Chapter 7 — After Divorce, I Counted 10 Years as a Nanny

"She stays at home and doesn't make money. Isn't it all my money to spend? Now she's suing me?"

Hua Tinh glanced at me, signaled me not to say anything, then slowly spoke.

"Mr. Chu, you said Lam Van doesn't make money, so I want to ask, how much does it cost to hire a nanny to stay with her for the same month? How much does it cost to hire a nurse to take care of a seller who can't take care of herself? How much does it cost to hire someone to cook and clean? Picking up children, tutoring, and night care, all have clear market prices. Ten years since she hasn't received a salary, it doesn't mean those labors aren't valuable. On the contrary, it's that your family has implicitly exploited her for too long."

Chu Minh Xuyen's lips trembled, and for a moment he couldn't say a word. The mother-in-law felt like her tail was stepped on and immediately exploded.

"She's a daughter-in-law! It's natural for a daughter-in-law to serve her parents-in-law!"

I finally opened my mouth.

“Then why don't you let your son 'of course' serve you?”

She choked. I looked at her, my voice was not loud but it made the entire mediation room silent.

"Liu Que Phan, she always said that if I married into the Chu family, I would be a member of the Chu family. But in these years, every time there was a benefit, she said they were part of the same family. As for the responsibilities, they were all pushed to me. No one cared for Chu Minh Huy's children, I took care of them. She was in the hospital, I stayed up all night. There was a lack of money in the house for food and clothing, all of which were taken from the credit card my father left behind. In the end, I had no salary and became a parasitic."

"You don't consider me a member of the family. You consider me a person who doesn't need to be paid, doesn't know how to quit his job, and even spends his own money to support the whole family."

No one spoke up. Even the mediator was silent for a few seconds. Chu Minh Xuyen's face became more and more ugly, and he suddenly lowered his voice.

“Lam Van, do you have to go to this extent?”

I looked at him and suddenly remembered many years ago, when I had a fever of thirty-nine degrees and still tried to get up and cook him hangover soup. Then he hugged me and said he would not betray me for the rest of his life. When men say promises, their eyes are really sincere. It's just that something called sincerity expires very quickly.

“You started it first.” I said.

The first mediation session ended unhappily. When I walked out of the court, Chu Minh Xuyen chased me and stopped me on the steps. The sun was very strong, making the red blood in his eyes clearly visible.

“Lam Van, do you really want to go to the end?”

I looked at him, suddenly feeling tired.

“It's you who's pushing it to the end, not me.”

"You can cut off the matter of Tran Nghien. We won't see each other again in the future. We won't bring up family matters again. Come back, let's start again, okay?"

This is the first time he has lowered himself like that. If it was half a month ago, I probably would have cried. But now, I just see it's too late.

“Chu Minh Xuyen, you don't want to start over with me.” I said softly, "You just suddenly discovered that without me, your mother doesn't have ready-to-eat meals, your father doesn't have anyone to help him up at night, your nephew doesn't have anyone to tutor him, and every month he has to spend several thousand more on hiring nannies and nurses. He doesn't love me, he just regrets a convenient and economical tool."

His face was pale. After a long time, he asked hoarsely.

“Do you have to think of me like that?”

“It's not like I want to think like that.” I took a step back, "You're the one who lived like that."

Having finished speaking, I turned around and left Go. There was no movement behind for a long time. I don't turn around. Before the second trial, the Chu family indeed began to play tricks. First, someone anonymously sent a complaint to the nursing center, saying I had ethical problems, was divorced, abused my parents-in-law, and was not suitable for nursing work. Luckily, Ms. Duong stood up to defend. She threw the application on the table and laughed coldly.

“Once a woman stops being disadvantaged, someone will inevitably say she has moral problems.”

Then she looked at me.

“Lam Van, are you scared?”

I shook my head.

“There is no use in being afraid.”

"Right."

After that, my mother-in-law ran to my distant maternal aunt's house and made a fuss, crying and saying I was unfilial, wanting relatives to come and advise me. When my aunt called me, her voice was very reserved.

“Van Van, is there some misunderstanding?”

I was silent for a long time, finally only saying one sentence.

"Auntie, I've been in the Chu family for ten years, like an unpaid nanny. Now I don't want to work anymore."

The phone on the other side was silent. After a while, she sighed.

"Then don't do it again. If your father were still alive, he wouldn't let you live like that."

At that moment, my tears immediately fell. It turns out that not all adults in this world advise you to "hold on a little". There are still people who tell you, it's not worth it, then leave.