Xiao Fang is a Beijing housewife who regrets her decision to hire four men to kill her husband’s pet dog. Unfortunately for her, her action has caused her husband to react in a way she never expected: he is divorcing her.
When she and her husband bought a new apartment, she didn’t want the family’s pet wolfhound messing it up. She tried getting rid of it herself but “it managed to come back no matter how far I had taken him” she said in a news report. So she hired four men to kill the dog when her husband was away on business.
Her husband was the not only one who was upset at the dog’s death. Their 17-year old son was also distraught about the death of the dog that had been the family’s pet for seven years.
Does wanting a clean apartment justify killing a family pet? To Xiao Fang, seeing her clean apartment soiled by a dog was too much to accept. What she did not understand or perhaps did not want to accept was just how much her husband loved his dog regardless of any damage it may have caused to their home.
Will her husband press for divorce or will his anger and grief subside enough for him to forgive his wife’s action? If the couple had been able to talk about this problem, or the problem as the wife perceived it, would they have worked out a solution that would have satisfied both of them?
If ever there was a case of lack of communication having disastrous results, this is one. Maybe talking wouldn’t have changed anything but for Xiao Fang a second chance may not be in her future.