Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I refused to believe it. I wasn’t willing to let my girl bear such a consequence.

I tried contacting several more lawyers and even went to the court to communicate with them, but in the end, everyone told us the same thing: at most, they could only support a civil lawsuit.

My wife’s mental state grew increasingly unstable. She found it harder to fall asleep every day. Even when she did manage to drift off, she would often wake up screaming from nightmares, trembling uncontrollably in my arms.

She told me through her tears that living in this world was exhausting. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw were painful memories.

Her psychologist told us to find things for her to do that would give her a sense of accomplishment. We had to keep her busy; the more idle time she had, the more likely she was to spiral.

Our wedding date was drawing closer. Whenever she felt unhappy, she threw herself into the wedding arrangements, hoping to forget her pain through the busyness.

She would temporarily forget her suffering, happily picking out flowers, booking the catering, and even personally designing the ceremony entrance.

But life isn’t a TV drama. Life always seems intent on driving good people to the brink.

As the wedding approached, my parents-in-law suddenly called us back home with an urgent phone call.

As soon as my mother-in-law saw me, she handed me a large red envelope.

I opened it and saw that it was stuffed with cash.

“This is the 50,000 yuan bride price your family gave us before,” my mother-in-law said. “I’m returning it all to you today, along with an extra 30,000 yuan as compensation.”

I didn’t understand what she meant.

She sighed and told me that she hoped we would cancel the wedding.

My wife froze. She had spent these past few days running around for the wedding, only to be met with a demand to cancel it.

My father-in-law suddenly took out his phone and placed it on the coffee table.

I looked at the screen. It was their neighborhood’s homeowner group chat. A neighbor had posted a video-the same video of my wife being stripped and beaten in the bridal shop.

In the video, my wife was desperately covering her body, begging people not to film. But those people, driven by nothing but a desire for a spectacle, ignored her pleas and recorded the most miserable moment of her life.

The person hadn’t just posted the video; she had also commented in the group: “At that bridal shop over on Chunhua Road, a mistress went to take wedding photos with a man and got stripped by the legal wife. Even the kid was so angry he was hitting the mistress.”

Both my wife and I were stunned. The situation was nothing like what this neighbor was describing.

But once she fabricated such a story, it immediately made the contents of the video seem perfectly logical.

The neighbor acted extremely worked up, even sending a crying emoji before adding: “Even such a young child knows to defend his mother. This woman is a real homewrecker. Share this, everyone! It’s our duty to expose this slut!”

The group chat was filled with righteous indignation.

Everyone was cursing my wife, insulting her.

People believe whatever they hear, losing any capacity for independent thought.

I scrolled through the messages on the phone, but I didn’t see a single reply from my parents-in-law.

I asked my mother-in-law, “Why didn’t you clarify things?”

“I can’t clarify it,” she said. “Fortunately, you both were wearing heavy bridal makeup that day, so the neighbors didn’t recognize her. As long as I stay silent, they won’t know it’s my daughter.”