Dear Wu Ta,
It has come to my attention that my foolish husband has written to you regarding our family relationship. I am very good to him, he should have to complain. If he wants a concubine that badly he should try to find one, but I doubt anyone would work under a wrinkly sap like him (especially not without a fair price).
He claims that he “never errs in the slightest.” Ha! That makes me laugh. He lies to you and says I have turned our home into a pig sty, but this mess is all the consequences of his actions. He brings home so few wages because by the time he reaches home he’s spent it on extravagant things we don’t need since he wants our neighbors to be jealous. He brought home a salmon the other night! I don’t even know how to cook salmon. If we had some extra money, we could afford to hire more help. He also leaves his dirty work clothes at all different places in the house to the point where I have to go searching for them and doesn’t tell me when his or the children’s clothing need repairs.
I try my best to be a good wife to him and he doesn’t appreciate what I do for him. I noticed he was becoming skinny so I made as much food as I could with the little money I have for each meal and told him to finish his plate. He said I was nagging and refused to eat it all, so I started making smaller portion meals again and he complained about that! What do I do to please this crazy man?
I was feeling very sick last week, so I took some time to rest my aching body and the children wished to help me out. I thanked them and assigned each a small chore, but Feng Yen flipped his lid! He said that I was treating them like servants and that no son of his would do slave work. I about slapped him aside the head because this is the work I do everyday. Once again, I would have had to ask the children to help out if he wouldn’t waste all his wages on liquor and buy us another servant.
If he wants to be rid of me then fine. I will just be rid of him.