Chapter 10 — Eighteen People, One Meal, One Divorce

“Mom, stop talking, a lot of people are watching.”

The mother-in-law lowered her voice a bit, but her eyes were still full of malice.

“Okay, very good.”

“Lam Vu Ninh, you want a divorce, right?”

“Now go immediately to the civil service agency with Tieu Khai.”

“After signing the papers, everyone goes their separate ways.”

“Don't step into the Trieu family's house in the future.”

“It's like there's never been anyone like you.”

“With that in mind, don't dream of getting another penny from our house.”

"That card was given to me by filial Tieu Khai. Do you want it back? Dream about it."

Having said this, several neighbors opened their doors to look out, some curiously poked their heads, some coughed softly and then quietly closed the door, so quietly that they were afraid of being caught up in this matter. Trieu Khai also realized that someone was watching, his face became even darker.

“Okay, mom.” he lowered his voice, as if trying to save the last bit of face.

"This is my mother-in-law's house. When I say that, outsiders laugh when they hear it."

After he finished speaking, he turned to my father, his voice softening a bit.

"Dad, I came today just to pick you up, I won't fight about anything else."

“Let's talk about divorce another day.”

“Now let's deal with today's matter first.”

“If we make a big deal out of it today, everyone will lose face.”

His voice sounded condescending, but each sentence contained a hidden threat.

"If her parents are determined not to let her return, outsiders will only say that her mother's family is destroying the couple's happiness."

"At that time, who in this area doesn't know that our family has raised an unfilial daughter?"

He knows how to use the word "face" to pressure people. Over the past two years, his whole family has used the same method to pressure me little by little. My mother's hand clenched, her knuckles turned white. It's not like she doesn't care about her reputation. Living in this area, whatever happens spreads very quickly. In the past, she always told me to be patient, to be reasonable, and not to let people laugh at my daughter getting married. But at this moment, her face changed completely.

“Are you laughing?” she repeated softly, then raised her head to look straight at Trieu Khai.

“If you want to laugh, let them laugh.”

"I'd rather people laugh at my daughter not coming home to cook for your entire family."

"It's better than having people say behind my back that I raised my daughter to be a buffalo, everyone orders me around, everyone bullies me."

“If you feel embarrassed, you can go home.”

“The longer I stand here, the more I will lose face.”

His second sister rolled her eyes and smirked.

“Hearing you say that, you really love your daughter.”

"So when you get married, why don't you look carefully?"

“The conditions of our house are shown, who doesn't know.”

“Now you turn around and say you were bullied, what did you do before?”

This statement clearly wants to push all responsibility onto me. Before my mother could speak, I spoke first.

“At that time, the one who didn't look closely was me.”

“It's because I think Trieu Khai is 'fine', 'treats me well'.”

“It's that I think two people love each other more than anything.”

“I think it doesn't matter if he has money or not, as long as he tries hard.”

“I wanted to get it myself.”

“So now, I bear it myself.”

I raised my head to look at her.

“Don't drag my mother into it.”

“Initially, it was she who opposed this marriage.”

“It's me who stubbornly wants to get married.”

“If I have to say someone is blind, then I am blind.”

“But now I see clearly.”

“Admit your mistake, correct it.”

She was stunned by what I said, opened her mouth but didn't know how to respond. The mother-in-law snorted coldly.

“Admit mistakes and correct them huh?”

“Then why don't you give me my son back?”

"Before I begged for it, now I say I don't want to live anymore."

“Do you think of marriage as going to the market to buy vegetables? If you want to buy, you buy, and if you want to pay, you pay?”

“Do you know how hard the past two years have been for my son because of you?”

“He works at the construction site, works overtime at night, and runs back and forth on weekends to buy this and that for you.”

“You're turning around so quickly now?”

She talked more and more, and at the end she even wiped her eyes with her hand as if the one who suffered was her son. My father coughed softly, his voice was calm but cold.

"Sister Vuong, don't exaggerate."

“How my daughter has lived in the past two years, what your son has done, we all have records.”

“You can praise your son, but don't turn black into white.”

“She said he runs around every weekend buying things for my daughter.”

“So what do you buy? Count it yourself.”

“The first big purchase after getting married was the TV.”

“Who pays?”

“The second year, my nephew had his birthday, and the whole family organized three tables at the restaurant.”

“Who bought the gift?”

“Last month I was hospitalized, who stayed at the hospital to take care of me for three days?”

“It's still Vu Ninh.”

"You said your son 'sacrificed', so we have to see who sacrificed compared to whom."

“If you really want to calculate, you two can sit down and calculate each item individually.”

“Don't just say your side.”

My father finished speaking and turned to look at me.