Chapter 2

When the ambulance reached the building, my mother-in-law said she was feeling much better and absolutely refused to get in.

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

As soon as he came through the door, he slammed the bedroom door shut.

“Are you satisfied now?”

I was checking the children’s homework.

“What should I be satisfied about?”

“Mom sat downstairs for two hours. All the neighbors saw her.”

“She was the one who refused to get in the ambulance.”

“She was only trying not to cause me more trouble.”

Zhao Ming tossed his coat over the back of a chair.

“Go apologize to Mom tomorrow, then bring her home.”

I closed the children’s exercise books.

“I won’t.”

“Can’t you think about this family for once?”

“I’ve been thinking about this family for twelve years.”

At my words, Zhao Ming’s expression changed.

The year I gave birth to a boy and a girl, I suffered a difficult labor and had to be hospitalized.

The twins were born one after another. I struggled in the delivery room for more than ten hours and eventually needed many stitches. I could not even sit up.

Back then, I called my mother-in-law seven times.

When she finally answered, she said only:

“Zhao Xue needs me too. Figure something out for now.”

Zhao Xue’s daughter was three months older than my twins.

To care for her granddaughter, my mother-in-law did not even show up on the day I was discharged from the hospital.

During that period, my mother had to take leave from work to look after me, and my father brought meals to the hospital every day.

Zhao Ming went to work during the day and prepared formula for the babies in the evening.

He was so busy that dark circles formed under his eyes, yet my mother-in-law still called to urge him to bring chicken soup to Zhao Xue.

“Your sister’s child has a fever. Go see what’s going on.”

At the time, I said nothing.

I had once seen Zhao Ming hold one of the babies as he slept on the living-room floor, so exhausted he hadn’t even taken off his shoes.

Later, whenever the twins cried at night, I carried them back and forth through the living room alone.

The incision hurt so much I could barely bear it. I could only brace myself against the wall and move slowly.

Zhao Ming slept in the bedroom.

My mother-in-law sometimes called to ask whether her grandchildren had fevers, but she never asked whether I could get out of bed yet.

Zhao Ming remembered all of that.

He had simply chosen to pretend he didn’t.

“It’s been so many years. Why bring it up now?”

“Because now you’re asking me to care for someone who never cared for me.”

“She’s my mother.”

“Then you take care of her.”

“I’m a man. I have to work during the day.”

“Then hire a caregiver.”

Zhao Ming reacted as if I had told a joke.

“Do you think hiring a caregiver costs nothing?”

“Then ask Zhao Xue to return the money you gave her for a car.”

Zhao Ming’s face immediately darkened.

Two years ago, Zhao Xue said her husband’s family wanted to buy a commercial vehicle but was short 80,000 yuan.

My mother-in-law called Zhao Ming and berated him, saying his sister was asking her brother for help just once in her life.

Zhao Ming took 80,000 yuan from our savings.

That money had been set aside for the children’s extracurricular classes and their future education.

After I found out, he said Zhao Xue would pay it back little by little.

To this day, we haven’t received a single yuan.

“Why are you keeping score with Xiaoxue? Her family has difficulties too.”

“She lives in a villa over three hundred square meters and drives a car worth more than 300,000 yuan. What difficulties does she have?”

“Watch what you say.”

Zhao Ming pointed at me.

“Mom moving in is a family matter. You have no right to drive her out.”

“My name is on the deed.”

“We’ve been living together for more than ten years. A court might not rule that the whole house belongs to you.”

He said it quickly, as if he had prepared the line in advance.

I looked at him.

“Have you been looking into this?”

Zhao Ming avoided my eyes.

“I just said it offhand.”

“Then I hope that’s all it was.”

The children sat beside us, not even turning a page.

I took two folders from the drawer.

One held the purchase contract, signed two years before we registered our marriage.

The other held proof that my father had transferred money to the real-estate company.

“Everything is still here.”

Zhao Ming stared at the documents and reached out to take them.

I pulled them back before he could.

“Don’t touch them.”

“You’re even on guard against me?”

“From today on, I’m keeping all the documents in this house.”

Zhao Ming scoffed.

“Song Wanqing, you’re acting more and more like an outsider.”

When those words came from his mouth, I didn’t even feel like arguing.

Twelve years ago, my mother-in-law had told me that after marrying into the Zhao family, I had to follow the Zhao family’s rules.

Twelve years later, Zhao Ming used the same words to remind me.

He had already come to think of himself as the owner of this home.

A notification sounded from the phone on the table.

Zhao Xue had sent a picture.

In it, my mother-in-law lay on the bed in Zhao Xue’s living room. A suitcase sat beside her.

Zhao Xue added a message:

“Sister-in-law, Mom nearly had an accident last night, and you still slept soundly?”

I replied:

“If you’re so worried about Mom, bring her home and take care of her yourself.”