Chapter 7
Edward Quan ·
Mom looked through the documents, her movements growing slower.
The evidence was right in front of her.
She stayed silent for a long time. When she finally spoke, it still wasn't an apology.
“Kang Wei is still young.”
“He owes so much money now. The nursing-home fees would only crush him further.”
She pushed the bank statements back, her tone once again full of self-righteousness.
“You and your husband have a house and jobs. Would helping him a little really kill you?”
By then, I didn't even feel angry anymore.
“Go ahead and sue me.”
Mom froze.
I set my lawyer's business card in front of her.
“If you sue me for stealing your pension, I'll sue you for defamation.”
“And I'll keep asking Kang Wei to honor the agreement.”
She hadn't expected me to be serious.
After a few seconds without a word, she suddenly pulled a stack of documents from beneath her pillow.
“I already sued you!”
In the complaint, she demanded that I pay her twenty thousand yuan a month and take her home to care for her personally. She also claimed I'd taken the eight hundred thousand yuan in savings left after Dad died.
A week later, the neighborhood committee held a mediation session.
My brother came, too.
The livestream scandal had cost him his chance at a promotion, and his company had suspended him pending an investigation.
After he came in, he struggled to keep his anger in check.
While the mediator stepped away to organize the paperwork, he turned to me.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“I might lose my job, and it's all your fault!”
I placed the payment record showing the money he'd given the content creator on the table.
“You paid him.”
“You abandoned Mom.”
“If you hadn't refused to take her in, why would I have had to do this?”
His voice grew louder and louder.
The mediator returned and cut him off.
“This is not a place to argue.”
The mediator turned to Mom and asked her to confirm where the eight hundred thousand yuan in savings had gone.
Mom glanced at my brother.
He was staring right back at her.
After hesitating, she finally nodded.
“My daughter took it.”
I submitted the bank statement stamped by the bank.
The eight hundred thousand yuan had been transferred directly from Mom's account to my brother's. The date, account number, and purpose were all clear.
No one in the room spoke.
Mom stared at the document, the corner of her mouth twitching.
She knew her lie had been exposed, but she never looked at me.
A moment later, she suddenly clutched her chest and slumped to one side in her wheelchair.
My brother hurried to support her.
He seized the opportunity to shout at the mediator.
“My mom's gotten sick because of my sister! Doesn't that prove she's unfilial?”
The mediator didn't entertain him. They only noted in the record that Mom's testimony had been false.
On the way out, my brother blocked me.
This time, he didn't get angry.
Instead, he leaned close and lowered his voice.
“There's another video Mom has.”
When I looked at him, he finally smiled.
“If you keep this up, I'll make sure your whole family can't live in this city.”
Three days later, that video was sent to Chen Zheng's company group, our son's parent chat, and several local social media accounts.
In the video, Mom lay in a hospital bed, accusing me of defying her since I was a child and of coveting my birth family's assets even after I married.
At the end of the recording, she cried to the camera.
“If anything happens to me in the future, it'll be because my daughter did it.”
“My son is very filial. My daughter is just jealous of her brother and wants to destroy him.”
My hand stopped on the screen as soon as I saw the video.
It was the same recording that had ruined me in my previous life.
So she'd prepared it right after her first stroke.
It hadn't been a moment of confusion near the end of her life.
From the beginning, she'd planned for me to do the work while my brother got the credit.
My brother sent two messages right afterward.
“Drop the lawsuit and take Mom home.”
“Otherwise, this is only the beginning.”
Soon, the school received a petition signed by several parents, demanding that our son be temporarily removed from class.
Chen Zheng also received a suspension notice from his company pending an internal investigation.
They weren't trying to resolve the question of caring for Mom at all.
They were using my husband and son as hostages, forcing me once again to kneel by Mom's hospital bed.
The next day, I took our son to school as usual.
A few parents blocked the gate.
They held up their phones and kept asking whether I'd deliberately dumped my paralyzed mother in a nursing home to fight over the inheritance.
Our son gripped the strap of his backpack, his face pale.
I shielded him behind me and took out the printed property division, bank statements, and care agreement.
“Most of the assets Dad left behind went to my brother.”
“I still pay the living and medical expenses required of me by law, and I've never taken a cent from Mom.”
“You can question me if you want. But if anyone harasses my son again, I'll call the police and pursue it.”
The people who had been interrogating me fell quiet one by one.