Someone on the street was begging for a dollar to buy food. I told my mom it was a scam. But she said, "Who would sell their dignity for a single dollar?" Frustration flared inside me. "But years ago, for just a dollar, you made me kneel for a whole day and night!" "Was my dignity not dignity?!" She snapped her head up to glare at me. "You? You think you even deserve to talk about dignity?!" 1 "Besides, you deserved every bit of it!" "You scored a 95 on a math test instead of a 100, and you actually had the nerve to ask me for a dollar?!" "You? You think you even deserve to talk about dignity?!" Even though it had been over a decade. Even though she had played the role of a loving mother in front of me for years. The moment it was brought up, her teeth ground with pure hatred. That bitter, mean face she had hidden for so long was instantly exposed. She said, "You're lucky I didn't strip you naked and make you kneel outside the front door! What right do you have to talk to me about dignity?!" "If you truly understood dignity, you wouldn't have just gone to some mediocre college, found such a trash job, and brought home such a pathetic excuse for a salary every month! You've made it so I can't even hold my head up in front of our relatives!" Her voice grew louder and louder, as if she wished everyone on the street would stop and watch me be humiliated. Yet, just moments before this, we had looked like the perfect picture of a loving mother and a filial daughter, holding hands and chatting happily while shopping. I had even secretly bought the gold bracelet she had been talking about for ages. I planned to surprise her with it on her birthday in a few days, to make her happy. The sudden shift happened simply because— She saw someone on the street begging on their knees for a dollar to buy food, and eagerly rushed over to give them money. And all I did was quietly whisper to her that it was a scam, telling her not to fall for it. She instantly swatted my hand away, frowned, and asked me, "Do you think I'm an idiot?" "They're dressed cleanly! Who would sell their dignity for just a dollar?!" Hearing that, I don't know what came over me. It just reminded me of the time, years ago, when she made me kneel for a day and a night over a single dollar! I can't even remember why I needed that dollar, but I will never forget the humiliation for the rest of my life! She just sat on the sofa, humming a tune and holding a stick, staring at me. If I so much as moved a muscle, she would swing the stick at me. She made me kneel for a full 24 hours. No food, no water, and no bathroom breaks. And because I couldn't hold it, I peed all over the floor... She then ordered me to take off my clothes and use them to wipe the floor clean. Even now, over a decade later, thinking about it still fills me with sorrow and burning shame. But she just had to add one more sentence. "You think everyone is like you? Willing to throw away all their shame for a few bucks?" Hearing that, I froze, my face burning as if slapped. I instinctively fired back: "So you do remember making me kneel for a day and a night over a dollar, and even beating me again after I couldn't hold it and peed the floor." "Did you think my dignity wasn't dignity back then?" But who could have predicted that this one sentence would instantly enrage her. She blurted out, "You don't have any damn dignity!" 2 That single sentence snapped me right back to my childhood. Even the hairs on my arms stood up. Yet, while she was cursing me, she pulled out a ten-dollar bill. In an instant, she switched back to the persona of a compassionate, loving mother. She crouched down and pressed it into the person's hand. She said to that stranger the exact words I had desperately hoped to hear her say to me countless times when I was little. She said, "Here, child, take this! Go get yourself a good meal! I believe you're not a scammer!" But when she looked back up at me, her eyes were bloodshot with rage. I was supposedly her closest family, yet her malice toward me was greater than toward anyone else. She knew exactly what words would cut me the deepest. She stared at me, enunciating every word: "Unlike you, you ungrateful wretch! If I had known, I would have listened to your grandmother and drowned you in the toilet the day you were born!" "What use is there in raising you? You selfish brat! You never think of me when you get anything good! I wish I could travel back in time and strangle you!" I trembled, my eyes suddenly stinging, feeling an overwhelming sense of injustice. How do I never think of her? I worked so hard to save up a few thousand dollars, and just because she kept complaining about how other people had gold bracelets and she didn't, I bit the bullet and bought one for her! Even though I hadn't given it to her yet, she was in my heart. I had just prepared a surprise for her, and she says she wishes she had strangled me! When I grew up, I did think about escaping my toxic family. But ever since I graduated and started working, it was like she suddenly became a different person. She put away that aggressive, demeaning demeanor that had to criticize and humiliate me at every turn. She started showing concern for me, started remembering what kinds of food I liked. In the past, she never gave me red envelopes for the Lunar New Year. Now, she would send me red envelopes for the New Year and my birthday. She would even buy me some of the things I desperately wanted when I was little. Even though I didn't want those things anymore, she kept buying them and putting them in my room, one after another. Occasionally, when we talked about the past, she would cry bitterly, saying it was her first time being a mother, that she didn't do a good job, and asking me to be understanding and forgiving. She would also talk about how my dad just walked out, leaving her alone to raise me, facing so many hardships and so many judging eyes. After slapping me countless times, she finally gave me a piece of candy once I started working. And unconsciously, swayed by her fake repentance and tears, I found myself forced into playing the role of the loving mother and dutiful daughter. Simply because I had never experienced these things before. So much so that when she gave me just a tiny taste of sweetness, I thought she was giving me all her love. Until today, when she humiliated me over a single dollar once again. I suddenly snapped out of this self-deceiving lie— She hadn't changed at all. No matter how well she disguised it, she was still the person who didn't respect me, who didn't love me. No matter how sweet that candy was, it was laced with poison. The facade of a loving mother and filial daughter we had maintained for years felt like a complete joke in this moment. Seeing the crowd of onlookers growing larger, my first instinct was to leave. "I don't want to fight with you here. Let's talk about this when we get home!" Seeing me turn to leave, she grabbed me tight. "You've always been like this! Always trying to run away when things happen! Don't even think about leaving today until you make this clear!" "Tell me! What does it matter to you if I give someone a dollar out of kindness?" "Don't think I don't know! While I was in the bathroom earlier, you spent thousands buying yourself a gold bracelet!" "I've lived for decades and still haven't worn a gold bracelet. You're so young, what right do you have to secretly buy one for yourself?!" "Besides, did I say anything about you spending thousands? I spend a single dollar, and you give me this kind of attitude?!" In a flash, it all made sense! I finally understood. So this was the root of it all! 3 It turned out she didn't explode in anger because I warned her about a scam. It was because she saw me buy that gold bracelet. She saw me sneakily tuck it into my pocket and mistakenly assumed I was secretly buying it for myself. Suddenly, my desire to give her a birthday surprise felt utterly laughable. Because she was selfish, she naturally assumed I was just as selfish. Things she had never possessed, she would absolutely forbid me from possessing first. Even if I earned the money myself and bought it myself, she still felt I didn't deserve it. Because she saw me hide it, she deliberately started picking a fight. Deliberately bringing up the humiliation that dollar caused me years ago. Deliberately baiting me into bringing up the past, only to pin all the blame on me. To force me to lower my head, offer up the gold bracelet with both hands, and apologize to her. The realization sent a chill down my spine. I had to admit the truth— My mother didn't love me at all. In fact, she was full of jealousy and calculation toward me. But the more she wanted it, the more determined I was not to give it to her! I tugged at the corner of my mouth, done indulging her. "Who exactly is giving who attitude?" I said. "Haven't you always been the one throwing attitude for no reason?" "If you want..." Before I could finish, she suddenly raised her hand. The sound of a slap made me instinctively turn my head. But the slap didn't land on my face. Like a madwoman, she slapped herself twice, screaming with a tearful voice. "It's me! It's me, your old mother, giving you attitude, okay?!" "It's my fault! I was wrong! I shouldn't have spent a dollar to show some kindness, okay?!" "Chloe! I am your mother, and I'm apologizing to you, is that enough?!" Me: "..." I never in a million years expected her to pull this stunt. I stood there frozen, at a loss for what to do. Someone from the crowd stepped forward to persuade me: "Let it go, let it go. It's just a dollar. Why force your mother into this state?" "Besides, you shouldn't be so absolute. It's just a few bucks. What if the person isn't a scammer?" "Your mother is so kind-hearted. Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning for forcing her to slap herself?" "And another thing, do you know how hard it was for your mother to raise you? Forget the dollar, I think you should give that gold bracelet you bought to your mother!" Listening to these moral kidnappings, a hint of smugness flashed across my mother's face. Everyone thought this was about a single dollar. Only I knew it wasn't about the dollar at all. But I couldn't defend myself. For the first time, I deeply understood the weight of the saying: "Don't urge others to be forgiving when you haven't suffered their pain." I felt humiliated and furious. But my mother gripped me tightly. Those narrow eyes were filled with calculation. She raised an eyebrow and glared at me. "Chloe, don't you think you're being selfish?" "I raised you, and you treat me like a fool, right? You buy a bracelet behind my back, yet I have to endure your attitude over spending a single dollar! By what right?" "If you don't give me an explanation today, I will spill all your dirty secrets right in front of all these people!" Hearing that threat, a cold shiver ran through my body. 4 I quickly ran through all my "so-called" dirty secrets in my mind. When I got my period for the first time and stained my pants, she made me stand downstairs with bare legs, shivering in the cold, drawing points and stares from a crowd. When I first started developing, because my chest was slightly noticeable, people at school called me a slut and a tramp. When she found out, not only did she refuse to buy me a training bra, she called me a troublemaker. I secretly cut up old clothes to make two small tank tops to wear. When she found out, she cursed me out, saying I was trying every trick in the book to seduce men at such a young age. ... Things like this were too numerous to count. Even worse, at every family gathering, she would tell these "dirty secrets" as jokes to others. The more embarrassed and humiliated I felt, the more excited she became. When I hid away to cry, she would stand nearby, unconsciously humming a tune and laughing. After laughing, she would say, "Heh, you're the one acting cheap, but you won't let people talk about it?" She was bringing up the past today. When it came down to it, she just wanted the bracelet in my hand! And not only that, she wanted me to put it on her with immense gratitude, making a huge spectacle of thanking her for raising me. Otherwise, this wasn't going to blow over! As my thoughts returned to the present, the crowd of onlookers had grown even larger. Only the scammer who had begged for a dollar quietly folded up his cardboard sign and slipped away. But no one cared if he was a scammer anymore. The onlookers didn't care who was right or wrong. They just wanted a show, or to record a video and post it online, hoping it would go viral. And my mother only wanted the bracelet in my hand. She wanted it, but refused to just ask for it directly. She had to orchestrate this entire scene to force me to offer it up willingly. Seeing my long silence, a hint of threat and smugness touched the corners of her eyes. "Chloe, I am your mother! Do you think I can't handle you?" "If you don't show some proper attitude and apologize to me today, this isn't over!" Right. In her eyes, I was just a marionette she could mold and manipulate however she pleased. She counted on my soft personality and fear of losing face. She was also certain I wouldn't dare make a scene with her in front of so many people. Indeed, based on my past behavior. I would compromise. I would go along with her wishes to make the situation pass quickly. I would continue to maintain the illusion of a loving mother-daughter relationship in the eyes of others. But she overlooked something. I don't know exactly when, but her back had slowly begun to stoop. While my spine grew straighter and straighter. All that "face" I used to care about was only because I still considered her my mother. Once I stopped caring... If you can give someone a dollar to show your kindness. I can give someone a gold bracelet to show my kindness. Who isn't a good Samaritan?
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "392032", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel