The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era

Pei Wenping was both surprised and not surprised by Chen Yi’s infidelity.

The surprise came from the past impression Chen Yi had left her: although a literary writer, he never exhibited the pretentiousness and sourness often found in literati; on the contrary, he was open-minded, refined, and gentlemanly.

But in the end, Chen Yi made the same mistake all men around the world are prone to make.

For people of that era, personal spiritual and emotional needs paled in comparison to the integrity of the family and marriage.

Even if the inside was rotten, the outward appearance had to maintain a facade of harmony; even if men were unfaithful or abusive, women were expected to endure and bear it.

As a result, numerous women spent their entire lives mired in unhappy marriages, worn down, stifled, injured, until they ultimately passed away.

If it were any other woman’s family, they would probably advise Pei Wenping to swallow her pride and think of the children.

But Shen Mingzhu was not a woman of that era, she certainly did not harbor the outdated mentality of urging reconciliation rather than separation.

Endure in silence and risk ovarian cysts, step back and face breast hyperplasia—why should women bear and sacrifice for the errors committed by men?

Of course, as an onlooker, she wouldn’t directly advise Pei Wenping to divorce.