Since we had our son, my wife worked overtime almost every day and she didn’t help with the child or housework.

But she was focused on earning money for the family, so I didn’t say anything.

What puzzled me was that her overtime was always spent with her close friend in the office, often working until three or four in the morning.

At first, I didn’t mind, but later her friend even started working at our home and her friend’s husband came sometimes too.

The three of them would lock the door tightly and stay inside for a whole day and night. Sometimes the friend went downstairs to buy something and her husband continued working with my wife.

Seeing how hard they worked, I wanted to help. But my wife looked at me with disdain and said I was too low-level to understand high-tech work and would only be in the way, telling me to stay far away.

After that, I didn’t interfere.

One early morning, the day after the National Day holidays, I suddenly heard my wife scream from the study.

I quickly got up and knocked on the door for a long time.

I saw her close friend carrying my wife, who was covered in blood, rushing to the hospital.

The diagnosis said my wife had worked too hard and exhausted herself to the point of bleeding.

I was furious and asked her for a divorce.

Lying on the hospital bed, my wife looked pale and, after a while, said in shock, “I worked so hard that I started bleeding. You didn’t even care… and now you want a divorce?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

My wife’s eyes immediately filled with tears. “I gave birth to our child, worked late every night and because I didn’t have time to take care of the child, you want to divorce me?”

I stayed silent, insisting on the divorce.

When my mother-in-law heard, she rushed over and slapped me on the spot.

“My daughter has treated you so well! Back then, you didn’t even have a house—it was our family who paid the down payment. She worked herself to exhaustion to pay the mortgage and now she’s in the hospital from overwork!”

“You ungrateful man! Do you have someone else and now you’re using this as an excuse to divorce?”

My wife’s eyes turned red, mist forming as she looked at me. “You want a divorce just because I work overtime every day to earn money—is that fair to me?”

I smiled slightly. “After the divorce, you can work overtime even more freely. I’ll be waiting for you at the City Hall tomorrow morning.”

——

After my wife gave birth to our son and finished her confinement period, she started going out with her close friend to work overtime—and it was every day, often all night. Yet every day after overtime, her face still looked healthy and rosy.

During this recent double holiday, she overworked herself and ended up with severe bleeding, landing in the hospital.

I couldn’t take it anymore, so today I asked Amara for a divorce.

Seeing me about to leave, Sania grabbed me. “Zayden, are you out of your mind? Amara works overtime with me to support your family and she hasn’t done anything wrong. Are you really angry just because no one is taking care of the child or doing housework?”

I pushed her away and said coldly, “You know the real reason yourselves!”

Sania’s husband put his arm around my neck mockingly and said, “Bro, don’t be ungrateful for your blessings. A worthless piece of trash like you will starve on the roadside once you leave your wife!”

“It’s none of your business.” I shook his hand off.

“Could it be that my daughter didn’t have time to sleep with you, so you’re angry?”

My usually sharp-tongued mother-in-law looked dark and pointed at me in shock.

“Heavens, how perverted can you be? Amara works overtime every day and is exhausted enough and you not only don’t care, you want a divorce? Are you even human?”

My mother-in-law called the neighbors and relatives and they all criticized me harshly.

After learning the situation, they glared at me one by one.

“Look at him! All he thinks about is sex. His wife overworks herself to the point of hospitalization and he doesn’t care at all.”

“Since she didn’t die in the hospital, he must be secretly happy!”

“I heard Amara even used her own money for the down payment on a house and now he’s asking for a divorce—what ingratitude!”

Sania said coldly, “If we had known you were this kind of man, we never would have agreed to Amara marrying you!”

Hearing this, Amara’s tears fell like pearls broken from a string.

“Zatde, even before having the child, I knew you had no money. Our family owed 140 thousand dollars on the mortgage.”

“After the child was born, you earned even less. When the child got sick, there was no money to treat him. And yet you act like you’re something special, still stopping me from working overtime to earn money?”

“Do you even know how hard it is to work twenty hours a day?”

“Sania is my best friend. Thanks to her, I had the chance to work and earn money. Otherwise, you and the child would have starved long ago!”

The others were all furious.

“Zayden, you’re completely unfit as a husband. Luckily, my husband treats me well. After I had the child, he wouldn’t let me work at all.”

I smiled coldly. “You bystanders don’t understand the full story and yet you’re all here blaming me?”

“Amara, come to the City Hall tomorrow. I’ll be waiting for you.”

As I turned to leave, Sania grabbed me. “You bastard! You want a divorce over something so small? Screw you!”

She threw a punch at the back of my head.

Completely unprepared, I was hit hard, stars spinning before my eyes and I fell to the ground.

Louis, Sania’s husband, rushed forward and kicked me several times.

“No!” Amara quickly jumped off the bed, pushed them away and, worried, wiped me with a tissue.

“Honey, look — our son was only a few months old; how could you heartlessly leave the two of us?”

The baby in her arms saw me and cooed, smiling. He was very cute.

I sighed, “Let’s get a divorce.”

“You must have someone else. Honey, don’t stop me. I’ll beat this bastard to death!” Sania grabbed an ashtray and tried hard to rush over to smash it at me, but Louis held her back tightly.

Louis said, “Zayden, if our three of us working overtime made Amara have no time to take care of the baby, Sania and I won’t let Amara go to work anymore. As long as you can support the mother and child, that’s enough.”

“It’s better for you and Amara to live a good life together, right?”

The people around nodded with approval.

“This is what a real man should be like!”

“From now on, Amara should stay home to look after the baby and do the housework. Zayden, you should work harder and earn more money. Don’t get a divorce.”

“Before marriage you had no house; Amara paid the down payment and even helped you start a business. Where will you find such a good wife?”

Everyone tried to make peace.

I looked at Amara with a dark expression. “We really can’t go on. Please just let me go — let’s end it cleanly.”

Hearing this, everyone around exploded with anger, calling me worse than a loser, saying I had no responsibility and hadn’t even thought about living a proper life.

Amara lowered her head, wiping away tears, looking utterly pitiful. “Honey, I said I won’t work anymore. Please don’t divorce me, okay?”

She stepped forward, wrapped one delicate arm around me and whispered, “To make it up to you, I’ll cook for you every day and sleep with you.”

I felt a wave of disgust and pushed her away forcefully. “Can you stop pretending?”

Amara knelt down before me, holding our son, softly crying.

“Honey, I work overtime to earn money — it’s not a crime. I’ll change, just forgive me this once, please?”

“No!”

Amara cried uncontrollably. “Honey, I’ll change everything you don’t like. Please, just forgive me!”

Sensing the heavy atmosphere around him, my son puckered his little lips and started crying loudly.

“Amara, a man like that is narrow-minded and heartless—don’t waste your feelings on him!”

The crowd saw that I wouldn’t listen to reason and they all trembled with anger, fists clenched, as if they wanted to beat me to death right there.

Just then, my mother arrived after being notified. She spoke earnestly, “Zayden, Amara has done so much for this family. We were dirt poor and when your father broke his leg and was hospitalized, it was Amara who paid his medical bills.”

“She’s been so good to our family. If you dare to divorce her, I’ll disown you as my son!”

“Mom, don’t be fooled by her.”

I gave my mom a small smile, then turned to Amara. “Then tell me, why have you been working overtime for more than half a year without earning a single cent—and instead spent tens of thousands?”

At my words, a flicker of panic flashed in Amara’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

“I already told you, didn’t I? The project is still in the early stages. Once the product starts selling well, Sania will definitely pay me my salary.”

“If you don’t like me working overtime, then I’ll just stay home and take care of you and the child from now on.”

My mother looked relieved and continued to persuade me. “Amara is so understanding. Where could you ever find such a good wife?”

I shook my head. “Mom, stay out of it. No matter what, I’m getting a divorce.”

“Bastard!” My mother slapped me hard. Half my face was red and swollen from the pain.

“You're such an ungrateful son-in-law — I’ll kill you!” My father-in-law grabbed a shovel and smashed it down on my knee.

“Kill him!”

“That’s what that bastard deserves!” People cheered.

“Zayden, are you okay?”

Amara pushed the crowd aside, worried, helped me up and checked the wound on my leg.

“She was such a good wife and he didn’t know how to cherish her,” someone sighed.

I looked disgusted and pushed Amara away. “Stop pretending!”

Amara looked aggrieved. “Honey, please, I really don’t want a divorce. Our son can’t grow up without his father.”

“I don’t care. We must get divorced.” I turned and walked away.

“You really mean it? Then I’ll act as if I never had a son like you!” My mother stomped her feet in anger.

My heart ached.

I had always been a filial son, but this time, I couldn’t give in. I had to get divorced — I couldn’t live like this another day.

“Amara, I’ll have someone send you the divorce papers.”

Without looking back, I walked away quickly.

Behind me came Amara’s heart-wrenching cries, the kind that could break anyone’s heart.

I returned to the hospital where Amara had stayed before. There were things I needed to confirm. By chance, I ran into an old classmate. With her help, the truth could soon come to light.

[Honey, what did I do wrong? Why do you insist on divorcing me? Are you still angry?]

[My son and I can’t live without you. We’ll be waiting for you at home.]

After leaving the hospital, I found a small inn and had just checked in when Amara sent me that message.

I sneered, blocking all her contacts one by one, then started drafting the divorce agreement.

The next day, I mailed the divorce papers to Amara.

But she didn’t even look at them — she tore them up right away.

Sania was furious and posted the whole story online.

Soon, the internet exploded with anger and I was trending on the hot search list.

“Damn it! She’s such a good wife. She didn’t mind that he was poor, even paid for the house and her father-in-law’s surgery — and he still doesn’t appreciate her?”

“She worked overtime so hard and just didn’t have time to sleep with him and that’s why he wants a divorce?”

“I bet he’s cheating. He just made up an excuse to dump her.”