Chapter 3

After I refused, he was silent for a few seconds.

When he spoke again, all courtesy had gone.

“Have you been waiting to laugh at me?”

“Mom gave me the houses and money, and you’ve held a grudge ever since. Are you only happy when my life goes badly?”

Hearing him list every asset he had received, I laughed.

“You took the houses, savings, and shop. Nothing was missing.”

“And you signed that agreement yourself.”

His breathing grew heavier.

I didn’t give him another chance to make a scene.

“Adults should take responsibility for their signatures.”

I hung up and blocked the number.

Without my money to fill the hole, the restaurant soon closed.

The relatives who lost their salaries abruptly accused him of incompetence.

Those who once praised him came demanding money.

Mom still refused to admit she had misjudged him.

A man failing in business once meant nothing, she said. If he learned from it, he would rise again.

He couldn’t afford a maid, so she moved in and did the shopping, cooking, laundry, cleaning, and school runs for her granddaughter.

After my sister-in-law became pregnant with their second child, Mom couldn’t even sleep peacefully.

The moment a child cried, she had to get up and make formula.

Every day, she was so tired she held her back walking downstairs. Yet she still posted photographs in the relatives’ chat, saying her son’s family couldn’t live without her.

I never exposed it.

She had chosen those days herself.

Until that winter, when my sister-in-law called before dawn.

The other end was chaos.

First, I heard her crying. Then my brother scolding her in a lowered voice.

“Why take her to a private hospital? Have you worked out the daily cost?”

His wife sounded frantic.

“Your mother fell in the bathroom over an hour ago. If we wait any longer, she’ll really die!”

After a brief silence, he spoke impatiently.

“Change the rug first.”

“She’s urinated everywhere, and it stinks. How are we supposed to use the living room?”

Standing at my bedroom door, I gripped the phone and didn’t move for a long time.

In my previous life, Mom said he hadn’t been home when she became ill.

She said she fell in the bathroom and only got an ambulance when a neighbor heard her.

He had been there all along.

He simply thought a rug mattered more than her life.

More than an hour later, she finally reached the hospital.

The emergency doctor came out and told the family to prepare themselves.

“She missed the critical treatment window. We’ve kept her alive for now, but she will most likely have paralysis on one side.”

After hearing the monthly rehabilitation cost, my brother didn’t enter her room.

He went to the stairwell and video-called me, rubbing his forehead as though under unbearable pressure.

“Sis, Mom won’t be able to care for herself anymore.”

He paused, trying to make dumping his burden sound like a reasonable division of work.

“You’re her daughter. It’s easier for you to care for a patient. I’ll bring her to your home after discharge.”

On this very day in my previous life, I had ignored Chen Zheng’s objections and taken her in.

From then on, our home never knew peace.

This time, I took the agreement from my study and went to the hospital alone.

Half of Mom’s face had twisted.

Hearing footsteps, she moved her eyes with difficulty.

When she recognized me, her fingers slowly released the sheet.

She thought I would clean up her mess again.

I went to the bedside and tucked her quilt in.

Then I placed the agreement her son had signed before her.

“Mom, you said you’d follow your son’s decisions in old age.”

Her fingers tightened again.

I turned to his signature.

“Qingwei won’t pay for rehabilitation. He wants to get rid of you.”

Her pupils contracted. A strangled, unintelligible moan came from her mouth.

I bent toward her.

“You’ve always supported your son’s choices.”

“Will you support this one too?”

04

Mom seized my sleeve.

Her right hand could still move. She pulled so hard she nearly tore the fabric.

But she couldn’t form a complete sentence. She only shook her head again and again.

Seeing her appeal to me, my brother’s embarrassment became irritation.

“That’s enough, Sis.”

He glanced at the bed, then quickly looked away.

“She may favor me, but she gave birth to you and raised you. You have a spare room. Your husband earns money. What’s wrong with bringing her home?”

My sister-in-law stood at the door, supporting her lower back.

She had avoided Mom’s gaze. Once he spoke, she joined in, eyes reddening.

“We’ll soon have two children. There really isn’t room at home.”