It took some time to persuade Dai Zhiqiang, but in the end, he agreed to let her talk to his mother. That was how Li Caiyi was stuck in this situation now.

Both women stood face to face. Yue Ling appeared nervous, but Li Caiyi remained vigilant.

"So? What do you want to talk to me about?" Li Caiyi asked first.

Yue Ling put her hands together before asking. "You seemed pretty close to the brothers and also my ex-husband. I was wondering whether you are aware...."

"I have heard the story from Zhiqiang. About you and various other things."

Yue Ling bit her lips. "I see. Then you must have the worst impression of me. But what you heard was nothing more than a one-sided explanation. None of you know the reason why I did that. No one tried to understand me."

Li Caiyi felt this woman was very strange. Why did she leave without words if she wanted to be understood that much?

Moreover, even if she had a good reason for that, it didn't mean that what she had done could be easily pardoned. The wound she inflicted on the Dai family was deep and irreparable. It was arrogant for her to expect they would accept her readily after all this time.

However, since this was a chance, Li Caiyi thought it wouldn't hurt to listen to what the older woman had to say. She wanted to know what reason a woman could have to abandon her caring husband and two lovely kids like that.

"Fine. Let's hear about it. What is your reason?"

"Will you tell Zhiqiang about it after I tell you? If yes, can you persuade him not to be too harsh on me? Yes, I admitted what I did was wrong, but I will try to atone for what I did."

"Atonement?" Li Caiyi echoed her words. The word never sounded so ludicrous up until now.

"Ma'am, I think you are mistaken. You are not the one to decide whether what you did is atonement or not. If forcing your way into the Dai family after abandoning them once is the way of your atonement, then you probably should learn the meaning behind that word once again."

Her tone was neither overbearing nor servile, but the ridicule behind her words was apparent. Yue Ling immediately realized that the young girl in front of her wasn't a simple one. She felt like she couldn't underestimate her just because she was younger.

"Maybe I'm too hasty to call it atonement. You are right. But can you at least hear me out first before judging me?"

Li Caiyi smiled politely. "You misunderstood me. I simply reminded you that you shouldn't use the term you are unfamiliar with so carelessly, lest you embarrass yourself."

Although Li Caiyi couldn't just stay silent and listen to her spouting nonsense, she never intended to fight with her. No matter what, this person was someone who gave birth to her most beloved person. She didn't want to put Dai Zhiqiang in a difficult position.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you. Can you continue what you talked about before?"

Yue Ling didn't like this girl who had a smart mouth, but she was the only one who could help her right now. Arguing with her would be counterproductive.

"After giving birth to Shenqiang, I was depressed for a long time. What do you call it? Postpartum depression? At that time, my ex-husband and I didn't plan for another kid since we didn't know whether we could afford it. Just having Zhiqiang is already hard enough, so when I knew I got pregnant with another child, that was when everything started."

Li Caiyi never gave birth to a child before, but she knew how difficult it was to be depressed. Joy, fear, and anxiety seemed to always go hand in hand, and they could easily warp a person's mind.

"To be honest, I had a hard time when giving birth to my first child. It was a painful and frightening experience. The doctor said it was a miracle that the baby and mother could make it out safely. Ever since then, I promised myself not to have another kid. However, despite all my precautions, I got pregnant with my second child."

Li Caiyi could almost predict what would happen next. She heard a lot of similar cases during her time as Madam Meng from other wives.

"My ex-husband was foolishly thrilled by the news of my second pregnancy without knowing how fearful I was. He didn't care about how I might lose my life! Or what will happen if the second child is born!

We were barely making ends meet with just three people, and he still insisted for me to give birth to him. He kept saying we shouldn't abort him, despite knowing the risk was high. He is a selfish and irresponsible man! I'm honestly sick and fed up with everything!"

At this point, Yue Ling's eyes shook wildly with resentment overflowing. She also kept rubbing her forearms, like she was trying to rub off something dirty on her. It was a sign of severe rejection and wasn't a normal reaction.

Li Caiyi could feel how much she loathed to remember that memory again.

"Ma'am, please calm down. Everything was in the past now. You are alive, and so is Shenqiang."

Yue Ling's movement halted, and she soon put down her hands. "I'm sorry for showing you that embarrassing scene. My condition is better now, but I will occasionally react strongly."

"That's fine. So you abandon everything because you can't overcome your depression?"

Yue Ling didn't answer immediately. Her forlorn expression looked even frailer under the moonlight.

"I was happy and afraid at the same time when Shenqiang was born. For me, that baby is like proof of my powerlessness and something that almost killed me. A few times, I wanted to hurt him without reason, and that scared me. I consulted with the doctor, and I found out that my heart is sick."

To think depression could warp a person's mind to that extent, Li Caiyi could only imagine how much she had suffered. She constantly feared her child and herself for wanting to harm that sinless child.

"Your husband... I mean, Uncle, did he know about this?"

"Our financial situation wasn't that good. With an additional head to feed, he was always busy with work and often took overtime. I told him once, but he brushed it off by saying I should be stronger for our kids and not overthink useless things." Yue Ling sneered. "It made me feel unpleasant to hear him talking righteously like that, so I never talked to him about it again."

Li Caiyi didn't expect this conversation to turn dark this fast. She grimaced in discomfort as she listened to Yue Ling's following words.

"Thankfully, I have a friend whom I can confide in. Every time I felt that I started to lose my reason, I would call him, and he would comfort me gently. His words gave me strength to face Shenqiang, something my husband couldn't do."

Li Caiyi: "...."

"You are an intelligent girl, so you probably could already guess it. That's right, that person is my childhood friend and my current husband. When I first consulted him about my problem, his wife was still around, so we never crossed the line and only helped each other as childhood friends should.

But after a few years, his wife was involved in a car accident and lost her life. He was having a hard time, especially since he had to raise his children alone from that point on. So I visited him a few times, and that's when I began to feel something else toward him."

Yue Ling's face was full of adoration when she talked about her current husband.

As a person who was also abandoned, it hurt Li Caiyi to imagine how Dai Bolin must have felt when he knew his wife had been cheating on him.

Thankfully, the Dai brothers weren't here to hear this. It twisted her heart so much; how much hurt would it cause them if they were to know their biological mother chose another person's children than them?

"That's the reason you left, right? Because you felt his family deserves your attention more than your own family?" Li Caiyi asked indignantly, but Yue Ling only calmly smiled.

"You are still young, so I understand how you might find my decision off-putting, but adults have their own circumstances. You will understand when you are to make your own family someday."

"Then why did you come back here? If you are so happy with your new family, why did you come here and stir up trouble?"historical

Yue Ling sighed. "We finally arrive at the main point. After leaving the Dai family, my husband is generous enough to let me know about what happened to the brothers from time to time. That's when I discovered that my ex-husband had fallen ill and didn't have long to live.

Even though I left them, they were still a part of my flesh, so I can't leave them just like that. So I came here to persuade him to let me take care of the kids."

Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense. Why Dai Bolin didn't chase his ex-wife away, despite knowing how her existence was a thorn in his family's flesh. Why he implored Dai Zhiqiang to let go of his resentment and look toward the future instead of the past.

No matter how generous a person could be, there was no way he could forgive a wife who betrayed him that easily. It was strange how he could accept everything as if nothing had happened.

'Uncle, so you did everything for the brothers. You don't want them to live without parents after your passing, so you cling to the last hope.' Li Caiyi thought bitterly.

The weight of the decision he had to take was too heavy.