Chapter 9
1084words
Time is the best medicine for healing wounds, and also the fairest judge. Half a year after the divorce, my father Victor's world completely collapsed.
He was expelled from the core of power, and the CEO office that once belonged to him now bore Uncle Thomas's name. His shares in the company had been significantly diluted, transforming him from a powerful decision-maker to an insignificant marginal shareholder. Having lost the vast family resources that came with his mother, as well as most of the assets he had squandered himself, his life plummeted from the clouds straight to rock bottom.
We heard that he had moved into an ordinary apartment, with an area even smaller than what used to be our family's closet. Once, while doing research downtown for a school project, I caught a glimpse of him from a street corner. He was walking out of a cheap supermarket, carrying a plastic bag that seemed to contain only a few cans of beer and a loaf of bread. The man who had always been impeccably dressed and full of vigor was gone, replaced by a middle-aged man with graying hair, hunched posture, and a face etched with exhaustion and resentment.
No one sympathized with him, not even his former drinking buddies who now avoided him completely. His failure was too thorough, his downfall too humiliating, to the point that no one wanted to be contaminated by his misfortune. Karmic retribution had fallen upon him with perfect precision, without the slightest error.
As for Nina, the woman who disrupted everything between us, her fate was equally self-inflicted.
She gave birth to that child, a boy, who was said to resemble his father. But the child's birth didn't bring her anything she had wanted. The father could barely take care of himself, let alone have the ability or desire to look after her and that illegitimate child. And our family regarded her as a permanent taboo; no one would ever accept her.
Later, Alex learned through the private investigator he hired that Nina had quietly left the city with her two children. She returned to the distant small town where she was born, rented a small, unremarkable house, found the most ordinary job, and struggled to raise her two children.
When Alex told me all this, his tone was as calm as if he were telling a stranger's story. I asked him: "Do you still hate her?"
He was silent for a moment, shook his head, and said: "Not anymore, I just find it meaningless. I just want to completely delete that memory from my life, and let her live the life she chose in a place unknown to me."
This resolute man had finally learned to let go. He chose not to pursue the matter further, not because of forgiveness, but because of complete indifference. For him, the woman called Nina, along with that marriage full of deception, was now garbage that needed to be cleared away, not a wound that needed healing.
And the rest of us, after this storm, are trying hard to find a new direction.
With the support of my mother and us sisters, Alex emerged from that shadow at an astonishing speed. He was no longer that fragile man crushed by betrayal, but rather had found himself again. He resigned from his nominal position in our father's company and accepted Uncle Thomas's invitation to join the revitalized family business.
He demonstrated business talents and resilience far beyond everyone's expectations, abilities that had previously been overshadowed by our father's aura were now fully displayed. Mother, watching him go to work every day with vigor, talking about new projects and challenges, showed a long-absent, genuinely relieved smile on her face.
I continued my college life, but everyone could see the change in me. I was no longer just a young girl who only needed to bury herself in books; this family war forced me to grow up quickly, becoming more independent and stronger than my peers. I learned about life's cruelty and also better understood how to protect what I cherish.
Even the youngest in our family, Lily, who was once an innocent little princess, has matured a lot during this dramatic change. She is no longer willful and has started to care about her mother's health and be considerate of her brother's feelings. In her own way, she has become the warm little sun in our new family.
One year later, early summer.
With the assets she recovered from the divorce lawsuit, mother established a women's rights support foundation called "Phoenix." She wanted to pass on her power of rebirth from the ashes to more women who have suffered harm and injustice in their marriages.
The foundation's inauguration ceremony was held in a bright exhibition center. Alex and I accompanied our mother, watching her dressed in an elegant white suit, standing under the spotlight, composed and determined.
The seats below were filled with people - media reporters, legal professionals, and many unfamiliar female faces, their eyes carrying similar confusion, pain, and a glimmer of searching hope.
Mother's voice clearly filled the entire venue through the microphone: "I once thought marriage was a safe harbor, but it can also become the most magnificent prison. I once believed that endurance was a virtue, but it only nourishes betrayal and contempt. Today I stand here not to speak of my suffering, but to tell every woman who is lost as I once was—never underestimate your own strength."
Her gaze swept across the audience, carrying a kind of clarity and compassion that comes from weathering storms.
"When you decide to no longer endure, when you decide to fight back for your dignity and your life," she paused slightly, each word resonating firmly, "the whole world will make way for you."
As her words fell, thunderous applause erupted throughout the venue, continuing without end.
After the ceremony, the crowd gradually dispersed. A young-looking woman, however, lingered behind. She approached mother, her eyes reddened from holding back tears.
"Thank you," she said with a trembling voice and heavy sobbing, "thank you for your story that gave me courage. I've also decided not to endure it anymore."
Mother didn't say many comforting words. She just reached out and firmly held that woman's cold and trembling hand, with a gentle yet powerful smile on her face.
"You will win."
