After ten years of being child-free, I had been using an IUD for contraception, which later led to an intrauterine infection.
After having my uterus removed, my husband regretted it.
He insisted on having a child and yelled at me, who was still recovering from surgery.
My in-laws also came out to accuse me of cutting off the Braves family's lineage.
I was heartbroken and decided to get a divorce.
But my husband couldn't bear to lose my substantial inheritance, so he colluded with my in-laws to push me off the rooftop and then claimed that I had committed suicide.
When I woke up again, I was back in the ninth year of my marriage.
***
In the gynecology clinic...
The female doctor had an indifferent expression, but her words showed concern. "Wearing that IUD for a long time is very harmful to women and carries the risk of intrauterine infection."
My husband, Chris Braves, seemed indifferent, as if he was hearing about someone else's situation.
I struggled to control myself, but inside, I was overwhelmed with emotions.
I had been reborn! Reborn back to the ninth year of my marriage!
My uterus is still intact, my body is still in good shape, and there is still time to make things right!
I broke out in a fine sweat on my forehead, and my heart pounded, whether from fear or excitement, I couldn't tell.
The doctor thought I was scared and softened her tone. "Currently, there isn't any major issue. If you want to prevent pregnancy, you could also consider having your partner get a vasectomy."
In my previous life, the doctor had also suggested this, but I felt it was enough for just one person to undergo surgery and didn't see the need for both of us to have operations, so I declined.
When it came to intimacy, Chris was unwilling to use protection, so I wore the IUD for these years.
A year later, as the doctor had said, the IUD caused an infection in my body, and I was forced to have my uterus removed.
At first, Chris seemed quite guilty.
He held my hand, his eyes reddened repeatedly.
At that time, I was very touched and thought I had found a good partner.
The night before the surgery, Chris had to go to work, and since my parents had passed away early, Chris brought his parents from his hometown to stay with us.
His mother, Layla Zane, came into the hospital room and took my hand. "Demi, you finally decided to have the surgery. After it's done, you two should start trying for a baby right away. I told you, a woman cannot be without children. A hen that doesn't lay eggs can't even be buried in the ancestral grave when it dies."
I was speechless.
Chris quickly explained in a low voice that to reassure his parents, he only told them I was having a fibroid removed.
At this moment, the doctor came in for rounds and said that the hysterectomy could be scheduled for 3 p.m., and gave some postoperative instructions.
Upon hearing this, my in-laws stared at each other, stunned.
Finally, they reacted, with my mother-in-law causing a scene in the hospital room, shouting that the hospital was heartless and that the Braves family would be cut off from descendants.
My father-in-law, Kobe Braves, even grabbed the doctor's collar and threatened to hit him.
I was extremely annoyed and decided to tell them the truth.
Unexpectedly, this only fueled her anger. "Son, if she can't have children, why should you be left without descendants?
"What child-free nonsense! You believe her lies; she probably knew she couldn't have children and dragged you along!"
My father-in-law wailed. "Our Braves family's only heir has been ruined by this woman!"
"Enough!" Chris interrupted his parents, making some excuses about work and hurriedly leaving.
But from the look he gave me, I could still see his doubts and dissatisfaction.
2After that day, Chris started staying out all night.
Whenever I called, he was either working late or out socializing.
Even when the nurse urged him to pay the fees, he quickly hung up.
Even though my reactions were somewhat slow, I understood his intentions.
Thinking of his attitude made me extremely angry.
In this new life, I must get a divorce!
But I couldn't let them off easily.
"It's not always fair for women to make sacrifices," the female doctor's voice brought me back to reality.
Facing the doctor's sharp gaze, Chris feigned grievance and looked at me.
In the past, whenever I saw him like this, I would surrender.
So in my previous life, I hurriedly refused the doctor's advice and, after leaving the clinic, tried to placate Chris with a smile.
Looking back now, my love-struck behavior was truly tragic!
In this life, I no longer want to be the foolish one.
I met Chris's gaze and made a more pitiful expression. "Yes, darling, I really don't want to get infected. How about I remove the IUD and you go for the surgery instead?"
Chris looked stunned, seemingly unable to believe his ears. "What did you say?"
"I said, you should go get a vasectomy!"
Now Chris couldn't keep up the pitiful act. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "Surgery carries risks. What if it fails and I lose my fertility?"
Seeing his panic, I felt that the nine years of childlessness seemed like a joke.
The female doctor coldly remarked. "Oh, so you weren't truly committed to being child-free."
Chris was speechless, a hint of panic crossing his eyes.
He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "What man wants to have this kind of surgery? People will just laugh at me as a castrated man."
I almost laughed in anger. "Laugh? Your parents called me a barren hen for nine years. Am I afraid of being laughed at?"
"If you don't want to be child-free, we can get a divorce and find someone who shares the same views."
3Chris once said that his parents were difficult and, to avoid trouble, he hadn't told them about our decision to be child-free but rather claimed that I was infertile.
I didn't mind what explanation was used; I simply didn't want children, so I went along with his approach.
I didn't expect that his parents would not only spread rumors about my infertility but ultimately push me off a rooftop, using my lack of offspring as the excuse.
After my death, Chris inherited the fortune his parents had originally left to me, spent money to marry a little internet celebrity, and had a string of children.
Perhaps unwilling to accept it, my spirit lingered, watching them live in my parents' house, using the furniture and appliances I had carefully chosen, and regularly gathering to call me the biggest fool in the world.
Heaven saw my plight, and I was reborn.
When I mentioned divorce, Chris's face darkened. He lowered his eyes and said, "Honey, I'm actually doing this for your own good.
"I heard that a vasectomy can make a man less manly. Don't you want your husband to be in his prime?"
The scumbag of a man was still pretending to have deep feelings for me.
In this life, I won't have sex with him!
However, I swallowed my disgust and pretended to be troubled. "But recently, a one-million-dollar certificate of deposit is maturing. I was planning to buy you a sports car with it. This money is from my mother, and she didn't want me to have an IUD. I don't want to use her money and upset her."
As I mentioned "sports car," Chris's eyes lit up.
He had long been eyeing the new "chick killer" sports car, but I had been holding off, worried about his reckless behavior.
Hearing me talk like this, he excitedly said, "Honey, we can't let Mom be unhappy in her grave. You should remove the IUD, but I won't get a vasectomy. I'll just use protection from now on."
He put on a face that was all about giving and taking.
I wasn't buying it. "That won't do, darling. You don't like using protection anyway. Since we don't want children, just get a vasectomy. As long as you get the vasectomy, I'll immediately go pick up the car. Deal?"
4Chris's face changed repeatedly.
He wanted the car, but getting a vasectomy for it seemed like too great a sacrifice.
The female doctor noticed his hesitation, quickly filled out the forms, and waved. "Here's the form for removing the IUD. As for the vasectomy, if you take good care of it post-surgery, it might still be reversible."
Hearing this, Chris seemed to ease up.
Plus, with me constantly showing him pictures of the sports car and vividly describing how cool it would be to drive it, Chris finally relented.
I arranged for both surgeries as quickly as possible.
And I hired the best divorce lawyer to help me secure the maximum benefits.
With the lawyer in charge, I finally settled down on the operating table.
The moment the IUD was removed, I felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
In my previous life, the IUD had caused an infection in my body, and I was in excruciating pain.
And Chris, who never had any sense of moderation, never cared about me.
I only went to the hospital when I couldn't stand it any longer, only to be told by the doctor that my uterus couldn't be saved.
After the hysterectomy, my in-laws created a scene every day, and Chris also drifted away from me, hinting that my body had issues.
I was in a bad mood, and the wound healed slowly. Looking back, it was truly a dark and desolate period.
This time, I hired a caregiver specifically to look after me and declined all visitors.
After Chris's surgery, he expected me to immediately deliver the luxury car and personally care for him in bed. Instead, he couldn't reach me and had to pay the surgery bill himself!
Seeing the bill, he was heartbroken and quickly arranged for discharge.
But he didn't know that I had prepared a surprise for him.
Fortunately, I had set up cameras at home in advance, or I would have missed this great show.
Chris, still recovering from surgery, angrily returned home, only to be shocked to find seven or eight extra people in the house.
The house was filled with smoke, and his favorite collectibles were scattered all over the place.
The group was in the middle of a heated discussion.
The ones leading the charge were his parents.
5"Son, you're back! Where have you been?"
As soon as Chris arrived, Layla confronted him.
Chris couldn't bring himself to mention the sterilization, so he deflected by saying he had just gotten off work.
He was fiddling with his figurines, tears nearly falling from his eyes.
A relative, looking a bit embarrassed, said, "Chris, my grandson thought your figurines were fun and played with them for a bit. I hope you don't mind."
His mother, however, was unconcerned. "What? The tradition is to let him get a taste of happiness, to bless the old Braves family with a son. Does it matter to him?"
Chris's face changed, but he still didn't say anything.
Layla's expression softened slightly as she spoke to Chris. "Good job. I thought you were off attending to that wretched woman. She's had the sterilization; to our family, she's just a useless waste. If it weren't for her family's business, I would have kicked her out of the Braves family immediately!"
Chris was completely baffled.
Kobe flicked some ash off his cigarette, spat on the limited edition rug Chris had admired, and said, "I brought Wendy for you. Your father knew you liked her since you were young. If it weren't for Demi's money, you two would have been together a long time ago."
Hearing this, I zoomed in with two fingers.
I couldn't believe it; this was the same little internet celebrity Chris had remarried in his previous life!
It turned out they were old flames.
The girl named Wendy Young wasn't shy at all and sat right on Chris's lap in front of everyone.
The relatives started chattering,
"Chris, don't mind my rough words. We've heard of castrated chickens and ducks, but never castrated people. If Demi were a man, he'd be a eunuch!"
"Don't feel too burdened; I don't understand those laws and rules. All I know is that not having descendants is the worst form of unfilial conduct."
"That Demi has broken our family's rules, daring to get sterilized. She's like a hen that can't lay eggs; sterilization? That's even lower-quality!"
"Demi still shamelessly says she wants to adopt kids in the future. Luckily, I remembered Wendy. Adoption? Let someone else raise the kids? Does our old Braves family look like a fool? Instead, you should have a child with Wendy, and then Demi can pay and raise the child. Today, I'm personally sending Wendy here so you two can make a grandchild today."
"Wendy's sisters are famous in our village for being 'fertile.' With her carrying the child, the Braves family's lineage will definitely continue."
They rambled on.
Each person had their say, and Chris's face was changing colors from white to red.
He finally realized that his mother thought it was I who had been sterilized, which was why they were speaking so disparagingly.
But Chris was very proud; facing this situation, he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger, saying nothing.
In the previous life, it was I who suffered from rumors.
Even in the 21st century, I couldn't believe people still reacted so strongly to sterilization.
A few times, when his relatives spoke too harshly, I couldn't help but retort, but Chris was very unhappy.
He said that the relatives were simple people with a limited perspective compared to city folks, and he asked me to understand and not be so rude.
Today, I wanted to see just how high his standards really were.
The relatives showed no sign of stopping, and eventually, Chris's face was as pale as a corpse.
Kobe said, "I brought the relatives here today to let Demi know what happens to someone who cuts off the family line! Don't worry about it; we are all here to support you."
Chris didn't dare to speak, but seeing the situation in the room, he knew he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
He could only brace himself and went into the room with Wendy.
6A sleepless night passed.
The in-laws and relatives were sprawled all over the living room.
Just as dawn was breaking, everyone was startled awake by a scream.
"Oh my God! Someone's dying!"
Wendy, disregarding her clothes, ran out in her coat in a panic.
Everyone gathered at the bedroom door and found Chris lying in a pool of blood, unconscious, with blood pouring from his lower body.
Everyone scrambled to get the naked Chris to the hospital, only to find out that he had just undergone a sterilization surgery, and the intense activity from the night had torn the wound and caused an infection, requiring immediate rescue.
Wendy and the relatives were terrified by the medical bill the doctor gave them and quickly fled.
Layla and Kobe had to dig into their savings just to cover the medical expenses barely.
When they bombarded my phone, I was leisurely eating fruit in a high-end rehab center, enjoying the view outside the window.
I made up an excuse that I was abroad handling my parents' inheritance.
A week later, Chris finally survived the critical period but had permanently lost his ability to have children.
I thought the in-laws, who were so obsessed with having descendants, would have calmed down, but it turned out I had underestimated their audacity.
My mother-in-law keeps forwarding me "women's virtue" articles and adding comments.
[Men are the sky, and women are the earth. A woman's status is determined by the man she looks up to.]
[Heaven's laws and social norms dictate that no matter how a man is, a woman should remain loyal to him.]
And stuff like that.
She was trying to brainwash me in advance, fearing that I might dislike her son.
But in my past life, when I lost the ability to bear children, she was the first to shout about kicking me out of the house.
I had long seen through their true colors, so I wasn't fooled. But losing my fertility would have been too easy on them, so I pretended to visit the hospital.
Before I even entered, I heard Kobe's voice. "Layla, go back to the old house tonight and bring Wendy here."
"Why bring her here? She caused so much trouble for our son; I want her to pay for it!"
"Don't worry about that. Just go. Demi hasn't come back, and Wendy might at least take care of our son."
Chris also persuaded. "Mom, you've lost so much weight these days. Let Wendy come."
Layla was unwilling but dared not defy her husband and son.
I was puzzled.
When did these two become so concerned about Layla?
Without further thought, a nurse opened the door from inside.
When my father-in-law saw me, he was furious.
"So it's you, Demi. Not explaining things clearly, deliberately playing tricks on us, right? Are you happy now?"
He charged at me, and I ducked, causing him to crash into the door and break his front teeth.
Chris yelled in panic from the bed.
Layla hurriedly helped the old man up, pretended to scold him, but kept glaring at me. "How could Demi be so heartless? Chris's surgery failed, and Demi is the most heartbroken. She even said she would buy a car to comfort him, didn't she?"
She acted as if I was unaware, making all sorts of gestures toward me.
So they were putting on a show for me, aiming for my wallet.
I played along with the act, feigning that I hadn't explained things clearly before and that we could discuss the car issue, making them relent.
However, I didn't forget the mission of this visit.
I secretly slipped a small recorder into Chris's bag, using the excuse of going to buy a car before leaving.
7Sure enough, the father and son didn't disappoint me.
After Layla washed the dirty clothes from these days, she boarded the bus back home.
As soon as she left, I heard Chris and his father's voices.
"Son, this idea is good, but what if Demi refuses to accept the child?"
"What can she do? Dad, don't worry. She's just a dog I raised. Don't be fooled by her front. She'll wag her tail and come when I throw her a bone. Whatever I decide, she has no say. As for my mother..."
"That's even less of a problem. She should have had more sons when she was young. Now, the old Braves family is going extinct, and she is at least half responsible."
"That's great. When Wendy arrives, please put in some extra effort."
"No problem, son. I'm still sharp. I'll definitely make sure you get a brother. Then, just say this child is from a relative in the old home. You can bring it back and have Demi raise it. This way, old Braves family will continue!"
"To avoid raising suspicions with Demi, I won't help with Wendy's care."
"So what? Let your mom take care of her. After the child is born, let her take care of it. She's as strong as an ox; she wouldn't know what to do if she didn't work."
...
The two were discussing in the ward with great enthusiasm, filled with joy.
I was laughing my head off from dozens of kilometers away.
I really wonder what my mother-in-law, who always talked about "heavenly laws and social norms," would think if she knew her "heavenly husband" and precious son were scheming against her.