She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

Grandma Xia took a deep breath, walked in, and sat down on the bench by herself.

Old Chen turned to look at her, but neither of them said a word.

A moment later, Chen Xiangbei came in noisily. He didn't care about the slap he had just received at all. He had almost forgotten about it in just a few steps. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted that he was hungry and wanted to eat.

Both ignored him.

Chen Xianghong brought in the two Yu siblings. She was still covering her face, not quite recovered from the shock. Given the atmosphere between her parents, she didn't dare say a word and started tidying up.

Seeing this, the Yu siblings also helped tidy up, at least to make the house look presentable.

Old Chen didn't dare look at her anymore. He put out his cigarette and, as if nothing had happened, spoke his first words, "Have you eaten?"

Chen Xiangbei: "I didn't eat, I didn't eat! Dad, did you cook? There's nothing in the pot."

Old Mrs. Xia: "Old Chen, let's get a divorce after the New Year."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiangbei was stunned. He was immediately pulled over by Yu Hongzhen, and the children instantly turned into little quails, staring intently at the two of them.

Their mother said those words calmly and seriously without any warning, without consulting any of them or giving them any time to calm down.

Old Chen's hand trembled, and his pipe fell to the ground. "Divorce?"

Grandma Xia nodded, "Yes, divorce."

Old Chen stood up: "Why? I don't agree. Don't joke around, and don't try to threaten me or the children with this. Marriage is for life, and I can't divorce you."

After thinking for a moment, he went to the kitchen. “I’ll make you breakfast and breakfast for the kids. Once you’ve eaten, calm down. Don’t say things like that so easily. I’ll clean up the house with them later. If you don’t want to, then don’t. There’s plenty of room. Get some rest. You were tired yesterday… yesterday too.”

Grandma Xia: "Let's get this straight today. I can't live with you anymore. I'm not threatening you. I'm not like you. I won't use this kind of thing to threaten you. I've thought it through. I want a divorce right now."

Old Chen still didn't understand. In the end, what happened yesterday was just his third son making a small mistake because of his sharp tongue. Everyone else was completely innocent. His wife suddenly lost her temper and knocked his third son unconscious. He was anxious and hit her in a moment of panic, so he was wrong. But then this damned old woman hit him with a stool and almost killed him. He wasn't even angry enough to think about divorce. Why should this damned old woman divorce him?

He really couldn't understand it, so he told her what had happened yesterday, without embellishing a single detail, and simply laid the facts bare before her. "Old woman, then tell me clearly, what are you angry about? If you're angry about the slap I gave you, then I apologize, I'm sorry. Don't talk to me about divorce so seriously. I can't divorce you; there's no such thing as divorce here."

Grandma Xia looked at him, the man she had lived with for most of her life, and said, "Old Chen, we've spent most of our lives together, had five children, and raised four of them. Outsiders see you as successful, making a lot of money, and never beating your wife. They think you're a good man, but only I know how tiring it is to live with you."

"You're such a hypocrite, always putting on airs, but you're rotten inside. I lost my temper yesterday and didn't come home all night, you must be furious with me, right?"

Old Chen wanted to say that he didn't think that way, but Old Lady Xia didn't give him a chance to speak. "You don't need to say that you have no grievances. If you really knew what I was angry about, this family wouldn't still be in such a mess."

"I don't know if you're not cleaning up because you're waiting for me to apologize or because you're waiting for me to come before you start cleaning up, but either way, it disgusts me. You think I'm wrong, which disgusts me; you want to wait for me to see you clean up to show off, which also disgusts me. You used to do this for others, for outsiders, but now you're doing it for me."

Old Chen, having his weakness exposed, suddenly sneered, "You make me sound so disgusting, but what good are you yourself? Before, you were unreasonable outside, always arguing and making a scene. Now you're unreasonable both inside and outside the home. You can hit us whenever you want, and chase us away whenever you want. What good things have you ever done for us?"

Grandma Xia: "Alright, since there's no love left anyway, let's get a divorce. We'll get a divorce after the New Year."

Old Chen became fierce: "I won't get a divorce. Anyway, you're no good either. Otherwise, why would you be with me? You've been with me for over twenty years, so you should continue living like this until you die. What's the point of getting a divorce? If you want a divorce, I'll have to die. Even if I die, you'll still be my daughter-in-law, and you'll still be my wife, Chen Weiguo's wife."

Grandma Xia: "What's the point of you doing this?"

Old Chen: "Even if it's meaningless, I won't get a divorce. Everyone does it this way, so why do we have to get a divorce? We've all been through this. When we're unhappy, we argue and fight; when we're happy, we get together and eat something nice. Isn't that how it is?"

"If we get divorced, what will people think of me? What will they think of you? What will they think of our whole family? What will our future in-laws say about us behind our backs? How will our third son find a wife? Have you thought about these things? As parents, you can't just think about your own happiness. Can't you think about the children too?"

“Did you hear what I said to you and those other people yesterday? Now it’s not just you who disgusts me, it’s all of you, including my own children, who make me feel hopeless and exhausted. I can’t see any family affection or hope in any of you.”

“I’ve wasted so many days on you and on them. I’m so unhappy. I’m unhappy every single day. The first thing I do when I open my eyes is go to work to earn money, do housework, raise the children, and worry about their affairs.”

Grandma Xia's eyes reddened again. "Every day I argue with this person, fight with that person. With you, with the children, with relatives, with neighbors, I have to step in with everyone. No matter how much I care about you, you all think I'm not doing enough, that I'm not doing well enough, that I'm too biased. Has any of you ever thought about me? Has anyone cared about how tired I am?"

"Who doesn't want a peaceful life? I also want a stable life, a life where I don't have to curse people the moment I open my eyes. From childhood to now, I can count the number of good days and happy days I've had on my fingers. I don't want to have lived my whole life and feel like I've lived it all for others when I'm about to die."

"Since you're going to call me selfish no matter what, I really want to live the life I want for the next few decades."

"The life I want to live without you!"