Chapter Twenty-Nine: Departure

Women who endure long-term domestic abuse often develop a timid disposition. They initially seek to keep the peace, hoping that endurance will buy a fleeting calm, fearful that any escalation might bring consequences they cannot bear.

Yet Ning Shuyi’s words clearly struck a deep chord in the mother before her. Despite her eyes being swollen and bloodshot from crying, they remained functional enough to look at her trembling child. Her lips were bitten so hard they almost drew blood, her teeth nearly piercing her own skin.

“Can you take me and my son away from here?” After a brief moment of hesitation, faced with her child’s terrified, shrinking form, the woman finally steeled herself. Her lips trembled as she softly asked Ning Shuyi.

“Yes.” Ning Shuyi replied firmly and swiftly, without the slightest hesitation, afraid that any wavering might extinguish the fragile courage the woman had managed to summon.

“Then may I go pack some things?” Encouraged by Ning Shuyi’s unwavering tone, the woman gently held her son’s small hand and asked cautiously.

Her fearful and tentative demeanor stirred a profound sadness within Ning Shuyi. If not for years of living under the shadow of an abusive husband, who would approach such a simple request as if navigating a minefield, dreading that one wrong step might cause an explosion?

“No problem. We’ll wait here. Take your time.” Ning Shuyi nodded, forcing a smile to soothe the woman’s nerves.

Gratefully, the woman returned the smile. Though it was tinged with bitterness, the eye that could still open normally shimmered faintly, as if glimpsing a glimmer of hope.

“What are you packing?” The abusive husband, who had initially refrained from provoking Ning Shuyi, suddenly grew agitated upon seeing his wife, encouraged by the female officer, preparing to leave with their child.

He struggled to free himself from the control of the officer, failing, so instead he pointed at his wife, forcing a calm tone that nevertheless dripped with menace.

“This is your home. If you’re not staying here, where do you plan to take the child? Where else do you have to go?” His speech slowed deliberately.

His words caused the woman, who had already turned to pack, to hesitate.

This reaction gave the man a sense of triumph. Years of bullying at home had bred in him an unshakable confidence in his control over his wife.

“I advise you not to develop the habit of running off every time something happens! Do you have a family to return to?” Feeling he had subdued her, he pressed on, “Even if you leave now, do you think you won’t come back? You’d better think carefully—don’t make a fuss over small matters; it only makes everyone unhappy.”

The woman’s face twisted with inner conflict once more.

Ning Shuyi gently stroked the boy’s head and, rephrasing the husband’s question, asked the woman, “Do you intend to come back to this home in the future?”

“Mom…” The boy nervously tugged at his mother’s hand. “Even if it means sleeping on the street, I don’t want to go back to our home…”

Looking down at her child, the woman’s hesitation finally melted away. “Come on, let’s go inside and pack. We’ll need the help of the police officers to get us out of here.”

“Okay!” The boy nodded eagerly, his voice bright with happiness as if his mother was taking him to a playground rather than away from this home.

The child’s reaction was heartbreaking. The woman, too, was moved. She took her son’s hand and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind them to pack.

The abusive husband clearly hadn’t expected this response. His authority challenged, he was filled with a furious resentment.

Yet he was not one to lose all reason after drinking. Seeing his wife preparing to leave with the child, his first instinct was to soften his tone and negotiate with Officer Huo Yan.

“Brother, when Ning tears down a temple, he doesn’t break up a marriage. You guys are something else!” He forced a smile, speaking as if he and Huo Yan were old friends. “Couples sometimes quarrel—it’s unavoidable! They say the law can’t judge domestic disputes. Spouses fight by the bed and make up by the foot. It’s nothing serious. But you guys interfering makes women blow things out of proportion. If my wife gets worked up and runs off with the kid, isn’t that making trouble for us?”

Huo Yan shot him a cold glare. He originally found even speaking to this man distasteful, but the man’s evasive and blame-shifting words were so repugnant they forced a response.

“A minor quarrel is no big deal,” Huo Yan said evenly, emotionless, barely glancing at him. “But if the tooth keeps biting the tongue until it’s bruised or cut, then it’s better to pull the tooth out. It can’t be left in.”

His words cut off the abusive man’s prepared excuses. The man was speechless, glowering fiercely at Ning Shuyi.

She returned his glare with a cold sneer.

A man with no other strength resorts to drunken rage, using his physical advantage to vent his frustrations on his wife.

Now that the police were involved, he still behaved the same. Knowing his physical edge no longer held against Huo Yan, a far stronger man, he dared not show anger but instead shot daggers at the clearly smaller female officer.

This was classic bullying of the weak and fear of the strong.

Before long, the woman emerged from the bedroom, pulling her son along. She carried a medium-sized suitcase; the boy wore his backpack. Mother and son looked as if they had no intention of returning anytime soon.

Ning Shuyi could see this clearly, and so could the abusive man. He had thought his wife would only pack a couple of changes of clothes and, under police protection, hide out for a few days. But judging by their demeanor, this was serious.

(End of chapter)