Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
Others screenshotted the scene of him crying and asked how much each tear was worth.
My brother completely panicked.
He turned and rushed over to Mom.
To make her speak, he crouched down and clutched her hand.
“Mom, explain it to everyone!”
“I only said that in the heat of the moment. You know how good I've always been to you!”
My sister-in-law pushed Mom's wheelchair closer to the camera.
She forced a smile, but her voice was trembling.
“Mom, tell everyone. Kang Wei has always been filial.”
Mom looked at my brother.
Her eyes stayed on his hand gripping hers for a long time.
I thought that by now she would finally see things clearly.
But she nodded anyway.
“Kang Wei… is filial.”
She struggled to lift her hand and pointed at me on the screen.
“She… forced me.”
My brother seized the last straw.
He started crying in front of the camera again, explaining that the words in the recording were only something he'd said in anger, and that I had driven him to it.
I didn't argue.
The very next second, the audio recording from the hospital room played.
Mom's weak voice filled the livestream.
“The assets… have to go to Kang Wei.”
“You take care of me…”
“Tell everyone Kang Wei paid. He can't get a reputation for being unfilial. You can put up with a little unfairness.”
Mom froze in front of the camera.
My brother's mouth opened, but he couldn't get a word out.
The platform quickly locked his account.
Based on my police report and the livestream evidence, the police began investigating.
The people who had helped my brother shoot the video hurriedly deleted their posts that night. Then they competed to give statements, saying my brother had contacted them first. They even submitted payment records and screenshots of their messages.
In the family chat, one after another, people recalled their messages.
My aunt sent me a voice message.
First, she said she'd been tricked by my brother, too. Then she advised me to drop the case.
“You're still siblings, after all.”
“Kang Wei has already lost so much face. If you keep pursuing this, aren't you forcing him to die?”
I didn't reply. I blocked her.
Our son's homeroom teacher called soon after.
The school had checked the security footage. It would discipline the students who had bullied him and make them apologize.
I bought him a new backpack and put it in front of him.
He touched the zipper, keeping his head down.
After a long while, his eyes turned red.
“Mom, everyone knows you didn't do anything wrong now, right?”
I pulled him into my arms.
“They know.”
He clutched my shirt, still uneasy.
“Then are you going to take Grandma in?”
Chen Zheng had been standing by the door.
When he heard the question, he paused, too.
They were both waiting for my answer.
In my previous life, I'd disappointed them too many times.
“No.”
I hugged my son tightly.
“Whoever took everything she had can deal with the consequences.”
But Mom refused to accept that.
The next day, she asked one of her caregivers to pass along a message. If I dropped the case against my brother, she would publicly admit that I was the daughter who had truly been willing to care for her.
After hearing the caregiver out, I hung up.
Even now, she thought her admission was a favor.
But I no longer needed it.
After Mom was sent to the nursing home, she began refusing food.
She wouldn't eat or cooperate with her rehabilitation.
The caregiver called me more than a dozen times a day, asking me to come talk her into it.
I continued to pay my share of the agreed expenses, but I didn't go.
On the third day, the nursing home's director contacted me personally.
Mom had accused me of taking two hundred thousand yuan from her pension and demanded that the police be called.
Chen Zheng had been drinking water.
When he heard the director, he put the glass down, gripping it so hard that water splashed everywhere.
His face darkened as he wiped the table.
By the time I ended the call, he'd suppressed his anger.
“I'll go with you.”
This time, I didn't refuse.
At the nursing home, Mom looked uncomfortable when she saw Chen Zheng.
But she quickly sat up straight and spoke first.
“You came at the right time.”
“Your wife won't even care for her own mother. How could you marry a woman like that?”
Chen Zheng stopped in front of her wheelchair.
His clenched hand slowly relaxed. When he spoke, he didn't raise his voice.
“She paid all the expenses she's responsible for.”
“The son who took the houses and money is the one who should look after you.”
Mom smacked the armrest of her wheelchair.
“I'm his mother!”
“I gave him life. Isn't it only right that he takes care of me?”
I placed the bank statements in front of her.
The eight hundred thousand yuan had been transferred to my brother's account.
The 1.2 million yuan from the sale of the old house had also gone into my brother's account.
The loan secured against the shop had funded my brother's business.
As for the two hundred thousand yuan she said I'd stolen, every expense was backed by receipts from the hospital, rehabilitation center, and nursing home.