April 15, 2018
By Lin Ping
When I was twelve, my mother died and I was raised by my father. Later, he arranged a marriage for me. After getting married, I found my wife was an uneducated and bad-tempered woman. We were always fighting about some family trifles. I remembered that when our daughter was in Grade 2, my wife saw that our family was poor, so she wanted our daughter to drop out. Because I didn’t agree with her, she frequently had a fight with me. I thought that my wife was so narrow-minded, and then our communication became less and less. Afterward, most of the people in our village had built new houses, and I also wanted to borrow money to rebuild our old house. However, my wife disagreed and said to me, “The old house is good enough, why do you want to build a new?” No matter how I persuaded her, she still didn’t agree. Due to this matter, we, too, had quarreled for a half year. When we calmed down, I told my wife, “I’m the head of this family and I’m more well-informed than you. In other families, the wives all listen to their husbands, why do you not listen to me?” Then, my wife disapprovingly replied me, “Why should I listen to you? You are never considerate toward me!” Thus, we neither would give in to each other. The least lasting 3-5 days, and the longest lasting over 10 days, we had ignored each other. Seeing my wife was unable to satisfy me, I often complained against heaven and earth. I wanted to divorce, but I thought my child would be pitiful; if not divorcing, I didn’t know how I would live through my life.
