Chapter 8: If You Don't Let Me Out, I'll Dash My Brains Out Against This Wall

In the spacious living room, Mu Xianghua and Mu Yaju were surprisingly sitting at the table. The village chief warmly welcomed me inside and arranged for me to sit opposite this father and daughter. They paid no attention to my cold expression.

“No matter what conflicts you had before, today, for my sake, have a proper talk. There’s no problem that can’t be solved!” the village chief said earnestly, then raised a glass and drank it all.

Mu Xianghua’s face was stern. “Did you hear that? Family matters should be settled behind closed doors. Don’t make a spectacle of it—it’s embarrassing enough already!”

“So you know what embarrassment is,” I retorted, eyeing the glass of wine the village chief had placed beside me. I had no interest in drinking it.

Reconciliation? Something I couldn’t achieve in my past life. I wouldn’t expect it this time either.

A sumptuous meal was laid on the table. I picked up a piece of meat and put it in my mouth, then looked at the village chief’s wife.

“Auntie, your cooking has really improved.”

She smiled cheerfully. “If you like it, eat more.”

But eating with this father and daughter made me lose my appetite. I took only one bite and set my chopsticks down, uninterested.

“Why don’t you just say what you want?” Mu Xianghua’s face darkened, anger slowly building in his eyes. I felt like he was about to slam the table.

But he didn’t.

“Mu Yan, I’ll ask you one more time: Are you still determined to divorce?”

I nodded without hesitation.

Mu Yaju rolled her eyes ungracefully. “Why are you so stubborn like a stubborn mule? Do you think after leaving the Zhou family, you’ll find a better household?”

“If you divorce now, you’re secondhand goods. Who would want secondhand goods? And you still have a sickly little brother to care for. Can you have some self-awareness?”

Her eyes were filled with disdain, as if I were the filthiest dirt in the field.

I tapped my palm lightly on my knee.

“I’m the one living this life. I can bear the consequences of my own choices. What does that have to do with you?”

“Are you just too idle?” I had always wanted to ask that. Mu Yaju, enjoying her good life, kept meddling in my affairs, both in this life and the last.

“Don’t know, I thought you liked me.”

Mu Yaju looked incredulous and suddenly stood up. “Are you shameless? How can you say something like that?”

“Boring.” This meal was utterly dull. If I had known this father and daughter would be here, I wouldn’t have come.

“Village chief, it’s getting late. I’m leaving now. Please enjoy your meal.”

I turned toward the door, but suddenly heard Mu Xianghua’s cold voice behind me.

“Mu Yan, you’re not leaving this room.”

I laughed. “My legs are mine. If I want to leave, no one can stop me—”

Before I finished, dizziness swept over me.

I steadied myself against the doorframe, staring at Mu Xianghua in disbelief.

A sinister smile appeared on his face.

I looked at the plate of stir-fried green peppers and pork nearest me.

Since stepping through this door, I’d only taken one bite of the shredded pork.

In my hazy vision, Mu Xianghua approached.

His voice seemed muffled, as if heard from afar.

“Not wasted my understanding of you. Is it delicious?”

I couldn’t resist the overwhelming dizziness any longer and collapsed.

...

When I woke again, the night outside had fully fallen. Rubbing my forehead, I sat up, everything before me familiar yet strange.

The Mu family home—my room.

But it had been a long time since I’d returned.

To be precise, this was a storage room.

Before my mother passed, my room had been on the third floor, with the best view and prime location.

Until Gong Yue came and Mu Yaju was born.

Everything that was mine became hers.

Counting carefully, I hadn’t returned home since starting university. I had always lived in the dormitory.

After graduating, I married Zhou Chenyang.

This home was very unfamiliar to me.

I scrambled up and rushed to the door, but it was locked.

“Open the door! Open the door!”

“What do you mean by this? Are you planning to lock me in forever? Imprisoning someone is illegal! Are you crazy?!”

I shouted until my voice was hoarse.

No one answered.

I gave up and turned back to the bed, but then I heard the sound of a key unlocking the door.

Mu Xianghua stood in the doorway, holding the key.

“Stop making a fuss. If I could bring you back here today, I can send you back to the Zhou family. Stay here tonight. When you come to your senses and stop causing trouble about the divorce, I’ll let you out.”

He was about to lock the door again.

I clenched my fists tightly.

No—I absolutely would not be locked in here overnight.

The celebration banquet was about to begin. I had to seize every second.

“You’re my father, yet you use what you know about me to trap me. You’re really something.”

Mu Xianghua’s footsteps faltered.

I pressed on sarcastically, “You’re so skilled at this. Looks like this isn’t the first time you’ve done this. Who was the last person you treated this way?”

“Was it my mother?”

Mu Xianghua’s face twitched. “Don’t talk nonsense!”

His gritted teeth seemed ready to tear me apart.

I sneered and without another word, began to lose control.

I threw everything movable in the room onto the floor.

The computer on the desk, books from the shelves, the lamp on the nightstand, the blankets and pillows on the bed.

By the time I stopped, panting and exhausted, the room was a complete mess.

Mu Xianghua’s temple veins bulged. Mu Yaju came running, mouth agape in shock.

“Are you crazy?”

I calmly tidied my hair and smiled at them.

“Yes, I’ve been crazy for a long time.”

From the moment in my previous life I learned of my brother’s and best friend’s deaths, I was no longer myself.

Mu Xianghua’s face darkened. “Even if you tear this house down today, I won’t let you out!”

Gong Yue hurried over, pulling the furious Mu Xianghua aside and then feigning concern.

“Yan Yan, don’t be stubborn. Your father is doing all this for your own good. What good will divorce do for you? If not for yourself, then think about your little brother. He’s getting the best doctors, staying in the best hospitals—all because of the Zhou family!”

I clenched my fists tightly, momentarily weakened.

Gong Yue pressed on.

“The Zhou family won’t agree to the divorce. If you keep causing trouble, it won’t help you. You even moved your mother’s memorial tablet out, letting others think your father mistreated her. You don’t want your father to be slandered by outsiders, do you?”

A combination of threats and coaxing.

Had this been my previous life, I might have been shaken by now.

I lowered my gaze, struggling for a long while.

“I need to think.”

“Okay. Take your time. We won’t bother you.”

“I don’t want to stay here.”

I made my request.

Mu Xianghua refused immediately.

“No, you’re not living here. You want to hide away in that dilapidated mud house again?”

“I just don’t want to see you three.”

Just looking at these three made me feel sick.

“Trying to buy time with me? No way!” Mu Xianghua thought he’d guessed my plan and raised his hand to close the door.

I said coldly, “I’ll stay at a hotel and give you my answer tomorrow. If you don’t agree... I’ll just bang my head against this wall until I die.”

I looked at the stark white wall and smiled.

“A news story like that should be enough to set the Mu and Zhou families ablaze.”