Chapter 262: The Missing Father

Chapter 262: Chapter 262: The Missing Father

Qin Lang looked at Lu Feng and gave a bitter smile. "When I first got married, Lili and I felt really good about each other. She was the best girl I had ever met. From the first moment I saw her, I knew she was the one."

"In the first year of our marriage, we had no problems at all. Our parents supported us, and my mom was nice to her. I always thought we were a very happy family."

"Until the year Xiao Ye was born, everything changed. Lili was in confinement and frequently mentioned issues with my mother, wanting to move out and leave the house. At the time, I thought she was just being unreasonable. My mother always complained that Lili ignored her after giving birth. She wanted to hold the baby, but Lili didn’t let her touch him..."

"It was always things like this. I was caught in the middle, struggling between both sides. Later, I argued with Lili, and she told me to stay at the military base and not come back."

Qin Lang’s words made Fu Xiaoxiao frown, almost making her lash out at him.

He still thought he was living a happy life, unaware of how much grievance his wife endured and how many bitter matters she had to swallow.

This made Fu Xiaoxiao think of a saying: The beneficiaries never see the sacrifices of others.

Unable to hold back any longer, Fu Xiaoxiao slammed the table, causing the water in the teacup to ripple.

"You’re only now realizing that you’ve been living like a blind man? Your wife reached out to you during her most vulnerable time, but you treated her like a madwoman! Did your mother ever ask if the woman who just went through life and death wanted to let her hold the baby? Caught in the middle? She was in a desperate situation, isolated and unsupported in your family! Your so-called happiness was built on your wife’s blood and tears! Now, what’s the use of saying all this? Her tears washed away any affection you once had long ago!"

Qin Lang looked at Fu Xiaoxiao, stunned by her scolding.

"Sorry, my wife is straightforward," Lu Feng smiled at Qin Lang without any hint of blaming Fu Xiaoxiao.

"No, I want to hear what my sister-in-law has to say. Scold me! Wake me up, so I know exactly where I went wrong." Qin Lang always wanted to know where his wife was dissatisfied. He didn’t understand and never went through it, nor was he taught.

He always wanted to restore the relationship, but it never met his expectations.

Now that Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly scolded him, he thought she must have noticed something.

"You thought her wanting to move out was unreasonable, but you didn’t know she wanted a dignified way to leave, to maintain the basic level of respect. She was reaching out to you for help, and what did you do?" Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Qin Lang, who wore a bewildered expression, getting angrier.

How could this man be so blind, not seeing his wife crying?

Always thinking she was being unreasonable, feeling like she was making things difficult for him.

"But this is my home. If I move out, what about my parents..." Qin Lang looked at Fu Xiaoxiao. As the eldest son, he should take care of his parents. "And my mother helps take care of the child..."

"And what about your son now, can’t you see?" Fu Xiaoxiao laughed. His mom raised a brat, and he still thinks she worked hard?

"...Is it because I didn’t discipline him?" Qin Lang recalled his sister’s words and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao.

"Not only did you not discipline him, but you also didn’t care at all. From a diaper to getting injured, when were you ever by his side? You didn’t raise him, so on what grounds do you think you can discipline him? Do you really think that by disciplining your son with a stick, he’ll magically turn into the good kid you imagine him to be?" Fu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes, truly angered by someone like this.

"Am I that bad? I gave her all the allowances and stayed in the army’s dormitory as she wanted, didn’t come back, I already did what she asked, right? What else does she want me to do?" Qin Lang frowned, feeling worthless from Fu Xiaoxiao’s words. He wanted to defend himself.

"Did you provide her any help? She asked you to leave, and you really never came back? You’re already in your thirties, how can you be this naive? The road ahead is poisoned, if asked to eat it, would you? Do you truly have no discernment? You still feel extremely wronged, staying in the dorm is already a great grievance for you?" Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Lu Feng.

"You say something! I’m about to be angered to death by him. How can there be such a clueless man..."

Lu Feng handed his tea to Fu Xiaoxiao and looked at Qin Lang.

"What is your duty as the head of the family?"

Qin Lang paused. "Of course it’s..."

"Couldn’t complete the sentence, right? We soldiers defend the nation, but at home, as husbands, we should protect our wives and children." Lu Feng said lightly. "As a father, you didn’t take care of your son. As a husband, you cast your wife aside and left your son to your parents. As a father, you were absent. As a son, you were unfilial. As a husband, you were useless."

"Do I need to elaborate further?" Lu Feng lifted his gaze to look at Qin Lang.

Qin Lang stood there stiffly, Lu Feng’s piercing gaze giving him the feeling of his inner thoughts being exposed.

"I..."

The little bit of thought he had was laid bare before him, and he found it hard to face.

"What did your wife expect from you when she married you? Did she expect to be left at home as a vase?" Fu Xiaoxiao coldly said.

Lu Feng gently pulled Fu Xiaoxiao, gesturing her to look at the door.

Qin Lang’s wife, Liu Lili, stood there holding their child’s hand, tears streaming down her face.

She didn’t expect her suffering to be voiced by a neighbor she met once.

While her husband still thought he was doing a good job.

Liu Lili held Qin Ye’s hand, tears falling continuously, Qin Ye looked at Qin Lang with an angry face.

"Qin Lang, you don’t know how much grievance I’ve suffered these years. Your mother is domineering and wouldn’t listen to me. When I wasn’t pregnant, she said she’d treat me like her daughter. When the child was born, she said I didn’t need to worry about anything and she’d take care of everything. But in reality? Do you know what I ate after confinement? Your mom insisted that a mother must produce milk and forced me to drink those thick soups every day, even if I couldn’t eat rice."

"You said your mom was tired of taking care of the child, but after you left, she’d throw the child back to me. I was holding the baby alone, sometimes couldn’t even eat. And what did she do? Before you came back, she’d wake the baby I’d put to sleep, holding the crying child in front of you, claiming she took care of the child all day, and I was ungrateful to her..."

Liu Lili had bottled these things up in her heart for years. Seeing Qin Lang reminded her of these things, and she suppressed it until she was numb and didn’t want to pay attention anymore.

Her heart was cold. As the biological mother of the child, she had no say in anything, not in what he ate or wore. She couldn’t even decide to take him to her own family.

And Qin Lang was like a stranger, showing up occasionally to play with the child, saying some superficial words, causing her anger to flare, only to leave again.