Chapter 519: Chapter 519: Do You Want a Divorce?
"Mom, please don’t be so angry. Didn’t you say you’d let us brothers manage the family?"
Mr. Bao patted Granny Bo’s back, gently consoling her. He had been caught in the middle for years and was utterly exhausted.
Back when his mother was in charge of the household, his wife wouldn’t have dared to act so presumptuously, and the home was peaceful and happy.
He’d been a grandfather for several years now, but only recently had he tasted the hardship of being caught in the middle. It was truly exhausting.
Ever since his wife took over as the mistress of the household, he had watched her temper grow more explosive with each passing year.
In the beginning, she only dared to boss around her daughter-in-law and his two younger brothers’ wives.
She would mutter a few complaints about his mother in front of him. He, thinking ’she has a tough job running the household,’ never said a word. But who knew she would eventually dare to get into a shouting match with their mom!
"Mom... you should go to the public square and dance. The kids will be fine on their own. Sister-in-law must have her reasons for acting this way."
The third son’s wife stepped forward to plead on behalf of the eldest sister-in-law, but Granny Bo slapped her squarely across the face. "Are you getting tired of me being in charge, too?"
Aunt Bo was stunned. "Mom... I didn’t mean that. I was just... sob..."
She was an educated woman, incapable of throwing a public tantrum. All she could do was cover her face and weep softly, her expression one of pure grievance, yet not daring to wail aloud.
Her ten-year-old son stood silently beside her. "Mom, let’s go back to our courtyard."
"Okay, Little Nine, let’s go," Aunt Bo whispered to her young son, taking his hand as they returned to their courtyard.
’I’ve always lived by the principle of "if you respect me an inch, I’ll respect you a yard." I genuinely only wanted my mother-in-law to stay out of the eldest sister-in-law’s business.’
’Since no good deed goes unpunished, I’ll just remove myself from the situation. If anything else happens in the family now, my husband can’t possibly blame me, can he?’
She had three sons and no daughters. And while she deeply disapproved of her niece’s actions, she still treated the girl well.
Her second sister-in-law had tried to bully her several times, but she had subtly turned the tables each time, making the other woman suffer losses without a fuss until she finally backed off.
Normally, apart from tending to her husband and raising her sons, she and her other two sisters-in-law mostly kept to themselves.
But if someone couldn’t take a hint, she certainly wouldn’t go out of her way to be pleasant to them.
’I wasn’t being impulsive today; I did that on purpose. I didn’t take that slap for nothing.’
’If Mother-in-law gets driven away by the eldest sister-in-law, it’ll have nothing to do with me. The way Sister-in-law is getting more arrogant by the day, who knows what will happen.’
When Second Aunt Bao saw the third sister-in-law get slapped by their mother-in-law, she was secretly delighted and wanted to laugh. But she didn’t dare, so she just lowered her head, her shoulders trembling with suppressed glee.
She was from a small county town. Her husband had been treated at the local health clinic there after being injured on a mission.
She was a nurse there, and seeing how tall and handsome he was, she took particularly gentle and meticulous care of him.
After a few days, she had already lost her heart to him, treating him with even greater care and gentleness. He, in turn, came to crave her tenderness.
Things progressed naturally, and they got married. She had no idea his family was so well-known in the residential compound.
Although her husband was very good to her, he was gone for long stretches of time. He was never by her side, whether she was giving birth to their son or their daughter.
Her mother-in-law had a fierce and domineering reputation, but she was actually very good to her daughters-in-law—even better than her own mother had been.
She quit her job after getting married. Nursing positions in the Imperial City weren’t easy to come by, and besides, she had housework to do and children to raise.
The better her mother-in-law was to her, the more nervously she tried to curry favor, all because she felt her own family background was inadequate.
While currying favor with her mother-in-law, she also had to suck up to the eldest sister-in-law, because the eldest brother-in-law was a high-ranking official.
Later, when the third brother married, she assumed his wife would be at the bottom of the Bao Family’s pecking order. She’d planned to use her new, junior sister-in-law to feel a sense of superiority.
Unfortunately, her new sister-in-law was an Imperial City native, born and raised, and her maiden family was just as prominent as the Bao Family.
The woman herself was a high school foreign language teacher, stunningly beautiful, and her husband, the third brother, absolutely adored her.
Simply because the third brother’s wife was so striking, her glamorous beauty tinged with a seductive allure, she had a face that, in those days, was considered the type "not content to stay at home."
As a result, most people in the compound, while acknowledging her beauty, secretly looked down on her.
If she hadn’t been a teacher, the other women in the compound would have dared to criticize her to her face.
But she was a teacher, so all they could do was gossip behind her back. No one dared to confront her directly.
Second Aunt Bao didn’t want to suck up to her—after all, she was the junior who had married into the family later. But there was nothing she could do to her.
Therefore, she never passed up an opportunity to mock her third sister-in-law, and now, she sat on the sofa, inwardly crowing with delight.
Mr. Bao saw that his mother had, for the first time ever, struck one of her daughters-in-law—and it was Old Three’s beloved wife, no less.
’When his third brother returns, he will surely blame me, the eldest brother, for my failure to keep the peace. He’s out there fighting on the front lines, and his wife is back here getting "abused."’
’If this wife of mine hadn’t provoked Mom, none of this would have happened!’
He frowned and said in a heavy tone, "Mom is our elder. Since you married into the Bao Family, you need to listen to her."
"Am I the one being disobedient? Your mother is the one who’s gone too far! Did you not see that our daughter was beaten black and blue?"
"Besides, she’s *your* mother, not mine. I married you; I wasn’t sold to the Bao Family as a slave."
"Your mother neither gave birth to me nor raised me. Why should I have to put up with her? I—"
Aunt Bo was about to continue her tirade when her husband started slapping her, left and right. SLAP! SLAP! He landed several blows on her face.
Mr. Bao let go of his mother, grabbed his wife, and began slapping her face in an uncontrollable rage.
"You... you acshually... hit me?" Aunt Bo stammered, her face swollen and her teeth loose from her husband’s blows.
She was so furious it felt like the blood was draining from her body. Her hands and feet grew ice-cold as hatred churned within her.
"I’m beating the disrespect for our elders right out of you! Look at yourself! What have you become? What are you trying to do? Do you want a divorce?"
The moment Aunt Bo heard her husband mention divorce, she was terrified. She immediately collapsed to the floor, rolling around and wailing.
When she saw her husband made no move to comfort her, she realized he was truly furious. She crawled over to Granny Bo’s feet and begged for mercy. "Mom, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have defied you... sob, sob..."
"All of you, get back to your courtyards! I don’t want to see any of you!" Granny Bo roared at her family.
Bao Tingting had taken a beating for nothing. And just like that, the Bao family’s farce came to an end.
Meanwhile, at the Su family residence, Su Shuochi was teasing his wife as usual, making her burst into laughter.
Gu Jiaojiao swallowed her last bite of food and ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. The seductive little motion instantly made Su Shuochi’s blood run hot.
"Wifey..." he murmured, his voice thick with desire.
Hearing the craving in his voice, Gu Jiaojiao’s cheeks immediately flushed crimson.
The couple had been together for over half a year, and their daily intimacy had become a habit—a habit that required no words.
Blushing, Gu Jiaojiao shot him a playful look. "You’re awful. Go wash the dishes. I want to go upstairs and take a shower."
"Okay." Su Shuochi watched her with a look of pure adoration.
After they had both washed up, Su Shuochi eagerly pulled her into his embrace, his eyes burning with passion...
