Chapter 1

In my previous life, my mother spent her whole life favoring my younger brother. When she became paralyzed, he threw her out.

Against my husband’s and son’s objections, I took her in and cared for her for five years.

After she died, her will accused me of abusing her and taking her pension money. It gave my brother all the credit for those five years of care.

At her funeral, my husband handed me divorce papers.

With reddened eyes, my son asked, “Mom, did you give up Dad and me for someone who never loved you?”

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day we divided the estate after Dad’s death.

Mom gave my brother both houses, eight hundred thousand yuan in savings, and a shop. But she expected me to pay her future hospital bills and handle all her personal care.

In my previous life, I had wept while trying to prove daughters were no less worthy than sons.

This time, I smiled and signed the inheritance waiver.

Mom said sons mattered more. I supported her.

She wanted to leave my brother everything. I supported that too.

Whether he wanted the houses, savings, or shop, he had my wholehearted support.

And when she grew old and frail, I would support every choice her son made for her too.

01

After I signed, Mom sat stunned for a long time.

In my previous life, I had quarreled with her at this very table.

I asked why, when we were both Dad’s children, my brother received two houses, eight hundred thousand yuan, and a shop, while all I inherited was responsibility for her care.

She slapped me before a room full of relatives.

She accused me of coveting my birth family’s property even after marrying, then forced me to kneel before Dad’s memorial portrait and swear I would care for her to the end, whether she grew ill or bedridden.

This time, I pushed the signed documents toward my brother.

“Give Qingwei everything Dad left.”

The lines between her brows immediately smoothed.

“At last, you have some sense. Qingwei is a son. He must carry this family in the future. He can’t have nothing.”

Until then, my brother had watched warily, afraid I would change my mind. Now he immediately took the two property certificates.

He flipped through them, unable to suppress his smile.

“Don’t worry, Sis. Once I make it, I won’t forget you.”

He had said that in my previous life too.

Then Mom became paralyzed. He delivered her and two bags of clothes to my door and paid nothing for five years.

I took another set of documents from my bag.

“The property is settled. Let’s settle her care arrangements too.”

His hand stopped on the certificate.

Mom took the papers. After only a few lines, she slapped them onto the table.

Under the agreement, accepting the two houses, eight hundred thousand yuan, and shop meant my brother committed to bearing the principal costs of Mom’s living expenses, treatment, and arrangements for old age.

I would meet my legal obligations. I would not provide round-the-clock care or pay the expenses he had promised to cover.

Mom stared at the last page. Her smile was gone.

“You’re scheming against your brother!”

He put the certificates down too, suspicion entering his voice.

“Mom raised you all these years. Do you really need to put caring for her into a written agreement?”

The relatives exchanged looks.

They had surrounded me like this in my previous life too.

When he received the property, they said sons carried on the family line, so it was only natural.

After she became paralyzed, they said daughters were attentive and naturally suited to serving the elderly.

I laid the waiver and care agreement neatly side by side.

“I’m not asking for a single yuan. How am I scheming against Qingwei?”

Mom opened her mouth.

I didn’t let her change the subject.

“Don’t you always say a son is your support? Why, when it comes to old age, is his only responsibility holding the deeds?”

My aunt beside her cleared her throat.

“Song Yu, you can’t put it that way. Men must earn money outside. Daughters are better suited to caring for older people.”

She wanted to help Mom, but wouldn’t meet my eyes.

I turned to her.

“If Uncle leaves all the houses to your son, will you make your daughter quit her job and care for you when you’re bedridden?”

She lifted her tea and said nothing more.

The living room fell silent.

Mom cared deeply about appearances.

She had just told every relative that her son would support her for the rest of her life.

If she didn’t make him sign, she would be admitting her good son wanted the money but not the responsibility.

She gripped the agreement for a long time. Finally, she pushed the pen toward him.

“Sign.”

He didn’t immediately move.

He read the clauses again, then glanced at the property certificates.

Mom was healthy now. She rarely even took medicine.

To him, caring for her was at least a decade or more away.

He couldn’t bear to give up assets worth millions in exchange for one promise.

“Mom, how can you say that? Would I ever abandon you?”

He picked up the pen and quickly signed.

I opened my phone’s camera.

“Say that again. With our relatives here, we’ll have witnesses.”

His smile faded a little.

But before so many people, he had to face the camera and promise responsibility for Mom’s living expenses, treatment, and care arrangements.

I pushed the ink pad toward her.

“Confirm it too, Mom.”

She glared.

With the camera still recording, she could only press her fingerprint onto the agreement.

“If I become ill or bedridden, I’ll follow my son’s decisions.”

She deliberately looked at me.

“I certainly won’t burden a daughter who has married out.”

I saved the video and immediately sent it to the relatives’ group chat. Then I gave the original agreement to the witnessing lawyer for safekeeping.

Mom thought I had finally learned my place.

My brother thought he had received two houses, eight hundred thousand yuan, and a shop.

Only I knew he had also accepted the five years she would spend bedridden.

Downstairs, Chen Zheng’s car waited by the road.

Seeing the documents in my hand, he didn’t press for the result as he had before. He only opened the door.

Our son dozed in the back seat, holding his schoolbag.

On this day in my previous life, I had been so busy fighting Mom for a little fairness that I missed his parent-teacher meeting.

Later, I missed birthdays, competitions, even his hospitalization.

I sat beside him and switched off my phone.

He wasn’t deeply asleep. His head slowly settled on my shoulder.

I put an arm around him.

Mom’s first stroke was still two years away.

For those two years, I wouldn’t shield my brother from disaster again.

02

During the first few months, Mom called almost every day.

A broken pipe: I had to fix it.

Her granddaughter wanted extracurricular classes: I had to pay.

A relative’s birthday needed a cash gift: she came to me.

Every time, I asked only, “What does Qingwei say?”

She either called me heartless or hung up.

Eventually, she realized I would pay my monthly share of her living expenses and nothing extra. Gradually, the calls stopped.

I gave Chen Zheng my salary card and replaced the money I had taken from our son’s education fund over the years.

He didn’t look happy.

He studied the card, then me.

“Does your mother need money again?”

For a moment, I didn’t know how to answer.

In my previous life, whenever I initiated a conversation about savings, my birth family had another hole to fill.

The worst time, my brother had gambling debts. Mom knelt outside our door.

I forced Chen Zheng to sell the home we had bought in a good school catchment for our son, to repay those debts.

From then on, our son never got to attend the school he should have.

“It isn’t for Mom.”

I handed him the family budget I had prepared.

“From now on, our money goes to this family first.”

He turned a few pages.

His hand still rested on the bank card, as though afraid to trust too easily.

At last, he put the budget away.

“Our son’s sports day is next week.”

His quiet voice pierced me.

“You promised you’d come.”

I nodded.

On sports day, I sat in the front row.

After crossing the finish line, my son didn’t check his result or look for his teacher.

He searched the crowd.

Only when he found me did he grin.

That smile brought back my previous life.

Before every competition, he had asked whether I would come.

I always promised. I always broke it because of Mom.

Later, he stopped asking.

I thought our days might go on peacefully.

Six months later, my brother found a home in a good school catchment and needed another 1.2 million yuan.

Mom brought him and his wife to our door.

Without a greeting, she sat and threw property documents onto the coffee table.

It was the house Chen Zheng had bought before our marriage and intended to leave our son.

“Your boy is already in school. You don’t need this house for now.”

She pushed the papers toward me.

“Qingwei’s daughter starts primary school next year. Sell it and help him with the deposit.”

Chen Zheng had just come out of the kitchen. He stopped.

His knuckles slowly tightened around his glass.

I quickly pressed his hand.

Mom thought I was stopping my husband from interfering. Her manner immediately softened.

“We’re all family. If your niece gets into a good school and succeeds, she’ll remember her aunt.”

“You’re right.”

I went into the bedroom and brought out an estate agent’s valuation I had prepared.

“The children’s futures shouldn’t be held back.”

My sister-in-law glanced at my brother. He straightened too, thinking I was going to sell.

I put the valuation before Mom.

“Your old house would sell for exactly 1.2 million.”

She stared. Her smile vanished.

“That’s my retirement home! How can I sell it?”

“Don’t you say your son’s future matters more than anything?”

I turned the page for her.

“Qingwei needs money now. If you can’t part with one house, how can you ask me to sell my son’s?”

Mom pushed it away.

Before she could lose her temper, my sister-in-law hugged her child and burst into tears.

“Mom, we don’t want to force you.”

“But without a good school, our child’s whole life will be ruined.”

After holding back a while, my brother spoke quietly too.

“When you divided the property, you said everything would be mine someday.”

“I really need the money now. You can’t ignore it.”

Mom looked at her granddaughter, then her aggrieved son.

Everyone waited for her to prove that his future really did matter most.

Three days later, she put her old house up for sale.