"What did you say!" Cut to the quick by the sharp words, Du Dawei flushed with anger and humiliation. He stepped forward, grabbed Mu Yuting's arm, and roughly yanked her toward him.
A person cannot choose their birth. Du Dawei could call himself poor, but he despised others pointing out his poverty and loathed being born into a destitute family. He was desperate to change his life, to use marriage to improve his financial struggles, yet he couldn't bear having his hidden motives laid bare.
Mu Yuting's words tore away his last shred of dignity, causing him to momentarily lose his senses and resort to violence right at the office door.
The smooth fabric of her down jacket made it hard to maintain a grip over time. After swiftly pulling her closer, Du Dawei switched to tightly clamping her wrist, refusing to let her break free.
They were now face to face. Mu Yuting showed no panic; her gaze held contempt and disgust, but not a trace of affection. She said softly, "Did I hit a nerve? Is that why you're so angry?"
"Bitch!" Enraged, Du Dawei dragged her firmly by the wrist, pulling her along forcefully. "Come with me! I'll take you home." He planned to find a secluded spot on the way to teach her a lesson.
"I won't go with you!" Mu Yuting's eyes were sharp as knives, her tone resolute. But her strength was no match for his, and she was dragged several steps despite her resistance.
"Let go!" Digging her heels in, Mu Yuting used her other hand to pry at Du Dawei's fingers, trying to force him to release her.
This was the workplace, and Du Dawei feared being seen. Though grinding his teeth in fury, he didn't dare strike her. Not one to back down, when the tug-of-war stalled, he instead raised her clamped wrist high and shoved her hard, sending her stumbling backward to crash violently against the wall.
"Ah—" Mu Yuting let out a short, sharp cry as her back slammed into the white wall outside the office, her head knocking against it too. She slid down the wall and collapsed to the floor. In her daze, the scene overlapped with one from her past life.
**
In her past life, when her daughter was just over a year old, Mu Yuting had endured a similar violent shove.
She clearly remembered that night: she had just put the child to sleep and was showering in the bathroom.
Du Dawei returned home in a rage, barged into the shower, and—ignoring her nakedness—grabbed her by the hair, cursed at her, and shoved her hard.
At that time, she had crashed directly into the cold bathroom wall, her head hitting it with a loud thud. Then, her body slid down the smooth tiled wall and landed heavily on the floor. The pain in her head and tailbone was excruciating.
And the reason she suffered this? Simply because Du Dawei had been scolded by his parents and took his anger out on her. His parents had complained that he married an ordinary woman who bore a "worthless" daughter and offered little help to his career—he should have married an official's daughter or a wealthy beauty and had a son.
Du Dawei stormed out, slamming the bathroom door, and went to play online computer games with someone in the bedroom. Dizzy, nauseated, and utterly disheveled, Mu Yuting slowly picked herself up, quietly changed clothes, and dialed 110.
The police arrived promptly but, learning it was a domestic dispute with no bloodshed, followed routine procedure. They took statements, criticized and educated the abuser, and ultimately urged reconciliation.
She asked, "Can domestic violence be filed as a case?"
The response was: "Injuries can be assessed. Domestic violence is considered a criminal offense if the injuries are classified as serious or above, and will be filed as a criminal case. Minor injuries or less are considered general assault and cannot be prosecuted as intentional injury." (This legal knowledge is cited from Baidu.)
When asked if she wanted to have her injuries assessed, Mu Yuting hesitated because the police officer told her: "If your husband is criminally penalized for domestic violence, it will definitely leave a record. In the future, when he or your children apply for civil service positions or enlist in the military, the political review will be affected."
She felt a chill shoot straight from her heart to the top of her head. The children—again, for the children! It seemed everyone was saying: You're a mother, you have to think about the children, maintain the marriage so they have a complete family, protect their future, and know how to sacrifice and devote yourself.
Touching the large bump on the back of her head, she wrapped herself in her disheveled state and ultimately chose to reconcile...
This wasn't the first time she had been beaten, nor would it be the last. Kindness and weakness only brought endless harm.
Only after a lifetime of stumbling and bleeding did she understand that girls really shouldn't be too obedient or too naive. It's fine to be kind, but you must also have thorns to protect yourself.
**
After being reborn, there was no marriage, no children, no weaknesses left! What did Mu Yuting have to fear now?
She sneered inwardly: Hah, if you dare lay a hand on me like in the previous life, I’ll make sure you get free prison meals! I don’t want an insincere, hypocritical "sorry"—I want to be treated with the respect I deserve.
Her stomach was too small to swallow too much grievance. No matter how big her heart was, it couldn’t hold endless harm. Life is unpredictable in length, but one must live in a way that honors oneself.
Mu Yuting remained slumped on the floor, leaning against the wall with her hand on her forehead, not getting up. She didn’t need to get up right now.
Having witnessed Du Dawei push Mu Yuting to the ground, Sister Qin couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed out to rescue her. The other colleagues also came out of hiding, all rushing in to break up the fight.
Sister Qin spread her arms like a mother hen protecting her chicks, blocking Du Dawei and shielding Mu Yuting behind her, shouting loudly, "How dare you hit someone!"
The other colleagues who had been hiding and watching also ran out, quickly pulling Du Dawei back—the women grabbing his arms, the men restraining his neck—preventing him from taking any further action.
In the struggle, the bag of candy in Du Dawei’s hand tore open, scattering red wedding sweets all over the floor.
It was almost 5:30, the end of the workday, and colleagues from other offices also came out to see what was happening. Soon, a crowd had gathered in the courtyard.
"How could you hit a woman? So uncivilized!" said one of the colleagues trying to break up the fight.
"What’s going on?" asked a colleague who arrived late, whispering curiously.
"Seems like the marriage fell through, and he got physical."
"Even if the marriage doesn’t work out, you can’t force it."
"Who schemes for the woman’s family assets before even getting married?" a female colleague involved in pulling them apart said indignantly.
"A man with violent tendencies is not marriage material," murmured some female onlookers.
Seeing that the perpetrator, Du Dawei, was restrained by their colleagues, Sister Qin turned around and carefully helped Mu Yuting, who was still on the floor, asking where she was hurt and how serious it was.
Mu Yuting held her head, looking very weak. "Sister Qin, I hit my head. It hurts, I’m dizzy, and I feel nauseous. My back and tailbone hurt too."
Sister Qin circled behind her and glanced at the back of her head, gasping in alarm: "Oh dear, there's a huge bump swelling on the back of your head. Could this be a sign of a concussion? And the bones—you need to go to the hospital for a check-up, get an X-ray, just to be safe."
Du Dawei had originally intended to take advantage of the busy after-work crowd by deliberately bringing wedding candies to Mu Yuting’s workplace, using public pressure to force the obedient girl to acknowledge their marriage and smoothly proceed with the wedding. To his surprise, the obedient girl had turned into a prickly hedgehog today, raising all her defenses and leaving him with no way to press his advantage.
Having suffered a setback, he gritted his teeth, twisted his body, and struggled desperately to break free from the restraint, muttering incessantly: "It wasn’t me. It was her—she did it on purpose!"
On purpose, what? You were the one who pushed her; you caused the injury! None of the onlookers believed Du Dawei. Two sturdy male colleagues stepped forward, taking over from the female colleagues, firmly pinning his arms and holding him down even tighter.
Many in the crowd wore expressions of disdain. To cause a scene at someone’s workplace just because a marriage didn’t work out, and even resort to violence against a woman—such character was something both men and women would want to steer clear of.
Someone had called for the supervisor, and the crowd parted to make way, waiting for the supervisor’s decision.
The male supervisor, in his fifties, had already been briefed before arriving but still needed to ask both parties involved about the actual situation. As he made his way over, carefully avoiding the scattered red candies on the floor, he frowned and asked, "What’s going on here?"
Du Dawei hurriedly jumped in, trying to downplay the incident and smooth things over: "Sir, I came from T County to submit some documents and was just picking up my girlfriend after work. We’re about to get married, and we just had a little misunderstanding…"
"It wasn’t a misunderstanding; it was intentional harm. Sir, I’m injured, and I want to report this to the police and have my injuries documented," Mu Yuting said, supporting her forehead and leaning weakly against Sister Qin, looking as though she could barely stand.
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