On my mother's birthday, my wife busied herself running around, but when it was time to eat, she was nowhere to be seen; I walked into the kitchen and was stunned

(From a reader submission, images in this article are from the internet)

It was my mom's birthday, my wife handled everything, but when it was time to eat she had vanished; I went into the kitchen and was stunned

I wonder if other men share the same trouble as me, being caught between mother and wife and not knowing how to act. I love my wife, but I can do nothing about my own mother, and I can't just fall out with an elderly person over nothing. It was precisely because I thought my wife was young and it didn't matter if she took a little loss and hardship that I let my guard down, and I never expected that a scene on my mom's birthday would leave me full of regret, and even my mom was given a big fright.

If you want to ask why my mom never liked my wife, it's because I was raised by a single parent; my father died early, and afterward my mom raised me alone through a lot of hardship. She always thought I was still the child of just a few years old who needed his mother's love and protection, and she also treated me as a piece of her property, seeing my wife entering the family as if she had come to snatch this treasure from her, so she targeted her in every way, and on top of that my wife's family had no money, which made my mom despise her even more.

Seeing how my mom, who was usually so protective of me, treated another family's child with such roughness and harshness, I found it a little hard to understand; why couldn't she accept my wife the same way she loved me? I didn't dare offend the mother who had worked so hard to raise me, but I truly loved my wife deeply, so after marriage I found myself caught in the middle, not knowing what to do; luckily my wife was sensible and silently endured it every time, not letting me fall into conflict with my mom.

Besides verbal jabs, another way my mom treated my wife was to order her around to do chores. Whenever she saw her daughter-in-law in front of her, she couldn't stand to see her idle for even a minute and had to find something for her to do. Some things, I felt, didn't need to be shouted for her to do immediately, but as soon as my mom saw my wife she treated her like a servant. Sometimes my mom would call my wife to wash the dishes, and I felt sorry for her and wanted to help, but my mom would hold me back and insist my wife do it, and would get angry at her over it, saying she wanted to boss around a husband who worked hard to earn money outside, and target her even more; later I found that whenever I wanted to be good to her, my mom got angrier, so for her sake I could only deliberately appear cold to her in front of my mom, and my wife understood perfectly and never held it against me.

The day before yesterday was my mom's birthday, and how could she let such an opportunity pass; she kept ordering my wife around to do chores, and from getting up early in the morning to eating at noon, my wife didn't stop for a moment. Seeing her single-handedly prepare meals for a whole big family, I wanted to help, but my mom pulled a long face. Since it was her birthday, I didn't want to make her unhappy, so I just sat there without moving. But when it was time to eat, my wife still didn't come to the table; I was suspicious and felt something was wrong, but my mom got angry and said she was putting on an act deliberately to make her angry, told me to eat first and not worry so much, and ignored her, letting her eat or not as she pleased.

I couldn't stop worrying, so I threw down my chopsticks and went to look for my wife; when I entered the kitchen, I found her lying unconscious on the ground, and there was blood on the floor. I panicked at once and couldn't care about anything else, so I rushed her to the hospital. The doctor said my wife was suffering from extreme exhaustion and reproached me, asking why I was so careless as to let my own wife work so hard when she was pregnant, saying the baby had almost not been saved. Only then did my mom and I learn that she was pregnant. But just as before, afraid my mom would dislike her, she had kept quiet and kept working. Only now do I feel both frightened and regretful; just to accommodate my own mother, I had nearly worn my wife out and lost the child. Although my mom also felt some regret, she still complained about my wife the moment she opened her mouth, saying she had brought it on herself.

Seeing how my mom is, I think it's better to just take my wife and move out, otherwise it's really hard to say what will happen in the future; after all, my mom's temper isn't something that can change in a day or two. Do you all agree?