Chapter 8
I’d known since childhood that Dad always wanted a son.]]
Due to the one child policy, they only had me as their only daughter.]]
The two of them would often have explosive fights.
When things got really heated, Mom would call Dad a freeloader, useless, a coward.]
Dad would get so angry the veins in his forehead would bulge as he called Mom a waste of space who couldn’t produce a son.[]
That’s when Mom would give that cold laugh and say the words that made Dad see red.
The house is part of my dowry–if you’re so capable, move out.”
“Let’s get divorced. You’ll leave with nothing.”
Dad would storm out in a rage and not come home all night.]]
Young me could only hide in my room, silently praying for them to stop fighting.
Now that Mom was gone, Dad had completely let himself go.
His entire heart was with that mother and son on the side.[]
- his own daughter, had practically become his enemy.
He glared at me with red eyes, looking like he wanted to tear me apart.]
“How much money did your mom give you?“]]
“Transfer it back–that’s marital property.“]]
His whole life, he’d schemed and calculated, but never could figure anything out.[]
What bullslut marital property.]
Mom was dead–did he really think those lies she told him still counted?}
After quickly handling Mom’s funeral arrangements, I put the house up with a real estate agent and went straight back to school.
Mom was gone—I didn’t care what chaos he stirred up.
I found that bank card again, and looked back at those group messages.]
On the day my SATs ended, Mom had unusually posted “Three House Rules” in the chat.
Cupin!
I went through all the chat records repeatedly, reconstructing Mom’s actions that day.]
If I had rushed home regardless of everything that day, what would have been waiting for me?||
From what the neighbors told me, on the morning of my last SAT exam, right after I left for the test center, people came to our house.
A group of relatives from Dad’s hometown crowded in the hallway, loudly plotting to drag me back to their village-
The moment I walked through the front door, they would have gagged me and shoved me into a car waiting downstairs.]
Once back in that little mountain village, I would have been married off to some mentally disabled man and locked in a pig pen to bear children.]]
That day. Mom had walked me to the test center. On her way back, she received a phone call from one of Dad’s hometown aunts.
This aunt owed Mom a favor and tipped her off about the plan.[]
I was still taking my exam–she couldn’t reach me and didn’t dare send me messages.
She was even more afraid I wouldn’t listen and would insist on running home.]
In those brief 20 minutes of travel time, she first went to the bank to transfer money to me, then started posting those seemingly absurd “Three House Rules” in the group chat, timing her harsh words perfectly!]
She knew I was prideful and hated being looked down upon more than anything.
She understood me as well as she understood herself.
Sure enough, the moment I finished my exam and picked up my phone, I saw those malicious “Three House Rules.“[]
After Mom returned home, Grandpa and Grandma quickly restricted her movements.[]
She was locked in the master bedroom, and her phone was confiscated.[]
Fortunately, while going upstairs, she had already coordinated with the elderly couple downstairs who collected recyclables.]
Soon after, the old man came with his cart to collect scrap.
Mom quickly gathered a pile of unwanted clothes and miscellaneous items, mixing my suitcase in among them, and handed everything to the old man.
After going downstairs, he called a delivery runner to pick up the items and got my suitcase to me.
Everything was completed within one hour.[]
During this entire period, no one suspected Mom’s performance.
She had fooled everyone, including me.]
