Chapter 9

The village gossips rushed to tell Mother.

She was calm. She even smiled faintly.

Father and the old woman were waiting when we reached home.

For once, Father looked a little ashamed. “I was drunk…”

The old woman was unruffled. “Chunxiang, this is your fault. You’re away from home all day. If a man can’t eat his fill at home, naturally he’ll steal a bite elsewhere.”

Mother lowered her head. “If you end it now and she terminates the pregnancy, we can put it behind us.”

I was beside myself with rage.

I tried to speak, but Mother pinched me hard and shook her head.

The old woman flatly refused. “She’s already pregnant. How can she abort it? The fortune-teller said Widow Wang has the face of a woman who bears sons. It must be another boy!”

Father erupted. “That is my son, my bloodline. How can you be so cruel?”

Mother spoke one word at a time. “If you want that child to bear the Tian name, divorce me and let Tian Tian go with me.”

It was difficult then to register a child born outside marriage. The scandal would also spread for miles.

So this was Mother’s calculation.

For the grandson who would inherit their imaginary throne, the old woman and Father would surrender custody of me.

Auntie Zhang’s ex-husband had done the same: his mistress was pregnant with a son and eager to take the wife’s place, so he let Auntie Zhang keep both daughters.

At the same time, Widow Wang began making a scene, threatening to go to the city and abort the cursed child.

Father tried to soothe both sides.

He wanted both.

He even tried to use me as his opening. “Tian Tian, if you had a younger brother, your birth family would support you after you married.”

What a joke.

Support me?

Drain me dry, more like.

Mother refused to budge. She was the lawful wife, after all, and public opinion remained on her side.

Widow Wang had never been popular. Now the villagers cursed her mercilessly.

One day she stood in our courtyard with a bowl of medicine and wailed, “The Tian family is utterly heartless! You don’t even want your grandson. I’ll drink this and get rid of him now!”

The old woman and Father went pale and threw themselves at her.

The old woman scolded Father. “Your wife earns nothing now. The factory owes her months of wages, and she can’t give you a son. What use is she? Divorce her and be done with it.”

The next day, I took leave from school and went with Mother to collect the divorce certificate.

The agreement stated in black and white that Mother would have custody of me.

Certificate in hand, Mother immediately had my household registration transferred.

When we received the new household booklet, we held each other outside the police station and sobbed.

Father rubbed his nose. “A day as husband and wife creates a hundred days of affection. If you ever need anything, you can still come to me.”

“I’ll protect you!”

Mother stared at him for several seconds, then spat viciously.

“Pah!”

“Get lost!”

In her hurry to divorce, Mother asked for nothing.

Of course, the family had been poor to begin with.

The old village secretary lent us an abandoned mud-brick house. It had fallen into disrepair, with a straw roof; when rain poured outside, it drizzled within.

The old woman boasted all over the village.

“She’s an outsider with no income. Let’s see how she survives after divorce!”

“Then she’ll learn that a household cannot do without a man.”

“She will never find another good man like Jianjia.”