Chapter 1: My Daughter Is My Last Line

My mother-in-law called and asked me to let my daughter stay with her for two days. She said she missed her granddaughter.

I softened and agreed.

The next day, when I went to pick up my daughter, she hid behind the door and refused to come out.

I pulled it open and saw that one side of her face was red and swollen. Her eyes were puffy from crying, like two walnuts.

“Who hit you?”

My daughter said nothing. She only glanced timidly at my brother-in-law, who was sitting in the living room.

My mother-in-law hurried over and grabbed my arm.

“Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. Her uncle was only a little rough. He was just playing with the child.”

She was still smiling.

So was I.

Then I slapped her across the face, hard enough to send her crashing into the doorframe.

“Mother, you think this game is fun, don’t you? Then from today on, we’ll play it every day.”

The living room fell silent.

My mother-in-law, Du Mei, clutched her face, eyes wide.

My brother-in-law, Chu Yao, sprang up from the sofa and pointed at me, roaring, “Ha An Thu, are you crazy? You dared to hit my mother?”

I ignored him.

I crouched and pulled my daughter, Doa Doa, into my arms.

Her body trembled. Her little hands clutched the hem of my shirt.

She was only five, and five distinct finger marks were visible on her face.

The handprint was large, the palm broad.

It wasn’t an injury from bumping into something while playing.

An adult had hit her.

I gently touched her cheek.

Doa Doa flinched in pain, but she bit her lip and didn’t cry.

At that moment, it felt as if someone had crushed my heart in their fist.

I looked up at Chu Yao.

“Did you hit her?”

He stuck his chin out. “She was being difficult. So what if I teased her a little? All kids get smacked now and then.”

Du Mei finally came to her senses and lunged for my arm.

“You actually dared to hit me? I’m your mother-in-law!”

I pulled Doa Doa behind me to protect her.

“Didn’t you say this was just a game? I was only playing with you a little.”

Du Mei’s expression changed at once.

“You’re comparing me to a child?”

I laughed. “So you do know it hurts to be hit.”

Chu Yao kicked the stool beside the coffee table out of his way.

“Ha An Thu, don’t push your luck! My brother bought this house. What gives you the right to come here and make a scene?”

I looked at him.

“Your house?”

He froze.

I took a ring of keys from my bag and set them on the coffee table.

“I paid the down payment on this place, and I’ve been making the mortgage payments. Your brother’s salary isn’t even enough to cover his own expenses.”

Du Mei shrieked, “It’s still marital property! You’re a woman. Once you married into the Chu family, your money was naturally supposed to be spent on the Chu family!”

“Fine,” I said with a nod.

“Then Doa Doa is part of the Chu family, too. One of the Chu family’s own has been beaten by another member of the Chu family. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

No one answered.

My father-in-law, Chu Duc Thuan, came out from the back room, frowning.

“What’s all this noise? The neighbors can hear you.”

I looked at him. “Dad, have you even looked at Doa Doa’s face?”

Chu Duc Thuan glanced at her, expressionless.

“Yao has a bad temper. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen that. Children are resilient. She’ll be fine in a few days.”

I picked Doa Doa up.

“Fine.”

Du Mei thought I’d backed down and immediately snorted.

“See? Isn’t it better when you know your place? We’re family. Why make a scene and embarrass everyone?”

I reached the door, then stopped.

“Before tonight, I want Chu Yao to apologize to Doa Doa in front of the whole family. He also needs to reimburse every cent of the medical examination.”

Chu Yao laughed.

“And what if I don’t?”

I turned to look at him.

“Then tomorrow you’ll find out whether I’m going to let you live in peace.”

I took Doa Doa and left.

Before the elevator doors closed, I heard Du Mei cursing inside.

“That woman’s gone completely wild! She has one daughter and thinks she’s some big shot!”

Doa Doa buried her face against my chest.

“Mommy, was it wrong of me to go to Grandma’s house?”

My eyes stung. I held her tighter.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“From now on, no one is allowed to hit you again.”

The elevator doors opened.

As soon as I stepped out, my phone rang.

My husband’s name appeared on the screen: Chu Chi.

I answered.

He immediately shouted at me, “Ha An Thu, what is wrong with you? My mother says you hit her!”

I looked at Doa Doa’s swollen face, and my voice turned cold.

“Your daughter was hit, too.”

There was a second of silence at the other end.

Then Chu Chi said, “Yao was only playing with the child. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

I closed my eyes.

The last scrap of hope I’d had disappeared.

“Chu Chi, come home tonight.”

“What for?”

“So you can see whether you still deserve to be Doa Doa’s father.”

Chu Chi didn’t get home until nine that night.

He came in reeking of alcohol.

I was sitting at the dining table. Doa Doa had fallen asleep, a cold compress resting on her face.

Chu Chi threw his car keys onto the cabinet.

“How long are you going to keep making a fuss?”

I pointed toward the bedroom.

“Keep your voice down. She’s asleep.”

He scoffed. “Now you’re thinking about her? You hit someone in front of my parents today. Did you think about how she’ll have to live afterward?”

I looked at him.

“When your younger brother hit her, did you think about how she’d have to live?”

Chu Chi tugged irritably at his collar.

“I asked him. Yao was only teasing her. She grabbed his game controller, so he gave her a little push.”

“A little push?”

I slid the medical report across the table.

“Soft-tissue injury to her face. The doctor said if he’d used a little more force, her ear might have been damaged.”

Chu Chi looked down. His expression stiffened for an instant.

Then he pushed the report back toward me.

“Don’t try to scare me with this. Kids bump into things and get scratched all the time.”

I nodded. “All the time.”

I held out my phone.

It showed a drawing Doa Doa had made while sitting in the hospital corridor.

A little person was holding her face.

Beside her, in crooked handwriting, were the words:

Uncle hit me.

Chu Chi’s fingers paused as he looked at them.

I stared at him.

“Does this still look normal to you?”

He avoided my eyes.

“What do you want? My younger brother to kneel in front of a five-year-old and apologize?”

“An apology.”

“He’s an adult.”

“When he hits a child, he’s not a respectable adult. He’s an abuser.”

Chu Chi frowned.

“Ha An Thu, don’t talk like that.”

I laughed.

“Like what?”

I stood and walked toward him, one step at a time.

“When my mother-in-law called Doa Doa a useless girl, you didn’t think it sounded bad.”

“When your younger brother slapped her, you didn’t think it sounded bad.”

“But now that I’m asking him to apologize, you think I’m saying something offensive?”

Chu Chi’s expression darkened.

“Don’t push me.”

“What am I pushing you to do?”

He gritted his teeth.

“If you keep making trouble, I’ll take Doa Doa to my mother’s place and let her teach the girl some proper manners.”

I looked at him.

The room was very quiet.

The clock ticked forward once.

Suddenly, I laughed.

Chu Chi stared at me.

“What are you laughing at?”

I turned and went into the bedroom, then came back with a document folder.

Inside were copies of the property deed, bank statements, records of the mortgage payments, and every transfer I’d made to his family over the years.

I didn’t waste words.

I laid the documents out on the table, one after another.

“Chu Chi, you said this was your house.”

“Then let’s make things clear tonight.”

His expression changed.

“When did you prepare all this?”

“After the first time you transferred your entire salary to your mother and made me pay the mortgage.”

I pulled out the last sheet.

“And last month, you sent Chu Yao thirty thousand yuan, saying it was seed money for a project. At the hospital today, Doa Doa told me her uncle said he was using it to buy a motorcycle.”

Chu Chi reached for the paper.

I pressed it down.

“Don’t touch it.”

He looked at me, alarm beginning to show in his eyes.

“Ha An Thu, what are you trying to do?”

“I want your younger brother to apologize.”

“I want your mother to admit that what she said today was disgusting.”

“And I want you to get the thirty thousand yuan back from Chu Yao tonight.”

Chu Chi gave a cold laugh.

“And what if I refuse?”

Just then, the bedroom door opened.

Doa Doa stood there, hugging her stuffed rabbit. Her voice was very small.

“Daddy, Uncle said if Mommy doesn’t behave, he’ll lock me out on the balcony.”

Chu Chi’s face slowly turned pale.

I looked at him.

“Now you have a choice to make.”

Chu Chi didn’t choose.

He slammed the door and left.

The bang made Doa Doa tremble again.

I carried her back to bed and carefully tucked her in.

She asked in a small voice, “Mommy, does Daddy not want me anymore?”

I stroked her hair.

“It’s not because you’re not good enough.”

“Some grown-ups are just very bad people.”

She looked at me, her eyes full of tears.

“Will you leave me, Mommy?”

“No.”

I bent down and kissed her forehead.

“No one can take you away from me.”

The next morning, Du Mei brought Chu Yao over.

The doorbell rang again and again.

When I opened the door, Du Mei still had a medicated patch on her face, but her eyes were hard.

Behind her, Chu Yao wore a new jacket, jangling a set of motorcycle keys in his hand.

He looked more like a debt collector than a guest.

Du Mei walked in and plopped down on the sofa.

“Ha An Thu, I won’t hold last night against you. Make me a cup of tea and apologize, and we’ll call it even.”

I leaned against the doorframe.

“Are you still asleep?”

Chu Yao sneered. “Sister-in-law, my mother’s giving you a way out. Don’t be ungrateful.”

I looked at him.

“And what way out have I given you?”

He played dumb. “What are you talking about?”

“Apologize to Doa Doa and return the thirty thousand yuan.”

Du Mei jumped to her feet.

“That thirty thousand was money you and your husband should have given him! Yao bought a motorcycle so he could find work. As his sister-in-law, you shouldn’t be so petty.”

I went to the dining table, picked up a glass, and poured in half a glass of water.

Du Mei thought I was bringing it to her, and her expression softened a little.

I set the glass in front of Chu Yao instead.

“Apologize.”

Chu Yao laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

“I’m supposed to apologize to some little brat? She deserves it?”

From the bedroom, Doa Doa drew a quiet, shaky breath.

My gaze turned cold.

“Say that again.”

Chu Yao stood and deliberately raised his voice.

“I said she doesn’t deserve it! She’s just a girl who drains people’s money. I hit her, so what? What can you do to me?”

The moment he finished speaking, I raised my hand.

Slap!

My palm landed squarely across his face.

Harder than the slap I’d given Du Mei the day before.

Chu Yao’s head snapped to the side. He stood there, stunned.

Du Mei screamed and lunged at me.

“You hit someone again!”

I stepped aside.

She missed and crashed into the dining chair.

I looked at Chu Yao.

“Is it fun?”

He clutched his face, eyes bloodshot.

“Ha An Thu!”

I picked up the glass and took a leisurely sip.

“Don’t you like playing with children?”

“From now on, whatever you do to Doa Doa, I’ll do right back to you.”

“You slap her once, I’ll slap you once.”

“You insult her, and I’ll make sure the whole building hears the filth coming out of your mouth.”

Chu Yao shook with rage.

“You dare!”

I walked over and flung the door wide open.