My husband left work early to pick up our daughter, while I prepared a birthday surprise for her at home. Just as I started steaming the Boston lobsters and king crabs, my husband messaged me: "Hurry, turn off the heat, don't steam them yet." I understood immediately; our daughter's classmate had followed along again. It's not that I'm stingy and don't want to share. Our daughter's classmate lives right across from us. In the past few months, she and her brother have been freeloading at our house. Yet, her mother is so stingy she won't even give my daughter a popsicle. I immediately ran to the kitchen to turn off the heat. Good stuff, our family will eat it tonight. 1 For my daughter's twelfth birthday, we planned to celebrate simply at home. It just so happened that my husband's performance exceeded the target recently, and his boss sent him two boxes of seafood. The most expensive ones inside were Boston lobsters and king crabs, totaling over a thousand dollars. My husband and I have lived for almost half a lifetime and never eaten these. My daughter had craved them after watching mukbangs before. Seeing that our family of three was about to feast today. "She insisted on taking my car. I couldn't help it. She's already in the car, can I kick her out?" My husband messaged me while waiting at a red light. He drove the four-wheeler to pick up our daughter today, intending to shop at the mall with her, but ended up being entangled by Sharon's daughter. "It's okay, just don't let her in later." I've known the neighbor across the hall, Sharon, for a year because our children are in the same class. Her daughter, Penny, often visits our house, mostly around meal times, always asking cheekily what we are eating. Then she asks eagerly, "Auntie, can I eat some?" In front of my daughter, I couldn't refuse. After repeating this several times, I told Penny not to knock on the door at meal times, but she never listened and kept ringing the doorbell. When doing homework, my daughter would bring out her snacks to share with her, and Penny always wanted to take an extra portion back for her brother. I told my daughter not to share everything with friends. A box of 24 bottles of milk usually lasts my daughter a month, but now she shares it with Penny, and at the fastest, it's consumed in a week. Milk, cookies, cakes, although these things aren't expensive, the consumption rate is fast, and it adds up to an expense over time! My daughter was unhappy, "Mom, she is my best friend in class, and she shares things with me too." I softened my heart, thinking that since my daughter values friendship so much, I shouldn't interfere too much. Penny is considered a polite child, except for being a bit thick-skinned. Until a month ago, I heard Sharon talking to her daughter in the hallway. "The neighbor bought pig trotters today. Go over tonight and have a good meal." "Bring some snacks back for your brother too." "Come back after doing homework until 9:30, save some electricity at home." I didn't expose her immediately; after all, we are neighbors and need to save face. After this day, for half a month continuously, there was no meat dish for dinner at my home. Penny would come to my house, glance around, and leave if there were no dishes she liked. And the snacks in my daughter's room were temporarily confiscated by me. Gradually, the number of times Penny did homework at my house decreased. As a result, she was no longer enthusiastic towards my daughter, and even pretended not to see her when meeting in the hallway. "See, she befriended you with a purpose." "She won't come if there's no food." But my daughter would still greet Penny cheekily and invite her to our home. "Your house has no food, I won't go." Penny refused bluntly. My daughter took her own pocket money behind my back to buy her food. A week ago, my daughter ran home with red eyes and told me she wanted a popsicle, "Mom, you were right." I took my daughter downstairs to buy one. Sharon from across the hall seemed to be waiting for me. She held an apple in her hand, looking apologetic. "I'm really sorry. I always buy an even number of popsicles for my family. My daughter and son each get one every time." "If I share one with your daughter, it will become an odd number. In the end, the two kids will fight." "You only have one child, you don't know the troubles of raising two kids!" She squatted down and stuffed the apple into my daughter's hand, "Understand Auntie, okay?" Then she stood up and smiled at me, "When will your family make big pig trotters again? Penny craves them so much, and my cooking skills are not good." I replied coldly, "If you can't cook, you can go out and buy." I threw the apple in my daughter's hand back to her. I thought after this, Sharon and I had fallen out. I just didn't expect her skin to be thick enough to pretend nothing happened. Look, she is standing at my door now, holding her son Peter in one arm and holding Penny with the other. "Your child's birthday is today. I won't cook dinner tonight. They will eat at your place." 2 She reached out to open my door. I pushed secretly behind the door to stop it from opening and said to her patiently, "Sorry, we don't plan to celebrate Ashley's birthday this year." "We only prepared a small cake. You'd better take the children away." Sharon was slightly surprised, "Not celebrating? Then why did I see someone delivering two boxes of stuff to your house at noon?" "Heard it was seafood. Just right, Penny and Peter haven't eaten seafood for a long time. Isn't this convenient?" She smiled and took out a red envelope from her bag and handed it to my daughter, "This is a little token from Auntie. Happy birthday to you." I hurried to stop her, and Sharon kept pushing and shoving with me. It happened to be the time for getting off work and school. There were many people coming and going in the hallway, which inevitably attracted attention. Sharon loudly proclaimed that she was giving my daughter a red envelope, and neighbors praised her for her thoughtfulness. My husband waved his hand and stuffed the red envelope back into her bag, "Thank you for your kindness, but today we just want to celebrate as a family." Penny and Peter took the opportunity to slip in through the crack of the door. They slipped into the kitchen, only hearing a clatter, the pot lid fell to the ground, and cheers came from inside: "Mom, their family really has king crabs and big lobsters." I really didn't expect two children to be so impolite. My husband went in and pulled the two children out. The two children were stubborn, grinning and pulling at my sofa, refusing to come out. Peter suddenly screamed. Sharon screamed: "Why did you hit my son?" My husband was severely reprimanded and lowered his head to explain that he didn't hit anyone. Sharon rushed in and brought the children out, turning her head to lose her temper at me: "Isn't it just a popsicle? Is it necessary for you to fuss about it until now?" "No one in the class plays with your daughter. Only my daughter is kind enough to play with her. What's wrong with me letting her come to the birthday party? It's not like eating and drinking for free." "Isn't it just king crab? If you don't want to let us eat, just say so. No need to find disgusting excuses." These words made it seem like my fault. A neighbor poked her head out: "Oh, Ashley's mom, this is wrong of you. Your two families' children play so well, yet you don't invite them for a birthday?" "How big can a child's appetite be? King crabs and lobsters aren't that expensive. What's wrong with eating a little?" "Besides, even if you don't let them in, you can't hit the child, especially in front of the parent." I was about to explain when Sharon pulled Penny and Peter and slammed her own door shut with a "bang". My husband and I looked at each other. We explained to the neighbors for a while before eliminating the misunderstanding. After that, I turned on the heat to steam the seafood, preparing to start eating. But the class group chat suddenly became lively. 3 The top message was a complaint from Sharon: 【Just can't understand, how can there be such a neighbor?】 【For a birthday, I gave a red envelope. They made excuses saying they weren't celebrating and even kicked my children out.】 【I wondered what the reason was. Turns out the family wants to eat king crab and lobster secretly.】 【How well my daughter plays with her daughter! To be treated like this?】 Parents below @Penny's mom: "Did you send it to the wrong place?" The chat was quiet for three minutes. Penny's mom: "Oh my, sorry to disturb parents and teachers. I did send it wrongly. Can't withdraw now, everyone please ignore." After all, there are people in the group who want to gossip. Someone @Penny's mom: "The person you mentioned isn't Ashley's mom, right? You happen to be neighbors." Sharon didn't reply, but everyone started discussing. 【I asked my son. Today is indeed Ashley's birthday. She promised my son she would invite him for her birthday, but suddenly reneged. My son is so sad.】 【By the way, shouldn't a child's birthday be livelier with more people?】 【Every year for my daughter's birthday, I wish I could invite the whole class. How much money can it cost?】 【Oh my, I saw Ashley's dad's post on Moments. There really are king crabs, but they aren't big.】 【Ashley's mom didn't do this well. How to say, petty.】 ... I didn't know many parents in the group, and they weren't familiar with me either, but now they kept discussing me. I @Penny's mom: "What black and white are you reversing? We clearly didn't invite you. You came thick-skinned to give a red envelope yourself." "What our family eats is none of your business." "You tell your daughter to come to my house every day to freeload food and drink, and bring snacks back by the way. What did I say about you?" Penny's mom @me: "Saying my daughter freeloads food and drink is too much, right? What did she eat from your house?" "If you put it that way, so does your daughter." "Last time at my son's birthday, she ate a bag of chips, two packs of Konjac snacks, three packs of spicy strips, and a big chicken leg at my house." "Bought her a bottle of lemonade and an ice cream cone while shopping, and also bought her a piece of clothing." "You are so stingy. I will never let my daughter go to your house again. The two children break off relations." A parent sent a laughing-crying emoji: "My god Penny's mom, you remember too clearly." I also laughed on this side of the screen. A bag of chips, two packs of Konjac snacks, three packs of spicy strips, a big chicken leg, these were the only snacks at her son's birthday that day. The things were eaten by three children together. Lemonade and ice cream cone were shared by my daughter and her daughter. The clothing bought was cheap street stall goods buy one get one free. I explained all these. Sharon said in the group that I was spitting blood (slandering). Seeing her anxious, I sent a 5-minute and 37-second recording to the group. 4 The recording started from the moment the door opened and Sharon said the first sentence. Listening to the voice, you can know how unreasonable she was. I also took screenshots of orders for things bought for her daughter in the past half year from shopping apps. Amounts ranged from 10-dollar pens to two or three hundred dollar dresses and shoes. @Penny's mom: 【If I remember correctly, the dress your daughter is wearing today was bought by me. Eighth screenshot.】 "Everyone please judge for yourselves." There was no movement in the group for the time being. Sharon messaged me frantically privately to withdraw the message, bombarding me with voice calls. I blocked her immediately and got temporary peace. After a few minutes, several parents added me as friends. I thought they wanted to say something, but they just asked me for shopping links. One parent said I was too honest, "Why are you so good to her daughter? No matter how well my child plays with partners, I can't do this much." A few more minutes later, the homeroom teacher disbanded the group and created a new one, "Parents, please don't occupy public resources for private issues in the future." This farce ended. After falling out with Sharon, I was a little worried about my daughter being discussed in class. Fortunately not. She said someone took the initiative to make friends with her. Penny was originally sitting in front of her. Now the seats have been adjusted, and the two basically don't say a word now. Although Sharon and I are neighbors across the hall, without the children's contact, we basically don't meet. Sometimes seeing from a distance, she turns her head high before me. Neighbors wondered about our relationship. Later they also learned the whole story from others and came to a conclusion: "So this woman is so thick-skinned!" After a while, I found that the express cardboard boxes placed at the door of my house always disappeared inexplicably. I knew there was an auntie on the second floor who collected waste cardboard boxes, but she usually collected them in the trash bin and wouldn't come to the floor. At first I didn't pay attention. Waking up early this morning, I found rustling noises at the door. Looking through the peephole, it was Sharon. She took all my cardboard boxes.
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