Chapter 1

In the family group chat, my mother-in-law announced, “I’ve spent twelve years raising my daughter’s child. My work here is done. From now on, I’ll be living with my eldest son!”

My husband, Zhao Ming, immediately sent a sticker in reply, then told me to hurry out and buy an expensive mattress.

I could only laugh.

When I gave birth to our twins, a boy and a girl, I was in agony. I begged her to stay and help.

She gave me a disdainful look and went to take care of her daughter’s baby instead. For twelve years, I barely heard from her.

Had she forgotten how I survived those days?

I opened the group chat, took a photo of the inside of my bright red property certificate, and posted it, tagging Zhao Ming.

“If you want to look after your mother, buy her a home yourself. This apartment was mine before we married.”

“She is not moving in. Say one more word, and you can both get out.”

1.

I was in the kitchen making noodles for the children when my mother-in-law sent that message.

There were twenty-seven people in the family group. In three sentences, accompanied by nine festive red emojis, she made her decision to retire to my home sound like some extraordinary blessing bestowed on us.

My sister-in-law, Zhao Xue, was the first to reply.

“You’ve worked so hard, Mom. At last you can enjoy yourself. I’m sure my brother and his wife will take good care of you.”

She followed it with a photo of herself and my mother-in-law.

In the picture, my mother-in-law wore a new wool sweater and had her arm linked through Zhao Xue’s, grinning from ear to ear.

Zhao Ming promptly sent a folded-hands emoji.

“Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll have everything ready for you.”

Then he tagged me.

“Wanqing, go to the mall tomorrow and look at mattresses. Mom has a bad back. Get her an expensive one.”

I turned off the gas and carried two bowls of noodles to the table.

My daughter, Zhao Nian, looked up. “Mom, is Grandma coming to live with us?”

“That’s what they’re saying in the group.”

My son, Zhao Heng, held his chopsticks and asked quietly, “How long will she stay?”

I glanced at him.

The twins were twelve. They had lived with me all their lives, and their memories of their paternal grandmother amounted to a few red envelopes at New Year and occasional instructions to behave and do as they were told.

Her last visit to our home had been three years earlier, when Zhao Xue held a housewarming party.

That day, my mother-in-law had stayed with us for exactly twenty minutes. Then Zhao Xue called to say she wanted her mother’s homemade dumplings, and off she went.

After putting the children to bed, I picked up my phone and sent a single reply.

“I don’t agree.”

The group went silent for a few seconds.

Zhao Ming immediately messaged me privately.

“Couldn’t you at least spare me the embarrassment in front of everyone?”

“I’m the one being put in an impossible position.”

“Mom had a hard time raising me. What’s wrong with her spending her old age in her son’s home?”

“She raised you. What does that have to do with living in my apartment?”

His tone hardened.

“What do you mean, your apartment? We’ve been married for over ten years. Everything in this home belongs to both of us.”

I opened the cabinet and took the property certificate from the bottom.

Mine was the only name on it.

Two years before I married, my father had sold our old house back home and added the money he had saved over many years to buy this apartment for me.

The Zhao family had paid just eighty-eight thousand yuan in betrothal money. My parents had covered the wedding, and Dad and I had paid for the renovations.

After Zhao Ming moved in, his only monthly responsibilities were the utilities and household expenses.

The mortgage had long since been paid off. Ownership had never changed.

I photographed the inside of the certificate and posted it in the group.

“If you want to look after your mother, buy her a home yourself. This apartment was mine before we married.”

Someone immediately sent a question mark.

My mother-in-law followed with a voice message, her voice shrill and piercing.

“Song Wanqing, what is that supposed to mean? Do I need your permission to live in my own son’s home?”

I converted her message to text and replied directly.

“The apartment is registered in my name. If you want somewhere to live, ask Zhao Ming to buy you a place.”

Zhao Ming called.

I didn’t answer.

He called five times in a row, then finally posted in the group.

“Wanqing, don’t be so heartless.”

I looked at the message, picked up my phone, and replied.

“Get your name on the property certificate first. Then lecture me about taking care of your mother.”

Someone in the group sent a clapping emoji.

My mother-in-law immediately removed them.

Then she posted a message.

“I worked so hard to raise my son, and he marries a stranger who won’t even give me a place to live.”

The children’s chopsticks stopped halfway to their mouths.

Zhao Nian looked up. “Mom, is Grandma calling you a stranger?”

I put down my phone.

“Eat your dinner.”

That evening, Zhao Ming stood outside our door for more than twenty minutes.

Through the peephole, I saw him holding an insulated food carrier and messaging his mother.

“Mom, stay at Zhao Xue’s for now. I’ll talk her around.”

Her reply came quickly.

“I raised you, and now I have to bow to your wife’s wishes. Think carefully about that.”

He put his phone away and knocked.

“Wanqing, open up. We need to talk.”

I said nothing.

Half an hour later, he sent me a message.

“I’m bringing Mom over tomorrow. You’ll take her in whether you like it or not.”

2.

The next morning, I had barely dropped the children at the school gate when Zhao Ming called.

“Mom has left Zhao Xue’s. Make sure you’re home at noon to let her in.”

“Which room is she taking?”

“The main bedroom, obviously. It gets good light, and it’s close to the bathroom.”

“That’s where the children and I sleep.”

“Then move to another room. Mom has a bad back.”

I stopped by the roadside, watching students pass through the school gate.

“I already said no.”

“You can’t turn her out onto the street.” Anger crept into his voice.

“She has a pension, a home, and a daughter.”

“She gave her apartment to Zhao Xue years ago.”

I knew that.

Five years earlier, Zhao Xue had married a man in the building materials business. His family looked down on her, so she had come home in tears demanding money.

My mother-in-law had transferred her two-bedroom apartment to Zhao Xue. She had even made Zhao Ming sign a document waiving his inheritance rights.

He came home and told me his sister had made an unhappy marriage. The family should help where they could.

I hadn’t argued.

His parents had always lived in that apartment. Only after his father died did his mother move in with Zhao Xue to help with the baby.

Later, Zhao Xue bought a villa, and my mother-in-law went with her to look after her granddaughter. She stayed twelve years.

Now Zhao Xue’s daughter was going to university, and Zhao Xue was sending her mother back with a single explanation.

“Mom’s getting older. It’s better for her to live with her son.”

When I got home, my mother-in-law was already sitting in the living room.

Three large suitcases stood beside her. Her clothes were piled on the sofa, and the coffee table was covered with supplements Zhao Ming had just bought.

He stood beside her as if waiting for me to praise him.

My mother-in-law saw me and surveyed the apartment.

“Those curtains are too dark. They’ll make an elderly person depressed.”

“Mingming has cleared out the main bedroom for me. The bed in there is mine.”

I changed my shoes and put down the children’s schoolbags.

“Who let you in?”

Her expression changed at once.

“Do I have to report to you before visiting my own son’s home?”

“This is my home.”

“You married Mingming. That makes it your home together. Why keep dividing everything into yours and mine?”

“The property certificate makes it quite clear.”

She slammed her hand on the table.

“What sort of family talks about property certificates all day?”

Zhao Ming pulled me aside.

“Let Mom stay today. Don’t say these things in front of her.”

“I want her to leave.”

“Wanqing!”

He raised his voice.

The children peered out of their room.

My mother-in-law immediately clutched her chest.

“I’ve lived all these years, and this is the first time a daughter-in-law has thrown me out.”

Zhao Ming hurried back to support her.

“Mom, don’t get upset.”

As she lowered her head, I caught the perfectly lucid look in her eyes.

She knew that all she had to do was act wounded, and Zhao Ming would take her side.

I went into the main bedroom, carried out her clothes one item at a time, and put them back into the suitcases.

Zhao Ming reached out to stop me.

“What are you doing?”

“Asking her to leave.”

His mother grabbed his sleeve.

“Mingming, do you see? She won’t have me here at all.”

He stepped in front of her.

“Song Wanqing, throw Mom out today, and tomorrow we’ll buy her a place.”

I looked up at him.

“With what money?”

He faltered.

“I’ll find a way.”

“I have your salary card. You know how much is left each month.”

“I can borrow.”

“Who’s going to lend you money to buy your mother an apartment?”

He had no answer.

My mother-in-law jumped in.

“His father died young. Mingming works all alone to support this family, and he’s never counted on your family to help him. Now you’re using this apartment to bully him. Does that make you happy?”

I placed the property certificate on the table.

“Your family paid eighty-eight thousand yuan back then. My father paid for the renovations. After we married, not one yuan of the mortgage payments came from Zhao Ming. I still have the records.”

She picked up the certificate, glanced at it, then flung it onto the table.

“Does owning a home mean a woman can do whatever she likes?”

A child’s voice came from the doorway.

Zhao Heng stood there, his face drawn.

“Grandma, why do you want to take my room?”

She turned.

“This is your father’s home.”

“Dad said it belongs to Mom.”

“Go back to your room,” Zhao Ming snapped. “Children don’t interrupt adults.”

Zhao Heng didn’t move.

Zhao Nian came to stand beside him and looked up at her father.

“Dad, are you moving our beds out?”

“The two of you can squeeze into one room,” my mother-in-law said coldly. “Clear the other one for me.”

I took out my phone and opened the recorder.

“I’ve recorded what you just said.”

Her face darkened.

Zhao Ming whipped his head toward me.

“You’re recording us?”

“Since your mother came through the door.”

He stared as if seeing me for the first time.

I threw open the main bedroom door and pointed toward the entrance.

“Be out of here by five this afternoon.”

My mother-in-law dropped onto the sofa, clutching her chest.

Zhao Ming called an ambulance.

A few minutes later, he blocked me at the door.

“If anything happens to Mom, you’ll answer for it.”

I watched him help her out.

As she passed me, she lowered her voice.

“You think owning an apartment means you’ve won? My son is a Zhao. So are my grandchildren.”

3.

My mother-in-law never went to the hospital.

When the ambulance arrived downstairs, she said she was feeling much better and refused to get in.

Zhao Ming took her back to Zhao Xue’s. He didn’t come home until ten that night.

The moment he came in, he slammed the bedroom door.

“Happy now?”

I was checking the children’s homework.

“Happy about what?”