But no matter how much they argued, neither side could win, nor could either yield.
Because neither of them believed they were wrong.
How could they possibly yield to the other?
Ding Yun and her parents generally believed that not only should women reduce or even avoid household chores during pregnancy, but even when not pregnant, working women should not bear all the domestic labor.
They felt this was undeniable, requiring no debate. Anyone with a sense of reason and fairness should support this.
Lin Guihua, on the other hand, believed that women undertaking all household labor was a matter of course, even when pregnant. This was because she had gone through it herself. After finishing farm work, she would come home to do chores, which was no different from a modern white-collar worker going home after work to do housework.
She cooked for the entire family, old and young, for over eight months of pregnancy. One child was born in the kitchen, another at the doorstep, and a third while fetching water by the well in the backyard. When had she ever rested?
She had managed all these years.
Years as a daughter-in-law, becoming a mother-in-law.
Why should her daughter-in-law enjoy more comfort than she did?
This was just one aspect of incompatible views. Let alone subsequent issues like bearing sons or daughters, having a second child, post-partum care, quitting work to be a housewife, or whether fathers needed to care for children.
Let alone arguing for an hour or two, even arguing for ten days and ten nights would likely not convince the other side!
It had to be said...
One truly didn't know until they argued, and then they were shocked.
After this argument, they realized how incompatible the two families were and how mismatched their values were.
An hour later, Ding Yun was too tired to continue the argument. So, she simply issued an ultimatum. She verbally relayed the demands that she and her parents had planned to Lin Guihua, and then sent copies of the recorded audio and transcript to Zhou Junyu.
After doing this, they began to escort her out.
No matter how fierce Lin Guihua was, she was no Chu Bawang Xiang Yu who could fight dozens or hundreds. With the combined efforts of Ding Yun and her parents, she was quickly driven out. But this was not the end. They later sought help from the property security guards at the entrance, and only then did they manage to get rid of Lin Guihua, who, after being driven out, was still knocking on the door, creating noise, and spewing all sorts of unpleasant remarks.
She was driven out of the community.
And blacklisted from future visits.
Only when the sounds from outside completely disappeared did Ding Yun and her parents breathe a collective sigh of relief.
She was finally gone.
If she hadn't left, they felt they would have collapsed.
They had never encountered such an unreasonable person who was so steadfast in her belief that she was right, and so self-righteously so.
"Xiao Yu, are you feeling unwell!"
Although there was hardly any physical pushing just now, their emotions had fluctuated considerably. So, once things quieted down, Huang Pinjuan looked at Ding Yun's belly with concern, afraid she might have been upset.
"Mom, I'm fine. Don't be angry anymore."
After all these years, Ding Yun had seen all sorts of peculiar people. Someone like her original mother-in-law wasn't even that extreme among the people she had encountered in the past, so she naturally wouldn't get angry or upset by this.
Not only was she fine, but she also comforted her mother.
"How can we not be angry? What kind of person is she? Is your mother-in-law still living in the last century? I think she's been a daughter-in-law for too long, endured too much hardship, and it's driven her psychologically insane.
She wants you to experience the suffering she endured from her own mother-in-law.
Does she even deserve to make you go through that..."
Ultimately, a mother's child is her own treasure. Huang Pinjuan, having not had much interaction with her son-in-law or her in-laws before, hadn't fully understood her daughter's marital predicament. Now, after a complete falling out with this mother-in-law, she finally understood deeply.
But precisely because she understood deeply,
She felt even more that her daughter was being wronged.
And she no longer resisted her daughter's desire for divorce. Because with such a mother-in-law, if she compromised, even if she wasn't worn down to death, she would be terribly tormented, possibly even angered to death prematurely.
Moreover, what kind of son would such a mother-in-law raise?
That was something one could guess without even investigating.
"Alright, what's the use of saying all this now,"
Liu Zeguo interrupted his wife's words, clearly also unhappy. "It's the path our daughter chose herself.
You both heard what Lin Guihua said just now. In my opinion, their possibility of compromising is very low. So, we should discuss what we'll do if they don't compromise?
Are we really going to divorce?"
"Divorce, absolutely divorce!
If we don't divorce, I can't even imagine what further hardship my daughter will suffer. Didn't you hear what Lin Guihua said just now? She said women should stay at home to assist their husbands and raise their children, fulfill the duty of passing on the family line, and manage all household chores so that their husbands can focus on their careers. What kind of talk is that?
Yes, that was the rule in ancient times, but in ancient times, wives also managed all the family finances.
Which ancient family didn't have the matriarch managing the family assets and daily expenses?
It's the same principle as a man giving his salary card to his wife nowadays. Yet, that Lin Guihua and her son have such beautiful fantasies. They want a daughter-in-law and wife like in ancient times, but they don't want to hand over the salary card.
Why don't they just die happily..."
"To put it crudely, if a wealthy woman hired a gigolo or a young stud, that gigolo would still have to try and please the woman paying for him. But these people, they're not spending a cent, yet they want someone to be their slave and servant.
Not only that, but to bear children for them their entire lives.
My heavens.
Even the Great Wall isn't as thick-skinned as they are..."
Huang Pinjuan was truly furious. Her daughter, whom she had raised for over twenty years, was not meant to be ruined by another family.
Unfortunately, regretting it now was useless.
All they could do was look forward.
Since they knew they were in deep water, there was no reason to compromise. If they could break free, they should do so quickly.
The worst thing now was to be soft-hearted. If they hesitated now and later thought about giving the child a complete family after the birth, wouldn't they have to endure more hardship for another ten or twenty years?
Divorcing after the child finished college? That would take ages, and during that time, how much more suffering would they endure!
"Ahem... tone it down a bit.
Don't talk about gigolos and young studs in front of the child, making it sound like you're quite knowledgeable. So, your meaning is that we should support our daughter's divorce. What's your daughter's intention now?"
After a few dry coughs to interrupt his wife's uninhibited rambling, Liu Zeguo turned to ask Ding Yun.
If both his wife and daughter held this view,
Then he couldn't say much more.
He could only support it.