How outrageous can my mother-in-law be?

Even now, I realize how incredibly tolerant I used to be.

The first thing I'll never forget.

To save electricity and gas, she would "cook" all the porridge and eggs she cooked.

One evening at dinner, we were all gnawing on bones.

After I finished, she specifically pointed to a plate and told me to put it down.

I thought she wanted to make it easier to clean up.

But when she went into the kitchen that night, I opened a pot—

a pot of bone broth.

made from the bones we had gnawed on and soaked in our saliva.

At that moment, I felt so nauseous I wanted to vomit.

The second thing was even more outrageous.

Once, I changed the sheets and duvet cover,

and when I got home the next day, the whole bed was a mess.

She secretly changed it back into her old bedding.

He even rummaged through my closet, stuffing it full of his and his son's old clothes.

I exploded on the spot,

telling him to put everything back immediately, or I'd throw it all away.

He yelled while taking his own things.

At that moment, I knew

this relationship was destined to end badly.

The third thing was the final straw.

His preference for sons was outrageous.

After I gave birth to a daughter,

he immediately urged my ex-husband to pressure me into having a second child.

I refused,

and their attitude towards me changed completely.

When my daughter was a few months old,

she had a fever and a cold,

and my ex-husband and in-laws acted like nothing was wrong.

My mother-in-law even said:

"Just give her some adult fever reducer."

Once, when I wasn't there,

he used dirty laundry water to wash the baby's bottom.

I was trembling when I saw it.

I bought a sample can of formula, a few dozen dollars.

He yelled at me, his face darkening:

"Why are you drinking formula? You'll grow up eating porridge and steamed buns!"

At that moment, I finally understood one thing:

It wasn't that I was demanding,

it was that this family,

didn't treat me and my daughter like human beings at all.

Later, I got a divorce.

It wasn't smooth sailing,

it dragged on for a while.

But the day I left,

for the first time, I felt like I could breathe freely.

Looking back now,

I no longer ask, "How speechless can my mother-in-law be?"

I only ask myself:

Why did I endure it for so long?

If you're still enduring it now,

I want to tell you this:

You're not making a mountain out of a molehill,

you're just finally starting to protect yourself and your child.