Chapter 5

He said I had deliberately abused Mom to seize Dad’s estate and forced him to pay all her hospital bills alone.

My sister-in-law cried beside him, holding a child.

Worst of all was Mom.

To protect his job, she nodded into the camera and haltingly confirmed that I wouldn’t support her.

The public fury soon reached our home.

Chen Zheng’s company received complaints.

After school, several classmates stopped my son. They slashed his bag and left a slap mark on his face.

He didn’t complain when he came home. He only hid the torn bag in a cupboard.

At dinner, he kept his head down and ate a few mouthfuls.

After a long time, he asked softly:

“Mom, will we have to move again?”

In my previous life, my brother’s creditors had come to us too.

We were forced to move, and our son changed schools.

He still remembered.

I put down my chopsticks. The last trace of hesitation vanished.

My brother’s livestream had over a million viewers.

He wailed, “I don’t need a single yuan from my sister. I only ask her to kneel and apologize to Mom!”

Countless people waited for me to bow my head.

I pressed the request-to-join button.

Seeing my profile picture, he couldn’t suppress a twitch of his mouth.

He thought I was finally afraid.

He didn’t know our door camera had captured not only the entire process of abandoning Mom, but also what he told the streamer hiding in the stairwell.

One sentence that could destroy his future.

05

When we connected, he wiped his tears first.

Rather than curse me, he looked exhausted.

“Sis, apologize to Mom and I won’t hold it against you.”

Comments continued scrolling.

Some called me an ingrate. Some told me to die.

Without explaining, I first held Dad’s estate inventory before the camera.

Two houses. Eight hundred thousand yuan in savings. A shop.

All given to my brother.

I had taken nothing.

Next, I showed the agreement he signed and the video of him promising to support Mom.

The abuse eased a little.

He stared at the screen and finally realized something was wrong.

He reached to disconnect.

But I had already contacted the platform. The livestream was under an evidence-preservation procedure.

He pressed several times. The image remained.

“Family matters don’t need to be aired online, Sis.”

He had stopped crying.

I played the full security footage.

In it, he first removed Mom’s thick coat, then pushed her wheelchair to our door.

The streamer peered out of the stairwell.

“She seems to be struggling to breathe. Shouldn’t we call an ambulance first?”

My brother held the lift, impatient.

“Why? She won’t die.”

“Wait until my sister closes the door, then rush out and film.”

“Title it: Daughter refuses to care for paralyzed mother, forces younger brother to sell house for treatment.”

The streamer hesitated.

“What if something really happens?”

My brother glanced at Mom.

No worry. Only disgust.

“All the better.”

“Dead people can’t change their story. My sister will never clear her name.”

The comments abruptly stopped.

His face went white.

He grabbed his phone, his voice changing.

“It’s fake! She edited it to frame me!”

I kept playing.

He took a card from his pocket and gave it to the streamer.

“Twenty thousand upfront.”

“When it goes viral, another eighty thousand.”

“A hundred thousand is worth it if she takes the old woman in.”

The footage ended.

The frozen comments suddenly covered the screen.

People asked why, after taking millions in assets, he wouldn’t even pay for Mom’s nursing care.

Others captured his earlier tears and asked how much each drop cost.

He panicked completely.

He rushed toward Mom and crouched, gripping her hand to force her to speak.

“Explain, Mom!”

“I only said that in anger! You know better than anyone how well I usually treat you!”

His wife pushed the wheelchair closer to the camera.

She tried to smile, but her voice shook.

“Tell everyone, Mom. Qingwei has always been dutiful.”

Mom looked at him.

Her gaze stayed for a long time on his hand gripping hers.

I thought that, even now, she must finally see the truth.

But she nodded.

“Qingwei… dutiful.”

With difficulty, she lifted her hand and pointed at me on the screen.

“She… forced him.”

He seized it like a final lifeline.

Crying again, he explained that the footage only showed angry words. I had deliberately driven him to desperation.

I didn’t argue.

The next moment, the hospital recording began.