She Only Cares About Cultivation

"The doctor said back then, it wasn't that you couldn't have children, just that the chances were slim," he said. "How could you doubt me? I live under your watch every day. Whose child do you say this is? Look at the photos of our Xiao Xiao. She looks so much like you, how could she possibly not be your child? How can you treat me like this? You are so disappointing!"

"Disappointing? Exactly who is disappointed with whom? I've sent you two years' worth of wages, and that's been good enough for you, so cut the crap. I came back today to divorce you. You, and your bastard child, get out of our Zhang family!"

Gong Mingxia believed that during the years she was married to Zhang Liang, whether it was treating his parents well, or the three nuns, and even those gossipy women who called her a sterile hen, other than not being able to have children at first, there was simply nothing they could fault her for.

Even if Zhang Liang was infertile, she never thought about divorce. All the grievances swallowed like bloodied teeth, but what did she end up getting in return?

When the villagers wagged their tongues at her, he kept silent. Did anyone from her in-law's house stand up for her and speak a word of justice?

Ha, no one did.

It seemed they had simply assumed that the inability to have children was her fault, not Zhang Liang's. Because once they admitted it was Zhang Liang who was impotent, it would be shameful, and they would never be able to lift their heads again.

Selfishness is human nature; every man for himself, heaven and earth be damned. She could understand why, perhaps as they said, a woman infertile sounds better than a man impotent.

She could have overlooked all this, after all, she had endured so much suffering over the years, she had become accustomed to it.

But, she had never calculated that he could have doubted from the very start that the child was his.

Ha, ironic, isn't it?

Laughable how she still harbored fantasies.

The child was finally born against all odds. Both husband and wife should have made concerted efforts, to fight together, cherishing this little baby granted by heaven.

But reality hit her with a heavy blow.

Gong Mingxia looked at Zhang Liang in desperation, letting her emotions overflow uncontrollably as she stood in her own courtyard, screaming and crying her heart out.

She cried and lamented the injustices she endured over the years, as onlookers from the neighboring households came to watch the spectacle, Zhang Liang's face grew so dark it looked like it could drip water.

That day, Gong Mingxia did not know how long she had wailed, how long she had cried. The in-laws did not come to console her; Zhang Liang even went straight to stay in town, out of sight, out of mind.

In the previous years, her infertility had caused her two younger sisters back at her parents' home to be unable to marry, forcing them to go work in another province, and their relationship with her had always been cold as ice.

Gong Mingxia just sat in the courtyard that night until dawn broke.

She went a day without eating or drinking, only consumed by great sobs, her voice hoarse, her body burning up, yet she persisted, she endured.

Her daughter cried out for Mom, but her heart was like dead ashes; she had no energy to attend to her.

How cold the nights in the mountain village can be, how dreadful the mosquitoes are, she had not known before, but that night, she experienced it all.

What's that saying again? Grief greater than the death of the heart. After a night of reflection, she had come to an understanding.

When her daughter came out in the morning, Gong Mingxia held her, hugged her tightly, her voice choked with sobs.

"Xiao Xiao, I'm sorry, it's Mom's fault for dragging you into this. Don't worry, Mom will take you away from this house right now, and we'll never come back."

That very day, Gong Mingxia packed her belongings, took her household registration and marriage certificate, and went to the town's Civil Affairs Bureau with an indifferent Zhang Liang to finalize their divorce.

Originally, her household registration had not been moved to Zhang Liang's house, so it was still at her parents' house.

To sort everything out, she stayed in a hostel in the town for three days. Of course, the in-laws didn't give her the money, nor was it from her previous savings, because Zhang Liang hadn't sent any money for a year. So she did odd jobs around the town to support her daughter, and by the time all the documents were processed, she had spent all her money.

Looking back on those seven or eight years of hard work, she felt like a fool.

Because of this farce, she didn't have the face to return to her parents' house anymore, so she shamelessly went to her elder aunt's house in the town and borrowed one hundred yuan with an IOU.

With this borrowed money, she went to the Provincial City with her two or three-year-old child looking for work, which one can imagine was extremely difficult.

Even with a high school diploma, she encountered rejection everywhere.

It wasn't that jobs were hard to find, but she hadn't yet settled her child. She put her child first in looking for work, and under such circumstances, which employer would want to hire her?

Besides, she had only taken care of her child at home for those years, with no substantial work experience she could boast of. How could she be picky?

So what if she had a high school diploma? Just because you have a high school diploma doesn't mean you can get any job you want!

Thus, she could only take jobs as a waitress or a migrant worker. Whatever job didn't mind her being with her child, she would take it, even if it meant a lot of effort for meager wages.

Of course, the money she had borrowed, she sent back to her elder aunt as soon as she earned her first month's wages.

For the sake of her child, she had suffered a lot, traveling from remote mountain areas to big cities to be a cleaner, enduring hardship to raise her daughter to adulthood.

Gong Xiaoxiao was very sensible, aware of her mother's difficulties. Even living in a dilapidated shack didn't hinder her studies.

Because she excelled in her studies, the hardships that Gong Mingxia endured were unimaginable to the average person.

She swept the streets in the city by day, and worked as a cleaner in bars by night. Her paltry wages yielded one excellent certificate after another, which made her feel that all the hardships and difficulties were worth it.

And Zhang Liang? Over the years, leveraging his experience from working hard in the South, he also carved out his own piece of the sky, becoming a somewhat wealthy boss by dealing in foreign trade clothing. He married a prettier wife, and reportedly had children.

As for whether they were really his, Gong Mingxia had never inquired. She only wanted to focus wholeheartedly on educating her daughter, to ensure she studied hard and found a good job when she grew up, so she wouldn't have to live as humbly as her mother had.

Perhaps there really is karma. Zhang Liang had contracted uremia. Ha, just like all the melodramatic storylines on TV, he went on television to look for the two of them, even publishing photos of the mother and daughter, all to find a kidney for himself. As for his son, he said on the TV program that the tissue match was not suitable.

Whether that was true or not, she didn't know. But to take her daughter's kidney, it would only be over her dead body.

However, she had underestimated the power of media. Their identities were eventually exposed by someone with an agenda, and they were published in the newspaper. Zhang Liang sought them out and knelt before the media, begging for her forgiveness. Gong Mingxia, trembling with anger, harshly rejected him and warned him not to touch her daughter.

But soon she learned of his shamelessness; she was fired from her job, a result of Zhang Liang's meddling.

Without any source of income, providing for her and her daughter's daily needs became an issue. Zhang Liang found her daughter and pressured her to acknowledge him, threatening that they wouldn't survive otherwise, as they couldn't find any work.

Her daughter wasn't fooled, nor did she acknowledge him, but the unscrupulous media didn't care about the voiceless mother and daughter. They sided with Zhang Liang, fabricating tales about Gong Mingxia's alleged shamelessness from years ago, even paying villagers to speak ill of her. Before long, she was treated like a pariah everyone shunned, and her daughter also faced accusations from all sides at school. In despair, the mother and daughter saw no way out and committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river.