Wife Wanted to Be Dutiful Daughter; I Agreed, She Broke

My wife is famous for being a devoted daughter.

The moment her paycheck came in each month, she transferred every last cent of it to her mother.

But that meant every household expense fell on me.

I paid the mortgage myself.

When my wife went out for social dinners, it cost several thousand each time.

On top of that, at every holiday I had to prepare gifts for her parents and her brother.

Looking at our savings, which were nearly zero, I sighed and asked my wife whether we could keep a little money at home.

She didn't even think about it. She just shook her head and refused.

"Absolutely not. I transfer thirty thousand every month. If it suddenly dropped, the relatives would say I forgot my own family the moment I got married."

"Being good to your parents is a child's duty. You're my husband, so you should support me even more."

"Stop fixating on my money. You should look at yourself and figure out the reason. Maybe you spend loosely and waste too much on useless things."

I thought it over and decided she made a lot of sense.

So right then, I transferred my entire paycheck to my mother.

...

My mom called back almost immediately, her voice full of surprise.

"Son, why did you suddenly send over so much money? Aren't you going to keep enough to live on?"

I didn't explain much. I just laughed and reassured her a little, saying I'd finally come to my senses and wanted to take good care of her from now on.

After I hung up, I looked at the few hundred dollars left in my bank card and felt strangely at ease.

When I got off work that evening, I didn't go to the market. Instead, I signed up for a meal card at the company, ate dinner there, and only then went home.

Back when we first got married, Marina had a bad stomach and couldn't handle eating out.

I felt sorry for her, so every day after work I bought groceries myself and cooked her all kinds of delicious meals.

Little by little, her stomach got better under my care.

Now that I thought about it, that was another expense I ought to cut.

When Marina got home from work, she kicked off her high heels and headed for the dining room out of habit.

Seeing the empty table, she frowned, her voice full of displeasure.

"Why haven't you cooked yet today?"

I was curled up on the couch scrolling my phone, not even looking up.

"No money to buy groceries."

Marina froze for a moment, then walked over and stared at me.

"Didn't you get paid today? Where's the money?"

I answered in the same tone she always used, perfectly self-assured.

"I did some reflecting, and I think you're absolutely right."

"Being good to my parents is my duty too, so I sent my whole paycheck to my mother, as money for her retirement."

"You're my wife, so you'll support me too, right?"

Marina's face darkened instantly.

"Are you insane? If you transfer all the money to your mother, how do we cover the household expenses?"

"Who pays the mortgage? Who pays the utilities? I have to take a client out to dinner tomorrow!"

I spread my hands.

"Didn't you say being good to your parents matters most?"

"Now everyone's being dutiful. Isn't that great?"

"As for food, you earn so much. Why don't you ask your mom for some living expenses?"

Marina's face went livid with anger.

"Stop being unreasonable! What I do is being good to my mother. You're just doing this to spite me!"

I ignored her and kept scrolling my phone.

But right then, at the worst possible moment, Marina's stomach growled loudly.

She paced around the living room a couple of times, then gritted her teeth, picked up her phone, and dialed her mother.

"Mom, um... could you transfer me two hundred first? I want to buy something to eat."

On the other end, Mrs. Abbott's voice shot up.

"What? Two hundred?"

"Do you think money grows on trees around here?"

"Let me tell you, the money I've saved is for something very important. Not a single cent can be touched!"

"What is Adrian doing? Hurry up and have him cook for you!"

And with that, she hung up.

The air went suddenly quiet.

Looking at Marina's face, blacker than the bottom of a pot, I nearly couldn't hold back my laughter.

She shot me a vicious glare, and in the end all she could do was go dig a packet of instant noodles out of the kitchen and eat it with a grim expression.

The next day she left for work without so much as saying goodbye to me.

By a little past eleven that night, I was drifting off to sleep when my phone suddenly started ringing like crazy.

It was Marina.

"Honey, transfer me five thousand right now, I need to settle the bill over here."

Her voice sounded a little slurred, clearly she'd had too much to drink.

I yawned under the covers.

"I don't have any money."

A burst of loud laughter came from the other end of the line.

Then a man's voice.

"Marina, your husband won't cover it? Want me to lend you some first?"

Marina got flustered right away.

"Stop it! My coworkers are all here watching. We agreed I'd pick up the tab today."

"Hurry up and transfer the money, don't make me lose face!"

I rolled over, my tone calm.

"I really don't have any money. My whole paycheck goes to my mother out of filial duty."

"If you can't afford the bill, why don't you ask your mom for a little more?"

"You give her thirty grand a month anyway. What's five thousand to her?"

With that, I hung up and switched off the phone.

Half an hour later.

Marina, reeking of alcohol, stormed into the bedroom, yanked off my blanket, and glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

"Adrian Fox! Did you set out to embarrass me tonight?!"

"Do you have any idea how humiliating that was? In the end I had to swallow my pride and borrow money from a coworker just to pay the bill!"

I sat up and looked at her coldly.

I just couldn't understand how the gentle, thoughtful woman I dated back then had turned into what she was now.

"When you handed your entire paycheck to your mother, did you ever stop to think you'd end up humiliated?"

"You put on a show you can't afford, insisting on treating everyone to dinner. What does that have to do with me?"

"If you don't have the money, don't pretend to be generous."

Marina choked for a moment, then shot back:

"Show me one husband like youday after day he doesn't cook a single meal, and humiliates his wife in public on top of it."

"I'm telling you, Adrian Fox, you'd better get that money back from your mother by tomorrow!"

"Otherwise there's no way we can go on like this!"

Looking at that shameless face of hers, all I felt was how ridiculous it was.

In the past, to save face for her, I always gave in and swallowed my pride.

Now it was clear she didn't deserve it at all.

"There's no money to give."

"If you can't go on, then let's not go on."

I said it calmly, then pulled the blanket back over myself and lay down again.

Marina was so furious she stomped her feet around the room, and finally slammed the door and went to the guest room.

I figured she'd at least reflect on things a little.

I didn't expect that the very next day, right after I got off work, my mother-in-law showed up.

"Adrian Fox, what kind of husband are you?"

"Marina called me last night and said you won't leave her a single cent."

"Are you trying to starve my daughter to death?!"

She was carrying a big plastic bag, which she dumped heavily onto the dining table.

I walked over and took a look.

Inside were yellowed, wilted greens and a few half-rotten apples.

I frowned.

"Mom, why did you bring all this?"

My mother-in-law rolled her eyes and plopped down on the sofa.

"Why? To bring you groceries, of course!"

"Didn't you say you had no money for groceries? I went to the market especially to pick these out for you."

"You have to run a household carefully. These may not look pretty, but they're cheap, and once they're in your stomach it's all the same, isn't it?"

I laughed in disbelief.

"Marina gives you thirty grand a month, and this is what you feed her?"

"If you're really so good at making do, why don't you take this bag of vegetables home and eat it yourself?"

Just then the front door opened and Marina walked in.

The moment she saw her mother, she hurried over.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

My mother-in-law grabbed Marina's hand.

"Sweetheart, my heart aches for you."

"You married such a thoughtless manhe won't even give you a decent meal."

"Mom brought you grocerieshurry up and have him cook them."

Marina glanced at the rotten greens on the table, her face a little awkward.

But she still turned to me and pressed:

"Honey, Mom was kind enough to bring us groceries all this way. Why don't you hurry up and cook?"

Looking at this mother and daughter, I found the whole thing utterly absurd.

"If you want it cooked, cook it yourselves. I'm not eating garbage."

The second she heard that, my mother-in-law was furious. She jabbed a finger at my nose and started cursing.

"Who are you calling garbage? You spineless good-for-nothing!"

"My daughter must have had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to marry you!"

"Hand over the money right now, or I'm not leaving today!"

I gave a cold laugh.

"Not leaving, huh? Fine."

I took out my phone and dialed building management directly.

"Hello, is this security? There's an old lady in my place who refuses to leave, and she brought in a pile of stinking garbage. Could you come up and deal with it?"

My mother-in-law's eyes went wide. She couldn't believe I'd actually dare to call security.

Marina rushed over and snatched the phone out of my hand.

"Adrian Fox, are you crazy! That's my mother!"

"Apologize to her right now!"

I stared at her without flinching.

"Why should I apologize?"

"She comes here with a pile of rotten vegetable scraps to disgust me, and I'm supposed to be grateful?"

"Marina, get this straight. My family paid the down payment on this house, and I'm the one paying the mortgage."

"This is my home, and she's not welcome here."

Mrs. Abbott was shaking with rage. She dropped down onto the floor and started throwing a fit.

"Marina, look at this! This is the fine man you married!"

"And he talks about being respectful! I'll be lucky if he doesn't drive me to my grave!"

Marina hurried to pull her mother up, then whipped around and screamed at me.

"Adrian Fox, you are going to get down on your knees and apologize to my mother today!"

"Otherwise this isn't over!"

I looked at Mrs. Abbott on the floor, then at Marina, her face full of anger.

The last flicker of hope in my heart died completely.

"Kneel and apologize? Dream on."

I turned, walked into the bedroom, and locked the door behind me.

No matter how they cursed me out there, I ignored them.

The farce outside went on for more than ten minutes.

It wasn't until the building security guard actually came up and knocked that Mrs. Abbott finally left with Marina, grumbling and cursing.

The place finally went quiet.

I came out of the bedroom, scooped the rotten vegetable scraps off the table along with the plastic bag, and threw them in the trash.

Then I started packing my things.

Since I was getting divorced, there were some things I needed to take with me first.

I opened the bottom drawer of the wardrobe and pulled out a box.

Inside were several gold bars I'd bought before the wedding, kept for a rainy day.

At the current price of gold, they had to be worth at least a hundred thousand.

But when I opened the box, it was completely empty.

My head buzzed.

No thief had broken into our home.

The only possibility was Marina.

I called her right away.

It rang for a long time before she finally picked up, her tone thoroughly annoyed.

"What do you want now? I'm out having dinner with my mom!"

"Where are the gold bars from my wardrobe?"

I got straight to the point.

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

"Sold them."

I was shaking with rage.

"Those were mine. How dare you take them and sell them without my permission!"

Marina didn't feel the least bit guilty. If anything, she was completely self-righteous.

"What do you mean 'yours' and 'mine'? Once you're married, it's all joint property!"

"My brother's about to get engaged, and the girl's family suddenly tacked on another hundred thousand in wedding gift money."

"My mom can't come up with that much. As his older sister, how could I just stand by and do nothing?"

I could hardly believe my ears.

"You give your mom thirty thousand every monththat's over seven hundred thousand in two years!"

"And now you're telling me she can't even come up with a hundred thousand?"

Marina argued like she had every right.

"What do you know? Nathaniel spends a lot when he's dating."

"A while back, to keep up appearances, he went and bought himself a nice car."

"The money in my mom's hands was gone long ago."

I gripped the phone, my fingers slowly tightening.

"So all that money you handed over to your parents out of devotion actually went straight into Nathaniel's pocket?"

"Seven hundred thousand isn't enough for him, and now you want to sell my things to fill his hole too?"

Marina flared up too.

"How can you talk like that? He's my own brother!"

"Besides, those gold bars are just sitting there anyway. What's wrong with taking them out to help the family?"

"Nathaniel's girlfriend comes from a family with money and power. If he marries into it, we'll all get to benefit later."

"A grown man like you, without even this much business senseno wonder my mom says men like you are the most useless of all!"

Listening to her shameless little speech, my anger hit its peak.

"You steal and sell my things to help cover your brother's wedding gift money, and you call that good financial sense?"

Marina sighed and started lecturing me in that earnest tone of hers:

"Adrian, you used to be so generous. What's gotten into you these past couple of days?"

"We're family. Do we really have to keep such careful count of everything?"

"Worst case, once my brother's doing well down the road, I'll have him buy you a few gold bars to make up for it."

"Think it over carefully. I have to stay and help out at my brother's engagement banquet tomorrow, so I won't be coming back for now."

"While you're at it, pack up the stuff at home. In a couple of days we're moving in with my parents."

"The bride's family requires that we have a house, so I've decided on my own to give ours to Nathaniel. As soon as the engagement banquet ends tomorrow, I'll take them over to see the place."

"Honey, don't make a fuss this time, or my parents really will make me divorce you."

With that, she hung up.

Listening to the busy signal on my phone, I suddenly laughed.

I used to think Marina was just too devoted, too family-minded.

Only now did I understandshe was nothing but a bloodsucker with no limits.

She thinks I have no financial sense?

Then I'll show her what real financial sense looks like.

I opened my phone and called my childhood friend directly.

"Hey, do me a favor."

After hanging up, I quickly started packing my things.

Clothes, laptopanything that was mine went straight into the suitcase.

As for Marina's junk, I just used a local app to call an old guy who buys up secondhand stuff.

In less than half an hour, the old guy pulled up on his three-wheeler.

"Young man, all these clothes and shoesyou're selling all of them?"

He stared at the pile on the floor, like he could hardly believe it.

"Sell it all. Give me whatever you think is fairthe main thing is to haul it out of here fast."

The old guy was thrilled. In the end he transferred me five hundred bucks and cleared out every last piece of Marina's stuff.

Money in hand, I dragged my two big suitcases out and took a cab straight to my parents' place.

My mom got a shock when she saw me show up like that.

"Son, what's wrong? Did you and Marina have a fight?"

I pushed the suitcases aside, sat down on the couch, and poured myself a glass of water.

"Mom, I'm going to get a divorce."

I told her everything that had happened over the past two days, exactly as it went.

Including how Marina handed her whole salary to her mother, and how she'd secretly sold off the gold bars and gold jewelry I'd owned before the marriage.

When my parents heard it, they were so furious they slammed the table.

"That ungrateful snake!"

"I said from the start that her family couldn't be trusted, but you had to go and marry her!"

"Divorce herwe're doing it right now!"

The next day, my mom made a special trip to the market and bought the fattest lobster she could find to welcome me home.

I sat at the table, eating the rich, dripping roe, in an incredibly good mood.

Just then my phone rang.

Marina's name flashed on the screen.

I unhurriedly wiped my hands and pressed answer.

The second the call connected, Marina's frantic screaming came through.

"Adrian! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Why won't the front door open? The bride's whole family is out here waiting!"

"And why are there strangers talking inside?!"

Listening to her fall apart, I couldn't keep the corners of my mouth from lifting.

"Oh, I forgot to mention."

"I rented the place out. Not only does it cover the monthly mortgage, it even brings in a little extra spending money."

"And that pile of junk of yoursI sold it to the old guy who buys secondhand stuff. Got five hundred bucks for it."

"So, what do you thinkdon't I have great financial sense?"