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

Grandma Xia was very open-minded about the divorce. Not only Grandma Xia, but also Director Yuan and many of the women in their textile factory were very open-minded.

Grandma Xia had given advice to women many times before, but this was the first time she had advised men. However, it shouldn't be called advice; it should be called "persuasion."

"Director Li, from what you've said, I've always felt that you care a lot about the families of the factory workers," said Grandma Xia.

Factory Director Li nodded. Although he wasn't particularly concerned, as long as this could suppress the textile factory's concerns, then he was concerned. It was just talk, and no one would actually go to their factory to make a fuss about it anyway. "Yes, our factory's humanistic care is probably better than yours. We can do our best to solve any problems the workers have, and there will absolutely be no divorces."

Grandma Xia: "So how did Factory Director Li deal with domestic violence incidents in the workers' families?"

Factory Director Li was momentarily stunned. How could he know this was a matter for the factory's labor union? Besides, the union's previous reports hadn't mentioned this issue. Their labor union was only responsible for distributing some benefits and spreading some notices from above. They would only visit occasionally to make their reports look better. So, when Old Lady Xia asked him this question out of the blue, he didn't know how to answer.

After thinking for a moment, Director Li forced himself to say, "Our factory's workers would never do such a thing."

Grandma Xia smiled, a smile that sent a chill down Director Li's spine. Something felt off. "What are you laughing at?"

"What Director Li said really makes me a little distrustful of your talk about humanistic care. I won't go into those small things, although I know about a few of them, but the fact that Director Li can say something like that means you definitely don't know about those small things."

A few years ago, when you were in charge, a worker in our area beat his wife so badly she became bedridden. A few years later, that poor woman... passed away. Now that man has remarried, and just the week before last, he beat her again, sending her to the hospital. Director Li, you didn't know about this?"

Factory Director Li felt guilty. He was still wondering if the worker was actually from his factory. If he wasn't, wouldn't he be laughed at by the old man if he said he knew? But if he was, and he didn't know, he would still be laughed at. He was caught in a dilemma.

At this moment, Director Shao, the women's director of the food factory, walked up behind Director Li, introduced herself, and said to Old Lady Xia, "I am aware of this matter. Our factory's labor union went to the hospital to offer our condolences as soon as possible. I wonder what Comrade Xia would like to say?"

Grandma Xia feigned surprise, "So you just went to offer your condolences?"

Director Shao: "We also tried to persuade them."

Grandma Xia: "And then, he listened?"

Director Shao: "Yes, that comrade said he would never hit his wife again, and his wife also said she would avoid conflicts with him in the future."

Grandma Xia: "After you tried to persuade him, he would beat you again after a while. Then you would try to persuade him again, and after that, he would beat you again after a while. In the end, that poor woman was beaten to death, just like his deceased wife. Then you would try to persuade him again. After that, he swore to you that he would never beat his wife again. What a humane concern!"

Director Shao frowned: "Do you really want to watch a perfectly good family fall apart? They have children!"

Grandma Xia: "Isn't a broken family better than a broken body? With the situation in your factory, how can your leaders be so useless? It's an eye-opener for me. They've even beaten someone into the hospital, and Director Li still has the audacity to laugh at our textile factory. Our textile factory is the one that truly respects women."

"Director Li, how dare you laugh at others? It's one thing if your production can't keep up, but you don't even know how to resolve conflicts between workers. Where do you get the nerve to mock us? If something like that happened in our factory, our Director Song would be so ashamed he'd hang himself. Did you become deputy director because of your thick skin?"

Factory Director Li: "Watch your mouth."

Old Mrs. Xia: "I've made myself clear enough. Do you know what kind of advice you're giving me? You're accomplices, he's an accomplice to murder. You'd rather he beat another wife to death than try to persuade his wife to start a new life. Director Shao, right? You're a woman too. Would you rather be beaten to death by your husband than get a divorce?"

"You are all welcome to judge what I've said. If you're wrong, point it out now. Stop playing dirty tricks and gossiping about us women behind our backs. Domestic violence is something I absolutely cannot tolerate. If I witness it, I will talk myself hoarse trying to persuade that woman to leave her husband."

If she says she can't live without a divorce, I'll discuss with the factory leaders how she can survive on her own, instead of advising her to endure it. How long should she endure it—until she dies, or until she can't take it anymore and turns the knife on her abuser?

We women are not appendages of you men; we are independent individuals. You can't just beat us up, and we won't entrust our entire lives to you. Given the opportunity, we are capable of supporting ourselves.

On the contrary, you men spend your whole lives enjoying our sacrifices, and then you still criticize us and point out our faults. If you ever put yourselves in the shoes of the women who silently sacrifice at home, you should always have a grateful heart.

Factory Director Li opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. His mother and wife did indeed manage his household affairs, and even his son was taught from a young age not to do unimportant things, but to focus on important matters. And what they considered household chores were unimportant.

Director Shao was speechless. Life was indeed important, but... but she had been taught from a young age that reputation was paramount. Before Old Mrs. Xia uttered her long string of words, she thought that persuading a woman to divorce was the same as forcing her to die. It wasn't that she hadn't put herself in that situation; she just felt that if someone advised her to divorce, she truly wouldn't be able to go on living.

But if there were another way, if someone helped to find a way for women who are unemployed, homeless, controlled by their in-laws or their own families, and who suffer long-term domestic violence, to survive on their own, they would definitely be willing to do so.

Anyway, Director Shao felt he was willing. Who is born liking to serve others, and who likes to be beaten?

Factory Director Song noticed that Old Lady Xia's condition suddenly seemed off, and she appeared to be overly agitated. He immediately patted her shoulder and said, "Old Lady Xia, Old Lady Xia, calm down. Not everyone is like those few individuals. Most people can distinguish right from wrong and know what is good and bad. Not everyone. You've done a lot of work and met a lot of people recently. You should know that there are still more good people than bad in the world."

Grandma Xia took a deep breath. "Yes, that's right. I was too extreme. Not everyone is like that man, and not everyone is like the family of those two poor women. It's just an isolated case, an isolated case."