Chapter 100: Chapter 46 (part 2)

The young woman's name was Shu Ning, and sure enough, she was very highly educated, with a doctorate in mechanical engineering.

"My husband, Yu Feiyuan, is my master's and PhD classmate. Because we were under the same professor, we often spent time together doing projects and experiments. On top of that we were in the same field, so we had a lot in common. We got together in our second year. He took great care of me all through school, and when were were under great pressure during our dissertations we supported each other too. A friend in need is a friend indeed; it was always good between us; we were married as soon as we graduated with our PhDs."

"Back then I had already received a job offer from the R&D department of a large multinational company. I had really wanted to work, so I was on birth control, but it failed and I found out that I was pregnant. You can't get pregnant just before you start a new job, so I decided to stay at home, take care of my husband and child, and put off my career. It just so happened that my husband had also applied for the same position; I was ranked first in the interview scores, and he was second. Since I gave up the offer, they accepted him instead, which made me happy - I felt that the opportunity wasn't wasted and that it would still benefit us regardless. After all, it was a very good job for our field, with a great salary."

As she recalled the beautiful past, the present tragic circumstances seemed even more heartbreaking. Pain showed on Shu Ning's face. "I was so happy at first, and Feiyuan was so kind to me. He was very considerate during my pregnancy, and very sweet after our daughter was born. Our family did really well back then, but..."

"I didn't expect him to change..." Shu Ning stifled her sobs. "Ever since our daughter started kindergarten at three, he's been different. He's irritable and sensitive. At first, he threw things if we had a quarrel, and then it turned into a slight push, and then…"

Ning Wan felt bitter and depressed inside. The escalation pattern of domestic violence cases was always so similar, yet few victims realized that it wasn't that the person had changed, but that they had always been that way. During the time of courtship and marriage they had been seen through rose-tinted glasses, but as time went by, their true nature would eventually, slowly, be exposed...

Shu Ning's tone remained bewildered, as if she were in ruins. "When I last came to consult, it was the first time he had hit me. I couldn't believe he would do this to me. I considered divorce, but then Feiyuan apologized, saying it wouldn't happen again, and I forgave him... But not only did my forgiveness not make his heart go back to the way it was, but it even made it worse..."

Ning Wan looked serious. "Did you call the police this time?"

"Not yet..." Shu Ning replied. "He's been beating me very hard nowadays and watching me very closely. I'm sneaking out this time, but I'm afraid that if I call the police, once they leave he'll beat me even harder..." She looked to Ning Wan for help. "Lawyer, please help. Can you get me a divorce? Can you help me fight for the custody of my child? I don't care about money, I just want my daughter!"

"Did you call the police last time? Have you installed a camera at home? Did you take a video of him beating you?"

The last time Shu Ning came to consult, Ning Wan had told her what to do in detail. However, judging from the way Shu Ning was dodging her gaze, that was probably a no...

"Is there a witness, like a neighbor, who can prove his domestic violence?"

Shu Ning shook her head, beginning to cry again. "I don't dare make a sound when being beaten, or I'll be beaten even harder…"

Although Shu Ning didn't go into detail, Ning Wan could guess. A very highly educated person had their own pride. She didn't want her dirty linen aired out in public, and she didn't want others to know.

But with no police record, no video evidence, and no witness... Although Shu Ning's injuries had not healed, it would be difficult to prove that her husband had caused them because she hadn't called the police the first time she was injured.

"Why didn't you do something last time?" Ning Wan felt a stifling feeling settle in her chest. "If you had done something then, you wouldn't be in such a bad position now."

Shu Ning bowed her head and wiped her tears. "Last time when I got home, he knelt down and begged forgiveness. He even slapped himself hard over and over, until his whole face was swollen. When he heard that I was going to divorce him, he kowtowed until his forehead was bleeding. He kept apologizing, saying that he was under a lot of pressure at work and that in a moment of confusion he hit me, and that he would never do it again."

"We've been in love for so many years. When I recalled the memories of the love we used to have, I just... and our little girl is still so young. If we get divorced, then she'll be a fatherless child in a single-parent family her whole childhood. I thought hard about it and considering that it was is indeed the first time, I forgave him. He even wrote me a guarantee that it would never happen again."

What a familiar tale. The more Ning Wan listened, the heavier her heart felt. "But then he 'couldn't control his temper', so he hit you again. Afterward he cried all sorts of bitter tears, admitted that he was wrong, wrote another guarantee and knelt. You forgave him again. Then he 'lost his temper' and couldn't hold back, and the beatings got harder and harder until you're now in this state."

Shu Ning froze, then nodded. Her expression was bitter. "Yes... I didn't think that this was what I would finally get for my tolerance and endurance. I... I even resigned in order to make him feel less pressured..."

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Fu Zheng frowned when he heard this. "Do you mean to say that you're currently unemployed?"

There was no need for explanation. For Shu Ning, this might seem like just a casual question, but Ning Wan knew the meaning behind Fu Zheng's words. If Shu Ning wanted a divorce and to fight for the custody of her children, it was crucial that she had a proper job and whether or not she could prove that she had a stable income.

Shu Ning's daughter was no longer an infant. Infants tended to be given to their mothers, but the custody of older children tended to be awarded according to the principle of who could give them a better life. Many full-time housewives lost custody of their children when they went to court, because they had no income and no ability to find another job. All those years of full-time home-making had destroyed the careers of these mothers.

"En." Shu Ning didn't know any of these twists and turns. Lowering her head, she explained, "After giving birth to my daughter, I stayed at home to take care of her. But now she's in school, and I have a lot of free time. Since I have a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, I didn't want waste it and I sent my resume in to the company whose offer I had once been unable to accept. I've always regretted losing that opportunity because of my unexpected pregnancy, and I really wanted to work with them."

"So was it that your resume sank into the sea and you couldn't get an offer?"

Ning Wan was sympathetic. Returning to the workplace after marriage and childbearing was full of frustrations for a woman. Although Shu Ning was highly educated, she had gotten pregnant right after graduation, so she both lacked work experience and the advantage of age of a newly graduated college student. With a child at home, it was impossible for her to devote herself to work, which would be a huge disadvantage in job hunting...

However, Shu Ning's answer was quite surprising. "No, they gave me an offer, and were very excited about me." When she spoke of this, the first faint smile ever since entering the office showed on Shu Ning's face. "I did my homework before applying by writing an industry research report on the company's situation. In it, I analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of different devices, and made my own analysis and suggestions on a mechanical failure on one of their flagship products that was a frequent object of complaints. They seemed to like the report very much. One of their R&D directors interviewed me personally and made me an offer on the spot."

"That's great!" Ning Wan was sincerely happy for Shu Ning, but her happiness quickly gave way to confusion. Almost at the same time, Fu Zheng asked the exact question Ning Wan was thinking--

"So why else did you resign? Did you dislike the work environment or your colleagues? Was the pressure at work too much? Or did something happen at home that required you to be there?"

Shu Ning shook her head. "No, I liked the job very much. My colleagues were great, and my daughter is a good kid. She never complains about school, and always does her homework by herself." Once again, she choked up. "I quit just for Feiyuan's sake."

Hearing this, Chen Shuo frowned, too. "Is he one of those old-fashioned 'men run the outside, women run the insideAn old-fashioned Chinese family model structured around gender norms. Men are in charge of running the outside world, while women are in charge of the home' people? Did he feel like you should just stay home?"

Shu Ning wiped her tears. "Yes, he felt that I was leaving him no face by going out to work. He felt as though it would seem like he wasn't earning enough to support the family, and he was against me finding a job. He was particularly unhappy after I started working."

"When I first started submitting my resume, he didn't look kindly on it. He kept discouraging me, telling me that even though I have a Ph.D., knowledge in the mechanical engineering field changes fast, and that what I learnt before was now outdated, and since my foundation was useless I would just be showing off my knowledgeIdiom - that she would be a scholar who only knew how to quote ancient literature and show off, that with no work experience no one would look twice at my resume..."

"I was in quite low spirits during that time. I thought that if my own husband thought so, how much more would the company's personnel? I felt particularly inferior. When I didn't get any response after inquiring with several different companies, I felt like I really wasn't good for anything. That was what spurred me to write that industry analysis report."

Hearing this, Ning Wan frowned. "You wanted to go out to work, and your own husband was putting you down?"

"It's not like he was hitting meThe word used for 'beating' and for 'discouraging' (a verbal beating) is the same in this case, was he? He said that he was just saying these things for my own good. It's not that easy getting a job nowadays, and what's more, there's so much deception going on in the workplace now. He just hoped that I would never have to go through such bloodshed, and my eyes wouldn't ever see such dirty things. He was just trying to protect me." When Shu Ning got to this point, she heaved an emotional sigh. "Honestly, he's always so good to me, except for when he can't control his temper and beats me. He's really good..." Tears once again welled up in her eyes. "Yes, he's a little bit of a male chauvinist, but he really does want to keep me safe and protect me. He says that he can support me his whole life. He's such a responsible man..."

In that moment Ning Wan almost wanted to grab Shu Ning by the shoulders and shake her hard to wake her up. What do you mean, "He's so good except for when he's hitting me"? A man who beat a woman was the very definition of 'absolutely no good'!

And what's more...