Three years into our marriage, my husband, Zhang Cheng, brought home a woman. She was beautiful, mature and shrewd, and knew how to charm everyone. I stood there in my house clothes, staring blankly at him as he sat across from me, his expression resolute. “Chu Qiao is a better match for me than you are. Let’s get divorced.” “After the divorce, you can have the house, we’ll split the savings evenly, and you can keep the child to support you in your old age!” My mother-in-law took off her reading glasses and glanced at me sharply. “Wenjing, have you made up your mind?” she asked. Tears streaming down my face, I answered in a trembling voice, “I have.” “Good.” My mother-in-law was brisk and decisive. Turning to her son, she said sternly, “Zhang Cheng, are you absolutely set on getting divorced? Fine. Besides the settlement, you’ll have to give her and the child 20,000 yuan in living expenses every month.”
