, don't spit blood!”

The mother-in-law finally found her voice again. She jumped up from her chair, pointed at my nose and scolded:

"That money is your filial piety to me! It's clearly written in black and white as a gift! Now you want to ask for it back? Don't even think about it! You ungrateful and ungrateful person! Our Chu family is really blind to take you back!"

“Give it?”

Lawyer Truong spoke up at the right time, his voice calm.

"Please ask, is there a donation contract? Or is it notarized?"

The mother-in-law was stunned when asked.

"What contract? Isn't it natural for a daughter-in-law to respect her mother-in-law?"

“Legally, no.”

Lawyer Truong gently pushed his glasses.

"If there is no clear gift agreement, this large sum of money is used to buy a house after marriage. Even though the real estate is registered in the name of one party's parents, upon divorce, the other party still has the right to request that it be determined as marital property, and request a refund or division."

“Miss To, do you still keep the transfer documents from that year?”

I nodded.