Zhao Youcai felt like he’d thrown a punch into a bale of cotton—the frustration was so stifling he felt like he was about to explode.
Su Tang watched him, seeing he was on the verge of losing control. Her tone softened slightly, but her gaze remained clear and sharp.
"If you really want to ask sothing, you should be asking my aunt. Honesty is the most important thing between a husband and wife. Hiding things, making guesses... it will only make the rift between you grow wider."
"Don’t you agree, Uncle?"
She knew that even if she said nothing, Zhao Youcai wouldn’t let go of his suspicions.
But those words couldn’t co from her.
’To put it bluntly, ddling in other people’s business invites bad karma.’
She bent down, picked up the bamboo basket full of seaweed, and prepared to leave.
As she passed Zhao Youcai, she paused for a fraction of a second but said nothing.
Su Tang didn’t linger. With the bamboo basket on her back, she walked briskly along the reef toward the shore.
Zhao Youcai watched Su Tang’s retreating figure, grinding his teeth.
In the end, his bellyful of questions and rage erupted into a deeply suppressed roar. He slamd his fist into a nearby slippery reef, and his knuckles instantly split open, drawing blood.
Word of Su Tang and Zhao Youcai’s conversation on the reef spread as if on wings, quickly reaching the ears of Su Yufen, who had been constantly monitoring Su Tang’s movents.
Su Yufen was terrified, but she didn’t dare do anything.
She was afraid of what Su Tang might have actually told Zhao Youcai.
Even more, she was afraid of...
She didn’t dare think about it any further. This feeling, like a knife was constantly hanging over her neck, was absolutely torturous.
That evening, Zhao Youcai ca ho cloaked in a gloomy rage.
The wound on his knuckles was hastily wrapped in a cloth, which was already seeping with blood.
He didn’t even glance at Su Yufen, who was cowering in a corner. He walked straight to the table, poured a bowl of cold water, and gulped it down—GLUG, GLUG, GLUG—his movents filled with a terrifying ferocity.
Su Yufen saw the blood on his knuckles and his thunderous expression, and her heart pounded so hard it felt like it was about to explode.
’I can’t drag this out any longer,’ she knew.
Zhao Youcai’s patience had clearly run out. Even if she didn’t talk, he would find a way to force her to.
The mont Zhao Youcai put the bowl down, Su Yufen fell to her knees with a THUD, kneeling ramrod straight on the cold floor before him!
This sudden action stunned Zhao Youcai for a mont, but it was quickly followed by an even deeper disgust and fury. He thought she was about to beg for rcy and try to fob him off with more excuses.
"Youcai! Youcai!"
Su Yufen’s voice trembled uncontrollably as tears stread down her face. This wasn’t an act; it was genuine fear and despair.
"I’ve wronged you! I was wrong! I was so, so wrong!"
She didn’t dare look up at him, just kowtowed repeatedly. THUD, THUD. Her forehead quickly grew red and raw against the rough floor.
"I... I shouldn’t have hidden things from you! I shouldn’t have been so shifty! I shouldn’t have avoided you!"
She was babbling incoherently, tears and snot a ss on her face.
"That day... that day at the docks, it was ... I was the one who went to stir up trouble with Su Tang first. I said a lot of awful things... She... she got angry and... and said so harsh things to scare ... It was my fault! It’s all because of this rotten mouth of mine! I deserve it!"
She was glossing over the serious parts, admitting only that she had started the fight, but she didn’t breathe a word about the secret.
She looked up, her face a ss of tears, her eyes filled with an unprecedented level of groveling and pleading.
"Youcai, I’ll never do it again! I swear! I’ll stay far, far away from Su Tang! I’ll listen to whatever you say! I’m begging you, for the sake of all our years together as husband and wife... don’t... don’t be so angry. I’m scared... I’m so scared."
Zhao Youcai lood over her, looking down at his wife who knelt on the floor, as humble as dust.
She had admitted to provoking the fight, admitted to her guilty conscience and her deception.
This seed to confirm so of his suspicions.
Su Tang really did have sothing on her—leverage that terrified her to her very bones.
’But she’s still hiding it, clinging to it for dear life. She’s still lying to , still treating like a fool.’
Su Yufen’s seemingly sincere apology, far from extinguishing the fire in Zhao Youcai’s heart, was like pouring gasoline on it.
The more humbly she begged, the more she emphasized how "scared" she was, the more it convinced him that her secret was sothing dirty and unspeakable.
He violently kicked a nearby stool. It crashed against the wall with a loud bang, making Su Yufen shriek and curl into a ball, covering her head with her arms.
"Scram!"
Zhao Youcai squeezed the single word from between his teeth, his voice hoarse. "The sight of you disgusts !"
He didn’t look at her again, instead turning and striding into the back room, slamming the door behind him.
Su Yufen collapsed limply to the floor, her body turning ice-cold.
She had apologized. She had begged for rcy. But Zhao Youcai’s reaction... it was even more terrifying than his rage.
That tightly shut door completely sealed Su Yufen off from Zhao Youcai’s world.
Apologies were useless. Pleading was useless. The terror that plagued her day and night was like a noose tightening around her throat, choking her.
’I feel like I’m sinking into a bottomless mire, surrounded by cold darkness. The only way out... seems to be to cut ties completely.’
’A divorce! Leave Zhao Youcai! Escape this volcano that could erupt and swallow at any mont!’
’The mont the thought arose, it brought a surprising sense of liberating relief.’
’Even though a divorce would ruin my reputation, compared to the cataclysm that would follow Zhao Youcai discovering the secret, compared to the fear of being beaten to death, this seems like the only way to survive.’
「A few days later.」
Zhao Youcai continued to act as if she didn’t exist. When he ate, when he slept, when he left the house—he treated her like a botherso puff of air.
Su Yufen gathered all her strength and, just as he was about to leave for the warehouse with another blank expression on his face, she blocked the doorway.
"Youcai..."
Her voice was hoarse, trembling with the desperation of an all-or-nothing gamble.
Zhao Youcai stopped. His icy gaze swept over to her, as if he were looking at a rock on the side of the road.
Su Yufen took a deep breath, her nails digging deep into her palms, and used every ounce of her strength to force out the four words: "...Let’s get a divorce."
The air seed to freeze in an instant.
The icy mask on Zhao Youcai’s face shattered instantly, replaced by incredulous astonishnt.
’A divorce?! She actually dared to bring up divorce?!’
’What right did she, a woman who had been hiding a secret and deceiving him for years, have to ask for a divorce?!’
’This was a blatant counter-attack! It was like she was stepping on his face to get ahead!’
"A... divorce?!"
Zhao Youcai squeezed out the two words, his voice thick with rage.
He strode forward until he was right in front of Su Yufen, his tall fra casting a terrifyingly oppressive shadow. His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead bulged.
"Su Yufen! You fucking dare to bring up divorce?!"
He grabbed Su Yufen by the collar and, as if lifting a baby chick, slamd her hard against the door.
The impact made Su Yufen see stars. Her throat was constricted, and fear made her tremble like a leaf in a storm.
"You think a divorce will solve everything?! You want to run?! Where are you going to run?!"
Flecks of Zhao Youcai’s spittle sprayed onto her deathly pale face.
"You’re going to tell everything, right now! What the hell have you been hiding from ?"
His long-suppressed suspicion and humiliation erupted completely at that mont. He shook her, wishing he could shake her bones apart.
"N-no... there’s nothing... I... I..."
Su Yufen was being choked so tightly she could barely breathe. Beyond her fear, she couldn’t utter a single word.
"Nothing?!"
Zhao Youcai looked at her stubborn, defiant silence, and his rage completely burned away his reason.
’A divorce? Trying to use a divorce to escape, to just walk away from it all? Dream on!’
’He couldn’t afford this humiliation. He had to make sure everyone knew that this woman was the one who had wronged him, Zhao Youcai!’
’That Su Yufen was the one with the problem!’
"Fine! Fine! You want a divorce, is that it?!"
Zhao Youcai abruptly released his grip, and Su Yufen slid to the floor like a rag doll.
He grabbed Su Yufen, spun around, and stord outside, roaring.
"Let’s go! You’re coming with ! We’re going to see your older brother and his wife! I’m going to let them be the judge! Let’s see what a ’fine daughter’ the Su Family has raised! Let’s see what kind of trash you, Su Yufen, really are!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)