Hou Luli continued. "At first, we blamed Yahui for everything. The boys left us because of her - that's what we told ourselves. That she was a bad influence on them."
She smiled wryly as she looked down. "But it was quite late when I realized that Fa and I were just using her as a scapegoat all along. It was convenient to blame her while being blind to the fact how much we, as parents, had wronged them. Things…only went further south for us after Lin and Cai left. The fights became unbearable that also affected our careers. Eventually, we separated."
Shui's eyes widened. That was not a confession she had expected to hear.
"Yo-You…you two are…"
"No," she shook her head. "We are not legally divorced. We decided it was for the best to live separately, so I left the house and moved to another city. We didn't get divorced though. Even today, I don't know why, even though I know how unbearable it was at the time."
