I was born and listened to my neighbor's older sister talk about her family of origin.

Cheng Jinglan stood up, walked step by step to Xu Hai, raised her chin, and spoke clearly, each word distinct.

"Let me stop struggling and rotting in the mud with you, this good-for-nothing who only knows how to stay at home drinking."

"What? Xu Hai, you don't want to leave? Do you want to drag me down with you for the rest of your life, to keep me from becoming a coward?"

"You bitch!"

Xu Hai's dignity was stripped away by these few words. He raised his hand, but was stopped in his tracks by the coldness in Cheng Jinglan's eyes.

"I regret it more than you do!"

Cheng Jinglan's voice suddenly rose, and years of pent-up resentment erupted at this moment.

"I regret ever marrying you! All these years, everything this family eats, wears, and uses has been paid for with my money! You said you wanted to start a business, and what happened? A complete failure! You took all my hard-earned money and went on a gambling spree! Have you ever brought a single penny home? Every day you come back drunk, looking like a dead dog!"

"Xu Hai, calling you trash is an understatement; you're utter garbage!"

Every word and phrase struck Xu Hai's most sensitive nerves with pinpoint accuracy.

He was trembling all over, and the strings of his reason snapped one by one.

Cheng Jinglan's next words became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"Moreover, Zhiyu must come with me."

She coldly declared, "If you let her continue following you, she'll only rot and stink for the rest of her life!"

"That's my daughter!!"

Xu Hai let out a beast-like roar.

"Your daughter?"

Cheng Jinglan laughed, her laughter filled with sarcasm. "All these years, have you ever cared about her even a little bit? What were her grades? Who bullied her at school? Have you ever asked her a single question?! Xu Hai, you don't even deserve to be her father!"

"You bitch, you're fucking asking for it!!"

A surge of blood rushed to Xu Hai's head, and he went completely insane.

He raised his foot and kicked Cheng Jinglan hard in the stomach with all his might!

"Bang!"

A dull, loud bang.

In the next room, Jiang Ye's face instantly darkened.

Xu Zhiyu's door was also opened instantly, and the girl rushed out, immediately seeing Cheng Jinglan being kicked to the ground by Xu Hai.

"mom!"

Xu Zhiyu's face drained of all color. She shouted and ran towards Cheng Jinglan.

"Who let you out?!"

Hearing her daughter's voice, Cheng Jinglan, enduring the cramping pain in her abdomen, forced out a harsh rebuke, "Get back here!"

Her voice was hoarse and strained, filled with barely suppressed pain and trembling.

"I don't!"

Xu Zhiyu knelt down beside Cheng Jinglan, wanting to help her up, but afraid of touching her injuries, her small hands hanging helplessly in mid-air.

She raised her head, her usually clear and bright eyes now burning red, staring intently at the standing man.

"What right do you have to hit your mother?!"

"On what grounds?"

Xu Hai was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently. Alcohol and anger had completely burned away his reason.

He looked at his daughter as if she were an enemy, and grinned menacingly.

"Because I'm her man! She's your father!"

He pointed a finger straight at Cheng Jinglan, then turned to Xu Zhiyu.

"Your mother's a slut, and you're a little slut who followed suit! You're all in cahoots! Fine, today I'll show you who's really in charge in this family!"

As he spoke, he lifted his foot and walked towards the mother and daughter on the ground.

"I'll beat you up too today!"

Xu Zhiyu's body trembled like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, but she did not flinch.

She suddenly stood up, spread her arms, and used her frail body to firmly block her mother from view.

"You're not allowed to touch my mom!"

There were no tears in the girl's eyes, only a fierce determination born from being driven to the brink.

Xu Hai paused, seemingly taken aback by his daughter's unfamiliar appearance.

But it only lasted a second.

"Get out of here!"

He roared, swung his arm in a wide arc, creating a gust of wind, and slapped Xu Zhiyu hard across the face!

"Snapped!"

A sharp, piercing slap rang out.

Xu Zhiyu was knocked so hard she staggered, her head buzzed, and she couldn't hear anything anymore.

Five clear finger marks appeared on my left cheek at a visible speed, and it quickly became congested and swollen.

"Knowing fish?!"

The excruciating abdominal pain was overwhelmed at this moment by a sharper, more frantic emotion.

Cheng Jinglan looked at the finger marks on her daughter's face, her pupils suddenly shrinking to a single point, and she became even more out of control.

She has endured this for many years.

She knew that Xu Hai was experiencing a precipitous drop in his life, and given his temperament, it was impossible for him to recover.

So over the years, she let him drink outside, let him squander his money and gamble, and she restrained herself and tried her best not to argue with him.

Just so as not to provoke the deepest violence in the other person's heart.

Because if she were a victim of domestic violence, she would definitely not get away with it, and she certainly couldn't teach her students to dance with a bruised and swollen face.

Fortunately, Xu Hai hasn't completely lost his conscience; over the years, they've only argued, not physically fought.

But now.

A divorce agreement completely shattered the last barrier between them.

Xu Hai made his move.

They even beat their daughters!

Cheng Jinglan could no longer tolerate it and disregarded the socialite etiquette she had upheld for many years.

"Xu Hai!!"

She squeezed out the name through gritted teeth, struggling to get up.

"Fuck your mother! You dare touch my daughter again?!"

"I'll not only mess with her, I'll mess with you too!!"

Xu Hai felt uneasy under her gaze, but his madness kicked in and he couldn't care less about anything else.

He grinned maliciously, grabbed her disheveled hair, and yanked her head back violently!

"ah--!!!"

Cheng Jinglan screamed in agony.

"Snapped!"

The same spot, the same vicious slap!

Cheng Jinglan's vision went black from the beating, the metallic taste exploded in her mouth, and a trickle of blood slid down the corner of her mouth.

"That bitch dares to cheat on me?! She even dares to bring her little one along and act tough with me?!"

Xu Hai was panting heavily, and his spittle landed on Cheng Jinglan's face.

"Looks like if I don't beat you all to death today, you won't know who's in charge in this family!"

Xu Hai's eyes were fiercer than ever before.

Just then.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A heavy, urgent knocking sound, as if it would smash the door open, suddenly rang out!

Everyone in the room froze.

Xu Haiyang's hand, which was in mid-air, also stopped.

The knocking continued, each knock louder than the last, carrying an undeniable force.

A steady voice rang out from outside the door.

"Open the door, police."

The word "police" was like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing the raging fire in Xu Hai's mind.

He shuddered, and his arm, which had been raised in mid-air, stiffly fell to his side.

I sobered up a bit, and my rationality returned a bit as well.

He loosened Cheng Jinglan's hair and looked at the mother and daughter huddled together on the ground. One had blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and the other had a swollen cheek, but their eyes were like poisoned knives, stabbing him with their eyes.

Xu Hai's heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran down his spine.

He lowered his voice, leaned close to Cheng Jinglan's ear, and said in a tone so sinister it could drip water: "When the police ask you questions later, you better think carefully about what you should and shouldn't say!"

He paused, then warned, word by word, "If you dare utter a single word, I'll break your legs after the police leave!"

Cheng Jinglan didn't speak, but just looked at him with those resentful eyes.

Upon seeing this, Xu Hai revealed a twisted smile.

"And divorce? Don't even think about it! Cheng Jinglan, you're going to rot in my hands for the rest of your life!"