Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 14 What kind of woman divorces her husband?
"What did you say?"

Chen Sanbao suspected that Zhang Junniang's screams last night were too loud, causing him to still have some tinnitus.

Otherwise, why would he have heard that woman Li Ruru say she wanted to divorce him?

A woman wants to divorce her husband? Ha, that's ridiculous.

He picked at his ear, a fierce look on his face, and whispered, "If you don't sign this, I'll break your legs!"

The three maids tugged at Li Ruru's sleeves and hid behind her, just in time to hear Chen Sanbao's words.

Their father was a bad person, and their mother was always weak and obedient to him.

Fortunately, my mother has changed these past two days. She has become more capable and strong, and she always protects them.

Er Ya was quick-witted; she felt that being away from her father and staying with her mother wasn't so bad.

Daya thought things through; she knew that divorced women couldn't take their children with them.

In other words, the three sisters would henceforth live a life without a father's love or a mother's affection, and would have to endure the mistreatment of their stepmother.

Sanya didn't understand anything, she only knew that her father was fierce and bad, and she timidly kept burrowing into Li Ruru's arms.

Li Ruru turned to the onlookers and said, "My husband, Chen Sanbao, has gotten involved with Widow Zhang, so he wants to divorce me to make room for that vixen."

I'm sure everyone already knows about this. While it's true that family scandals shouldn't be aired in public, I can't stay silent about it today.

When Chen Sanbao realized that his shameful secret had been exposed, he hurriedly tried to cover Li Ruru's mouth, but before his hand could even touch her, Li Ruru pretended to fall to the ground.

Chen Sanbao was taken aback. He looked at his hand. He hadn't pushed her. Why was she acting like this?

"You rotten cucumber, how dare you push me! I'll fight you to the death!"

Li Ruru suddenly got up and slapped Chen Sanbao.

Chen Sanbao was beaten and was about to fight back when his second brother stopped him.

Chen Ertong whispered, "Don't hit someone in front of so many people."

Chen Sanbao looked up and saw that his whole family was looking at him with warning eyes, and he felt extremely aggrieved.

Why can Li Ruru hit him and he can't fight back?

At this moment, Chen Jinbang stepped forward to play the good guy, saying, "Third Aunt, forced marriages are never sweet. You might as well let go sooner rather than later."

Li Ruru rolled her eyes at her. The original owner was really blind. It was a waste that she treated him so well. It turned out that this nephew was no good either.

To be precise, there wasn't a single good person in the Chen family.

"Nephew, you're a scholar, aren't you? How come you're so hard of hearing at such a young age?"
I already told you he's a rotten cucumber, nobody wants to get involved with him.

Chen Jinbang looked at her in surprise; this was the first time Li Ruru had ever given him such a cold shoulder.

Over the years, Li Ruru has always been incredibly gentle with her nephew, and she has always been responsive to his needs.

Li Ruru nursed her sister-in-law's three children. She would rather go hungry with her own three daughters than not take care of her sister-in-law's three children.

She was incredibly devoted to Chen Jinbang, loving him to the core.

But in Chen Jinbang's eyes, those were things she should do. The whole family said that she was only nice to him because she couldn't give birth to a son.

He enjoyed Li Ruru's sacrifices while simultaneously bullying her along with his entire family.

When Chen Jinbang first started school, he couldn't afford a calligraphy brush, so he played a prank by saying he would cut off Li Ruru's hair to make a brush for himself.

Li Ruru didn't think too much about it and cut off a lock of her hair for him.

Chen Jinbang, however, took scissors and cut off Li Ruru's long hair, forcing her to wear a headscarf for more than half a year.

In modern times, cutting one's hair short is nothing unusual, but in Tang Dynasty China, women considered long hair beautiful. They adhered to the belief that their bodies and hair were gifts from their parents and should not be harmed, so they rarely cut their hair.

After Chen Jinbang cut Li Ruru's hair, the Chen family elders punished her by making her kneel in the ancestral hall for several days, ostensibly to repent for her sins to the ancestors.

Before Chen Jinbang could react, Li Ruru continued, "Nephew, listen carefully, I'm going to divorce Chen Sanbao."

Chen Bingxiao grew angrier as he listened. They were originally going to divorce his wife, but instead, this wretched woman who couldn't bear a son had climbed over them.

He shouted, "What kind of woman divorces her husband? What you're doing is pure nonsense. What good will it do you to keep pestering my son?"

Could she be trying to take a share of his son's 100 taels of silver?

He squinted and gave Li Ruru a disdainful look. With her, no chance!

The Chen family won't give her a single penny!

Li Ruru clasped her hands in a respectful gesture and looked at Chen Jinbang with a calm expression. "Jinbang, tell me, can a woman divorce her husband?"

After saying that, she worried that Chen Jinbang might be talking nonsense and unconditionally helping the Chen family, so she warned him.

"It's okay if you don't understand. Our village has a teacher, and if that doesn't work, there's the village head."

The village's teacher and headman were both literate, and scholars held a high status in this era, so everyone was willing to believe what they said.

All eyes fell on Chen Jinbang.

Pan Dayan was an impatient person. Seeing that Chen Jinbang couldn't say anything for a long time, she pretended to go find someone.

"Jinbang, do you even know? If you don't, I'm going to call Master Xu."

As he was about to leave, he said to his eldest son, "Tie Niu, go and call the village head."

The village head was an upright and fair man, and the elders of the Chen family would surely help the Chen family.

Li Ruru was, after all, a young woman. To stand alone against a group of old men would inevitably lead to her being labeled as disrespectful and unfilial.

By letting the village head deal with those troublesome old men, Li Ruru was no longer in a passive position.

Wang Tieniu dashed out in a flash, and Chen Jinbang, seeing this, had no choice but to say, "There are also women who divorce their husbands."

His voice was very soft; Pan Dayan felt as if a fly was buzzing in her ear.

"What did you say?" Her voice was as loud as thunder, making Chen Jinbang tremble.

“I said…cough cough.” He tried to raise his voice, “The laws of the Great Tang state: if a husband has committed serious misconduct, such as breaking the law or committing a crime, or seriously violating ethical standards;

In cases where a husband has been away from home for an extended period and has lost contact with his family, or is unable to fulfill his marital obligations, a woman may divorce him.

Li Ruru's eyes lit up, and she started counting on her fingers, "Chen Sanbao and Zhang Junniang are having an affair, which is a serious violation of ethics and morality; he disappears every night, probably going to Zhang the widow's house. Besides, he's a rotten cucumber, incapable of having sex."

"Bullshit, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Zhang Junniang finally couldn't hold back and stood up to curse. She had been hiding in the crowd, trying to be a bystander.

But Li Ruru was already right in front of her face and had gone all out. If she didn't say anything, the accusation would be confirmed.

"It's clearly your own fault for not being able to have a son, and the Chen family can't tolerate you. What does it have to do with me?"

Her words left the Chen family completely dumbfounded.

They had been putting on a show all morning, only to have it all ruined by a single sentence from Zhang Junniang.

Li Ruru suddenly realized and said, "Widow Zhang, you've hit the nail on the head."

She looked innocently at Chen Jinbang, "Nephew, tell me, does the law say that a wife can be divorced if she can't give birth to a son?"

(End of this chapter)