How could he not be angry? Anyone would be angry! Shao Qihai said stiffly, “I won’t get a divorce. I refuse.”
Mu Jingzhe frowned. Was he that determined?
“You don’t have to mention this again.” Shao Qihai took a deep breath. “Even if it’s for the sake of the children, don’t mention it for the time being. They like you very much, so they definitely won’t support a divorce…”
“No, we support it.”
Shao Xi’s voice was suddenly heard. Shao Qihai turned around and saw Shao Xi’s head popping in from outside.
“Little Xi?”
“Mm, it’s me.” Shao Xi simply walked in without hiding. “I wanted to go to the bathroom and I accidentally heard you guys talking. I think that since you guys mentioned us, we have to make our stance clear.”
Shao Xi was perhaps the only person who could sound so open and aboveboard about eavesdropping. Shao Xi walked in calmly, followed by Shao Nan, Xiao Bei, Xiao Wu, and finally, Shao Dong.
Shao Qihai: “Do you kids always go to the bathroom together?”
“Of course we always go together.” Shao Xi nodded and said seriously, “If Mommy wants a divorce, we’re actually in favor of that.”
Mu Jingzhe had seen a truly resentful couple in Great Eastern Village who had utterly hated each other to death. Even so, they hadn’t gotten a divorce in the end because they’d felt that a divorce was very shameful.
After quarreling for a lifetime, they had ultimately angered each other to death. When Mu Jingzhe had gone to visit them, she had lamented that there was no need for this. If they were really not compatible, they could have gotten a divorce.
From then on, the kids had changed their attitude toward divorce. One shouldn’t place too much importance on saving face. If two people were really unsuitable for each other and couldn’t live well together, divorce was a viable option.
Since Mu Jingzhe had brought it up, she had to have her reasons. Since even they didn’t want this father, their mother naturally wouldn’t want him either. They had to support her and not let her suffer.
Shao Qihai was shocked. “You all agree?”
Why? Why would they agree? Didn’t they like Mu Jingzhe a lot?
The five children nodded vigorously, including Shao Dong.
Shao Qihai felt like he had been shot in the chest again. He had thought that at the very least, the children would stand on his side since they liked Mu Jingzhe so much. In the end…
Shao Qihai’s countenance was pale and ugly. Shao Dong vigilantly nudged Mu Jingzhe. “Mommy, go and rest with Little Bei quickly.”
Although Shao Qihai didn’t use to be the sort of man who would hit a woman previously, they had been separated for a year now. Who knew if he had changed or not? Or perhaps they had never known Shao Qihai in the first place.
Therefore, in order to prevent Shao Qihai from flying into a rage out of embarrassment and hitting her, he wanted to protect his mother.
When Little Bei heard Shao Dong say that, she immediately pulled Mu Jingzhe away. “Mommy, let’s go to sleep first. You’ll get a divorce tomorrow.”
Then, she dragged Mu Jingzhe away. Shao Qihai wanted to follow them after seeing that something was wrong, but he was stopped by Shao Dong.
Shao Dong stared at him with eyes that bore a great resemblance to Shao Qihai’s. “Stay with me tonight.”
‘Don’t even think about sleeping with Mommy!’
Mu Jingzhe’s room was their bridal chamber, which was also Shao Qihai’s room. However, when the news of Shao Qihai’s death had come, many of his belongings and clothes had been taken care of, and the chamber had completely become Mu Jingzhe’s room.
Since they were about to get a divorce, Shao Dong naturally couldn’t let Shao Qihai and Mu Jingzhe stay in the same room, so he arranged for Shao Qihai to stay with him.
If he stayed with them, they could inquire about Shao Qihai’s situation. As the saying goes, if one knows oneself and one’s enemy, one will always win. They could also watch over Shao Qihai and prevent him from acting rashly.
Shao Qihai could only watch helplessly as Mu Jingzhe was dragged away. In the end, he had to sleep on the ground with Shao Dong and the other boys.
When they got to the room, Shao Qihai comforted himself by thinking that sleeping with the children would actually give him a good opportunity to talk to them.
In particular, he could find out why they had supported Mu Jingzhe’s divorce request earlier.
“Little Dong, Little Xi, Little Nan, Xiao Wu, why are you supporting Mommy’s decision to divorce me?”
Shao Dong replied, “Because Mommy wants a divorce.” Whatever they wanted to do, Mommy would always support them. They would support Mommy back.
“That’s it? Don’t you want to think about whether it’s appropriate?” Shao Qihai frowned.
Shao Xi answered quickly, “Of course we have. My brother is saving you the embarrassment. We support the divorce because we feel that you’re not worthy of Mommy.”
Shao Qihai choked. “Not worthy?”
“Of course. Don’t you think so yourself?” Shao Xi looked at Shao Qihai. “Think about your qualities. You have a dead wife, five burdens, and an awful mother, younger sister, and family. In the past, if anyone like that dared to come to our door, we would have directly kicked the guy out.”
Although they were the five burdens and by criticizing Shao Qihai, they were also criticizing themselves, Shao Xi still spoke very ruthlessly because this was their reality. He had to tell the truth.
“Just give up. You’re indeed not worthy of Mommy. You should listen to Mommy and get a divorce.”
Shao Qihai: “…”
Feeling like an arrow had been shot in his chest again, Shao Qihai endured it and said, “Yes, my condition is indeed quite special. But Little Xi, don’t you like Mommy a lot?
“Other children don’t like their parents getting a divorce. When the adults fight and have a bad relationship, the kids cry and get anxious. They even help their father coax their mother. Why are you like this? Not only are you not helping, but you’re even adding fuel to fire?” This didn’t make sense. This wasn’t how this was portrayed on television!
Shao Xi said matter-of-factly, “Because we’re reasonable. You disappeared for more than a year, so your marriage to Mommy actually ended a long time ago.”
“That’s right. Actually, it’s not just your marriage to Mommy. Our father-son relationship hasn’t been maintained for such a long time that it’s actually almost over as well,” Shao Nan added. “Unfortunately, husband-and-wife relationships can be ended via a divorce, but there’s no such thing for a father-son relationship.”
“If we could also get a certificate to end our relationship as father and son, we’d be very willing to do it.”
Now that Shao Nan had said this, Shao Qihai no longer felt like he was hit by an arrow. It felt simply like a million arrows piercing his heart.
“Little Nan.” When Shao Nan finished speaking, Shao Dong stopped him. He was unmoved even when he saw that Shao Qihai had been dealt a big blow, and he said without any sincerity, “I’m sorry, Little Nan is a straightforward person.”
He was only sorry about the fact that Shao Nan was direct, not because he was wrong. This knowledge broke Shao Qihai’s heart all over again.
Then, Shao Qihai heard Shao Dong say, “There are no outsiders here now. Can you tell us the truth?”
“What?”
“It’s just that we really want to know why you came back to acknowledge us. When we were in a desperate situation and needed you, you didn’t come. Now that we’ve overcome our difficulties, why are you back?”
Shao Xi curled his lips. “Is there a need to ask? It must be because we’ve made something of ourselves.”
“I really wasn’t able to come back because I had something to do. I didn’t come back now because you guys have made something of yourselves. I really had my reasons.” Shao Qihai was very upset.
“Oh, so you’re saying that you got lucky? You weren’t around when we were nothing. Now that we’ve become successful and started earning money and Mommy has become beautiful and amazing, you’ve come back to enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor, right?”
Shao Qihai choked again. Upon careful thought, he realized that he didn’t know how to retort. After all, even though these words stabbed his heart, they were true.
