Chapter 42: Mom, If You Divorce, I’m Coming with You!
“Zhang Aimin, if you don’t come to the Civil Affairs Bureau to divorce me tomorrow, I’ll go make a scene right at your factory!”
Huang Guixiang didn’t mention splitting the household directly. She simply directed all her fury at Zhang Aimin, who was currently smiling obsequiously at her.
Zhang Aimin had been on pins and needles all day at work. When he came home and had dinner without hearing Huang Guixiang mention the divorce, he had just let out a sigh of relief.
As it turned out… he had celebrated too early.
Zhang Aimin quickly tried to soothe her. “Guixiang, let’s talk things through properly. Can we not throw the word divorce around every single time?”
“I won’t divorce you. I won’t do it even if it kills me! Guixiang, we’ve been together for so many years, and we’ve even had a child together…”
The couple from the first branch, Zhang Hongqi and his wife, and the couple from the second branch, Zhang Hongjun and his wife, were also startled by Huang Guixiang’s outburst.
It must be Lin Wan stirring up trouble again. Otherwise, why would her mother bring up the divorce the exact moment she stepped out of Lin Wan’s room?
That dead girl just can’t feel comfortable unless she’s making a scene every day.
Day in and day out, she’s as lazy as a dead dog. Now that Zhang Qin had left the house, Lin Wan didn’t even bother to lend a hand with the household chores. They were exhausted after working all day outside, yet they still had to come home, wash the clothes, and do the housework. It was infuriating.
“Guixiang, whatever demands or conditions you have, just lay them out.”
“If it’s within my power, I will definitely do my best.”
“I beg you, please don’t divorce me, okay?” Zhang Aimin was truly getting frantic.
Huang Guixiang sneered as she glared at the two couples of the first and second branches, mocking them, “Do I even dare to lay out conditions?”
“My son-in-law brought over premium cigarettes and liquor, and the moment we finished eating, your precious sons and daughters-in-law wanted to kick him out.”
“Today they can kick my daughter and son-in-law out. In the future, when I’m old and useless, are they going to kick me out too?”
“After all, I’m an outsider too!”
As she spoke, she rubbed her eyes with a handkerchief. Her eyes instantly reddened, and tears began to fall. The handkerchief was laced with cooling oil, which she had prepared inside Lin Wan’s room. Then, she covered her face, turned around, and began to wail loudly.
She had to cover her face; otherwise, she was terrified she wouldn’t be able to hold back her laughter. Good lord, in all her thirty-six years of life, she had never even dreamed that she would secure a permanent job placement. She hadn’t dared to imagine it. Who could have guessed her daughter would actually make it a reality for her!
Hearing her words, alarm bells rang furiously in the minds of Zhang Hongqi, Zhang Hongjun, and their wives. This fierce woman is plotting to kick us out! She wants to take over the nest!
Zhang Aimin was frantic beyond measure, pacing in circles around Huang Guixiang. “Guixiang, don’t cry.”
“Even if I have to kick all of them out, I would never kick you out!”
Zhang Hongqi quickly followed up with an assurance, “Auntie Huang, how could you think that way? We aren’t that kind of people!”
“We will definitely look after you in your old age. We won’t kick you out!”
Bao Yan added, “Exactly. We have always respected you and treated you like a mother. We’ve even handed over our wages on time every month…”
Bao Yan held a deep grudge regarding the matter of handing over their wages. It was just that she had always harbored immense resentment but lacked the courage to voice it.
Huang Guixiang spat right at her feet. “Bah!”
“I haven’t touched a single cent of your wages!”
“Every bit of it was given to Old Zhang, yet you turn around and pin it on me in the end!”
“Why don’t you talk about how much money Old Zhang spent on the bride price to marry you two?”
“And how much money Old Zhang spent to buy jobs for you?”
“Now you want to settle the accounts with Old Zhang? Fine! Old Zhang, go borrow an abacus and settle every single penny with them clearly!”
“A person can get married at sixteen. Your dad raising you to sixteen means he has fulfilled his duty. Every single cent spent after sixteen—calculate it completely!”
“If Old Zhang embezzled your money, however much he embezzled, make him return every bit to you!”
“If he has no money to return, have him slice off his flesh to sell it, or turn his bones into buttons to sell, and return it all to you!”
“Old Zhang, you see this? These are your precious sons and daughters-in-law. They are already acting like this now. When you’re old, you won’t be able to count on them at all. If you can’t count on them, how can I, an outsider, count on them?”
“We might as well get a divorce right away!”
“I’ll go find someone who has no children to live out my days with!”
“Lest I get kicked out of the house!”
Bao Yan’s face turned an ugly shade of blue and white from the scolding.
Zhang Hongqi didn’t know how to salvage the situation, so he simply turned his rage onto Bao Yan, barking, “You just had to flap your trash mouth, didn’t you? If you don’t know how to speak properly, shut your trap!”
Zhang Hongjun spoke up, “Eldest Sister-in-law, you did cross the line.”
When Eldest Brother got married, Eldest Sister-in-law’s family demanded a bride price of one hundred and twenty yuan, and she hadn’t brought a single item with her as a dowry. When he got married, Hongmei’s family demanded a bride price of one hundred and twenty yuan. He had falsely reported it as two hundred yuan to his family. Back then, his biological mother hadn’t died yet, so she found a way to satisfy his request, allowing him to pocket eighty yuan for himself while giving one hundred and twenty yuan to Zhong Hongmei’s maternal family. Zhong Hongmei hadn’t brought anything with her either.
Aside from the bride price, there were various other items. Everything had cost an absolute fortune.
The moment Eldest Sister-in-law married in, she clamored to buy a job, so their mother spent six hundred yuan to buy her a temporary position. Naturally, when his own wife married in, the family couldn’t show favoritism. He had scouted the temporary job placement himself, and the other party wanted six hundred yuan, but he reported eight hundred yuan to the household.
In other words, just for him and Eldest Brother to get married, each of them had cost the household nearly a thousand yuan.
As for handing over their wages, that was a rule established only after Huang Guixiang married in. If they didn’t hand them over, Huang Guixiang would demand a job, wanting their two branches to surrender the temporary positions—one for her, and one for Lin Wan in the future.
Huang Guixiang had been married into the family for nine years. They had handed over their wages for nine years. But they didn’t hand over every single cent; he and Eldest Brother could keep a bit over ten yuan each month, and the two sisters-in-law could keep a bit over five yuan each month. In other words, the entire household handed over thirty-five yuan and the vast majority of their coupons.
That was three hundred and fifty yuan a year. Over nine years, that amounted to over three thousand—nearly four thousand yuan.
It appeared to be a massive sum. But they all ate at home, and their food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all covered by the household. The children had been provided for by the household from the moment they were born until now, and their medical expenses and schooling were all covered by the household. Furthermore, the two brothers had to deliver gifts to their masters, their section leaders, and their workshop directors every year. Those expenses were also covered by the household.
During the first few years when grain supplies were exceptionally tight, the household had to go to the black market every month to buy high-priced grain, making the expenses extraordinarily massive.
Countless accounts, in reality, simply couldn’t be calculated clearly.
If they truly calculated everything down to the penny, and it turned out they owed their biological father, would they actually have to pull out their private savings to repay him? What if the calculations showed their biological father owed them a tiny bit? Demand that their biological father repay them? That would mean completely tearing face with their biological father, and in the future, they wouldn’t get a single share of their biological father’s assets.
Money. The apartment. The absolute most critical element was the apartment.
Keep in mind that Zhang Aimin was only in his forties right now! A level-seven worker could continue working for another ten years. Even after retiring ten years later, he could still be rehired. Zhang Hongjun understood exactly how this account ought to be calculated.
“Auntie Huang, we know that what happened yesterday upset you, but you know how Eldest Sister-in-law is—she’s just a bit reckless, but she didn’t mean any harm. Tell us, what will it take for you to call off the divorce? Name your conditions.”
“As long as it’s within our power as your children, we will definitely fulfill it.”
Zhang Aimin also nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, yes, whatever conditions you have, feel free to lay them out.”
Huang Guixiang barked, “I lay them out?”
“I have played the villain in your household for nine years. No matter what issue arose, I was always the one standing at the front. I was always the one opening my mouth!”
“Zhang Aimin, if you were a man, you wouldn’t utter these words!”
“What do you mean by telling me to lay out conditions as I please? Can’t you think ahead and act ahead yourself?”
“You just have to force me to play the villain every time, and only then do you step forward to reluctantly and helplessly agree!”
“Then I end up with a reputation for being wicked, while you secure a reputation for being honest and easily bullied?”
“Well, this old woman isn’t enduring it anymore!”
“Divorce!”
“We are going to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow!”
Zhang Hongjun and Lin Wan were leaning flat against their respective bedroom doors, watching the scene unfold. Suddenly, the little brat Zhang Hongqiang bellowed toward Huang Guixiang, “Mom, if you divorce Dad, I’m coming with you!”
