Chapter 1 Today is my mother-in-law's seventieth birthday. But instead of seeing the birthday girl sitting at the head of the table receiving congratulations, I saw her hunched over in the sweltering, 100-degree kitchen, spinning like a top to cook for a family of over twenty people. Sweat poured down her deeply wrinkled face, and she nearly fainted several times. Meanwhile, my father-in-law, Arthur, sat in the air-conditioned living room playing poker and cursing. "You old bat, why are you so slow? Are you trying to starve me to death?" My husband, Tom, chimed in, echoing his father. Watching my mother-in-law trembling as she carried a massive bowl of boiling hot braised pork, the fire in my heart instantly flared up. Since you guys don't want to act like decent human beings, I'll revoke your humanity for you. I stormed into the kitchen and snatched the bowl of braised pork right out of her hands. "Eat, eat, eat! Go eat at your own funerals!" ... "Ah! I'm burning alive!" Arthur shot up from the sofa like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, clutching his ankle and howling in pain. The steaming hot braised pork was scattered all over the floor. The greasy, rich sauce flowed freely across the floorboards, and the savory smell, mixed with the stench of Arthur's feet, instantly filled the entire living room. The previously bustling living room fell dead silent. All the relatives had their mouths hanging open, staring at me in absolute shock. Tom was the first to react. He stood up abruptly, pointed at my nose, and roared, "Chloe, are you crazy? Today is my mom's seventieth birthday! What kind of psycho fit are you throwing?" "Oh, so you do know it's your mom's seventieth birthday?" I put my hands on my hips, my voice even louder than his, shaking the ceiling. "A seventy-year-old birthday girl, slaving away in the kitchen for a bunch of able-bodied giant babies like you? Aren't you afraid of bad karma shortening your lives?!" I pointed toward the kitchen. My mother-in-law was leaning against the doorframe, her face pale as a sheet, sweating profusely, and looking at us with pure terror. Her clothes were completely soaked through, clinging to her emaciated back like a crumpled piece of paper. "Mom has been busy in the kitchen all morning without even a sip of water. And you guys? Enjoying the AC, eating watermelon, cracking sunflower seeds, and complaining the food is too slow?" The more I spoke, the angrier I got. I grabbed the fruit platter off the coffee table and smashed it violently onto the floor. Crash! Glass shards flew everywhere, terrifying a few bratty kids into bawling loudly. "What are you crying for? Cry again and I'll throw you out!" I glared fiercely, and the kids instantly stopped crying, shrinking into the adults' arms, trembling. Arthur recovered from the shock, shaking with rage. He pointed at me and cursed, "Rebellion! Total rebellion! Tom, is this the good wife you married? How dare she flip a table! Beat her! Beat this unfilial shrew to death!" Goaded by his father, Tom lost face. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to charge at me. "Chloe, you don't know what's good for you, do you? Apologize to my dad right now and lick the floor clean, or I'll destroy you today!" I sneered, pulled a can of pepper spray from my purse, and gave it a quick spritz in the air. "Come on then! Who dares to lay a finger on me? I've got nothing to lose today. At worst, I'll burn this house down and we can all die together!" My "mutually assured destruction" posture successfully intimidated Tom. He stopped in his tracks, his face dark with anger, caught between a rock and a hard place. At this moment, my mother-in-law shakily walked over, pulled at the corner of my shirt, and pleaded through tears, "Chloe... stop it. I wanted to do it. Mom isn't tired. Don't ruin the family harmony over me..." Seeing her so subservient only fueled my anger, but mostly, it broke my heart. This old woman had been enslaved by Arthur for fifty years. Her knees had essentially taken root in the ground; she couldn't even stand up straight anymore. "Mom, don't worry about it!" I grabbed her arm and forced her to sit down on the sofa. "Today is your birthday, and you should be sitting here waiting to be served! If anyone dares to make you work, I'll make sure they swallow more than they can chew!" Seeing this, Arthur violently smashed the teacup in his hand onto the floor and roared, "Fine! Fine! Nobody cooks, right? Then nobody eats! Let's all just starve!" "If nobody cooks, then nobody cooks!" I plopped down next to my mother-in-law, crossed my legs, and gave Arthur a side-eye. "I'm not hungry anyway. Let's see who gets to eat a hot meal today!" Chapter 2 The atmosphere in the living room froze to the absolute limit. The braised pork on the floor still glistened with grease, looking like a mocking, smiling face. Tom's older sister, Sarah, suddenly chimed in with a sarcastic tone. While patting her son, who had just been crying from fright, she rolled her eyes: "Oh my, what a display of authority from my sister-in-law. We don't even act this arrogant in our own homes, and now we come back to our parents' house only to be subjected to her moods. Dad, this is impossible to live with." Sarah was the textbook definition of a "married daughter is like spilled water" type. Every time she visited, she only knew how to eat and take things, never stepping a single foot into the kitchen. Hearing his daughter complain, Arthur's temper flared up again. "Tom! Are you dead? You can't even control a woman? I think you're trying to piss me off to death!" Caught in the middle, Tom's face turned the color of pig liver. He turned to look at me, lowering his voice, and said through gritted teeth, "Chloe, are you done? So many relatives are watching, do you really have to humiliate me like this? Hurry up, go to the kitchen and whip up a few dishes, and we'll let this go." "Humiliate you?" I laughed out loud, exaggeratedly, as if I had just heard the funniest joke. "Tom, do you even have any shame left? You let your seventy-year-old mother wait on your entire family, and you think you have dignity? Your sister was born from your mother, did she lose her arms and legs? She comes back and just opens her mouth waiting to be fed. Is she a giant baby or disabled?" Sarah jumped up in anger: "Chloe, who are you calling names?" "I'm talking about you!" I glared right back, not backing down an inch. "Your mom has high blood pressure and a herniated disc, don't you know that? Have you ever brought her a single pill when you visited? Besides your mouth, what else did you bring?" Sarah was rendered speechless by my retort and could only turn to Arthur, whining, "Dad! Look at her!" Arthur slammed his cane hard against the floor: "Absolute rebellion! In this house, I am the sky! If I tell you to cook, you cook! If you don't, get out of the Lee family!" "Get out?" I stood up and stared coldly at this arrogant old man. "Arthur Lee, get your facts straight. I paid the down payment for this house, I pay the mortgage, and the deed has my name and Tom's name on it. If anyone is getting out, it's you!" Arthur was stunned. He had always thought this house was bought by his son. Tom, for the sake of his ego, never dared to tell the truth. Tom panicked and rushed over to cover my mouth: "What nonsense are you talking about!" I violently threw his hand off: "What? You dared to do it but don't dare to admit it? With that crappy job paying three thousand a month, you can't even support yourself, let alone this whole family of leeches!" "You..." Tom was so angry he raised his hand to slap me. "Hit me! If you dare to strike, we'll see each other at the divorce office tomorrow!" I puffed out my chest and stared him down intensely. Tom's hand froze in mid-air, ultimately lacking the courage to strike. He knew that if we divorced, he truly would be left with nothing. Just then, my mother-in-law suddenly started coughing violently, a heart-wrenching, tearing cough, her whole body curling into a ball. I quickly turned around to pat her back, only to discover that on the handkerchief in her hand, there was a shocking patch of bright red blood. "Mom!" I cried out in alarm, "You're coughing up blood?!" The whole family froze. Arthur just glanced over and said impatiently, "What an act. A couple of coughs won't kill anyone! She just wants to be lazy!" Chapter 3 That blood lay there, glaringly obvious. My mother-in-law's face was ashen, her eyes unfocused, yet she still tried to hide the handkerchief behind her back. "I'm... fine. It's just a sore throat..." Her voice was weak, like a mosquito, and her hands shook terribly. "A sore throat makes you cough up blood?!" I yelled, tears pooling in my eyes. "Tom! Are you blind? Your mom is like this, and you're still thinking about food?" Tom was a bit panicked too. He leaned in to take a look, but then quickly seemed relieved. "It's probably just her bronchitis acting up again. It's an old issue. Just drink some water to soothe it." "Bronchitis?" I looked at this man in disbelief. "When was your mom's last medical checkup? Do you even know?" Tom stammered, unable to form a sentence. Arthur snorted coldly: "Checkup? Are hospitals places for healthy people? You go in perfectly fine, and they'll invent a disease for you! This is just a disease of laziness!" Saying this, he actually stood up and kicked my mother-in-law on her shin. "Stop playing dead! Hurry up and go cook the rest of the food!" My mother-in-law cried out in pain, her body tilting, almost sliding off the sofa. That kick felt like it landed right on my chest. The string of rationality in my brain snapped completely. "Arthur Lee! Go screw yourself!" Like an enraged lioness, I lunged at Arthur, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him down onto the sofa. "Are you even human? That's the wife who has lived with you for fifty years! Not your slave!" Arthur hadn't expected me to actually lay hands on him. He turned pale with fright but still tried to act tough: "You... you dare to hit your father-in-law? You'll be struck by lightning!" Sarah screamed and rushed forward to pull me off: "You crazy bitch! Let go of my dad! Call the police! I'm calling the police!" Tom also rushed over, wrapping his arm around my neck to drag me backward. "Chloe! Are you done being crazy?! That's our dad!" I was being choked, thrashing my arms and legs wildly. My nails dug deep into Tom's arm, leaving bloody scratches. "Let go! Cough, cough... I need to take Mom to the hospital!" "What hospital! Until this meal is finished, nobody is leaving!" Arthur broke free, straightening his messy collar, glaring at me viciously. "Want to take her away? Over my dead body!" He turned to his wife, his eyes dark and malicious: "Margaret, if you dare walk out that door with her, don't ever think about entering the Lee family cemetery! I'll consider it as never having a wife!" My mother-in-law trembled violently. That was the threat she feared most in her entire life. In her traditional mindset, not being allowed into the ancestral cemetery after death meant becoming a wandering, homeless ghost. She struggled to stand up, pushing my hands away, tears streaming endlessly. "Chloe... stop fighting... I'll go cook... I'll go..." She stumbled toward the kitchen, every step looking like she was walking on knives. Watching her hunched back, Arthur smiled smugly. "See that? These are the rules!" Chapter 4 The sound of intermittent chopping echoed from the kitchen. Arthur sat back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and pointed at the mess on the floor, saying to me, "Aren't you going to clean this up? Are we waiting until New Year's?" Sarah looked at me with schadenfreude. "Sister-in-law, in this house, Dad's word is law." Tom held his scratched arm, his face dark. "Hurry up and clean it, don't let the relatives see this joke." I stood in the center of the living room, listening to the chopping from the kitchen. That was my mother-in-law using her life to maintain the "face" of this family. I wanted to rush in and pull her out, but I knew that as long as that old bastard Arthur was around, as long as the shackles in my mother-in-law's mind remained, I could save her once, but not forever. I needed to do something drastic. I took a deep breath and suddenly smiled. "Alright, I'll take the order." My tone abruptly shifted. "I'll take it and shove it up your ass!" I turned and walked toward the kitchen. Tom thought I had relented and let out a sigh of relief. "That's more like it. Family doesn't hold grudges overnight..." I walked into the kitchen. My mother-in-law was struggling to slice a potato, her hands shaking so much she could barely hold the knife. "Mom," I called out softly. She looked up, her face covered in tears. "Chloe, it's none of your business. Mom can do it alone..." I didn't speak. My eyes fell on the pot of chicken soup simmering on the stove. That was the "longevity chicken" prepared specifically for Arthur. I picked up the pot of boiling hot chicken soup and turned to walk out of the kitchen. "Hey? What are you bringing the soup out for? It's not even done yet!" Sarah asked, confused. I walked over to Arthur, looking down at him. Arthur felt a chill under my gaze. "What... what are you doing?" "Dad, aren't you hungry? Have some soup." A cruel smirk curved the corners of my mouth. The next second, I flicked my wrist. Splash— The entire pot of boiling chicken soup, meat and all, splashed onto the genuine leather sofa Arthur was so proud of, and all over his old face. "Ahhhh—!!!" A scream like a slaughtered pig instantly pierced through the entire building. Arthur rolled on the floor clutching his face, his skin instantly turning red and blistering from the heat. "Dad!" "Grandpa!" Tom and Sarah rushed over like madmen. The scene instantly descended into chaos. I slammed the pot hard onto the floor, making a deafening crash. "That was just the appetizer!" I stood amidst the wreckage, looking at Arthur howling and rolling on the floor, and the relatives staring at me with terror as if I were a monster. The pent-up frustration in my chest finally began to release. "Arthur Lee, don't you love being served? From now on, you can lie in bed and let people serve you all you want!" Tom, eyes red, lunged at me, still clutching that fruit knife. "Chloe! I'm going to kill you! How dare you burn my dad!" "Tom! Try moving one more inch!" I stood my ground, just pointing coldly at the kitchen door. "Turn around and look at what happened to your mom!" While everyone was fussing over Arthur, no one noticed that my mother-in-law, who had been forcing herself to chop vegetables just moments ago, had now slid softly down the doorframe, falling silently like a withered leaf. A pool of blood spread out beneath her, even more glaring than the braised pork on the floor earlier. Tom's movements froze. He turned his head and stopped in his tracks. But after a second of hesitation, he actually turned back and yelled at me, "She must have fainted because you scared her! Save Dad first! His face is ruined!" At that moment, I heard the sound of my own heart breaking—not for Tom, but for that mother-in-law who had been foolish her entire life. "Fine, very fine." I took out my phone, dialed 911, and then called the police. "Hello, police? There's domestic violence here, and attempted murder with a knife. The address is..." Hanging up the phone, I looked at Tom's twisted, frightening face and smiled. Chapter 5 The wailing sirens of the ambulance and police cars arrived. The house was as messy as a war zone. Arthur's face was burned beyond recognition, and he was howling like a ghost. Sarah stood by, adding fuel to the fire as she cried to the police, claiming I was a lunatic who had broken in and committed assault. The police officer looked at the utter destruction and frowned. "Who called this in?" "I did." I stepped forward, pointing to my unconscious mother-in-law being lifted onto a stretcher, then pointed to the old man still throwing a tantrum on the floor. "Officer, this old man has a long history of domestic violence and abuse against my mother-in-law. A seventy-year-old woman, severely ill, forced to cook. She coughed up blood and he still kicked and beat her. What I did was self-defense, and to save a life." "Bullshit!" Sarah screamed and jumped up. "Officer, look what she did to my dad! She burned him! That's intentional assault! You have to arrest her and throw her in jail!" Arthur, lying on the stretcher, groaned and cursed simultaneously: "Arrest her! Shoot her! This vicious shrew!" The officer surveyed the injuries on both sides. On one side, an old man with a face full of blisters but enough lung capacity to loudly curse someone out. On the other side, an old woman with a face like pale gold paper, weak breathing, and covered in old bruises. It was obvious at a glance who was the vulnerable one. "Take everyone back for questioning! Get the injured to the hospital first!" At the hospital, outside the emergency room. Tom and Sarah hovered around Arthur's hospital bed, fetching water, fanning him, their hearts aching so much they cried. "Dad, does it hurt a lot? That murderous Chloe, she was too ruthless!" "Is my face ruined? How am I going to show my face in public?" Arthur grumbled, clutching his bandages. On the other side, the red light of the resuscitation room glared harshly. My mother-in-law lay inside, all alone. I was the only one waiting at the door. After a while, a doctor walked out, looking grave, holding a piece of paper. "Family of Margaret Lee?" I immediately went up to him. "I am! I'm her daughter-in-law! Doctor, how is my mom?" Hearing the voice, Tom over there merely glanced up, didn't move an inch, and continued feeding his dad water. The doctor glanced at the apathetic children on the other side. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes, followed by a sigh. "The patient's condition is very poor. Severe lung infection, accompanied by old rib fractures. Most critically, we suspect late-stage lung cancer due to long-term inhalation of massive amounts of cooking fumes, coupled with extreme exhaustion and malnutrition... The coughing up blood earlier was caused by a tumor rupturing." Late-stage lung cancer. Those words hit my head like a sledgehammer. Long-term inhalation of cooking fumes. Yes, in this house, my mother-in-law was a human exhaust fan. To save electricity, Arthur never even let her turn the exhaust fan on high. She had served them in that smoky, suffocating environment for fifty years. "We must perform emergency surgery immediately to stop the bleeding, and then transfer her to the ICU for observation. The cost will likely be quite high. The family needs to go pay the fees." The doctor handed me a slip. I pinched the thin piece of paper, my hands trembling. I turned around, walked over to Tom, and slapped the slip onto his chest. "Stop playing dead! Your mom has late-stage lung cancer and needs immediate surgery. Go pay the bill!" Tom froze for a moment, pulled the slip away to look at it, and his brow instantly furrowed into deep wrinkles. "Lung cancer? Late-stage?" Sarah leaned over and shrieked, "Late-stage? Doesn't that mean she's hopeless? Why bother treating it?" "What did you say?" I glared intensely at Sarah. Sarah spoke with absolute self-righteousness. "Well, isn't it? Treating late-stage cancer is like throwing money into a bottomless pit! No matter how much you spend, it's wasted! Besides, Dad's face needs skin grafts, which will cost a fortune too! Where's the money to treat a disease she's going to die from anyway?" Arthur also stopped his groaning. Through the gaps in his bandages, he said viciously, "Don't treat her! Treat my ass! I've been sick of looking at her for ages, a body full of poor-man's diseases! If she dies, it'll make room for me! Save the money to fix my face!" Tom held the slip, hesitating for a long time, finally looking at me with evasive eyes. "Chloe... my sister has a point. Mom is seventy, she can't handle the trauma of surgery. How about... we just do conservative treatment? Take her home, give her some painkillers..." "Conservative treatment?" I laughed out of sheer anger, tears sliding down the corners of my eyes. "Tom, that is your biological mother! She collapsed because she was cooking for you! And now you're telling me to give up?" "Then what am I supposed to do? We only have this little bit of savings, and we can't just ignore Dad!" Tom spread his hands, feigning helplessness. "Savings?" I sneered and pulled a bank card out of my purse. It was our family's shared salary card. Tom usually held onto it, but today, in my rush to leave, I had casually slipped it into my pocket. "Your so-called savings are all in this card, right?" Tom's eyes lit up, and he reached out to snatch it. "Yes, yes, yes! Give me the card quickly, I need to pay Dad's hospital bills!" I pulled my hand back, letting him grab empty air. "Want to use the money to save your dad?" Right in front of their family of three, I pulled a pair of scissors out of my purse. Snip! I snapped the bank card in half. "Want to spend my money? Keep dreaming!" Chapter 6 "Chloe! You're crazy!" Tom stared at the bank card snapped in two, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. He dropped to his knees with a thud, desperately trying to grab the two pieces of plastic, as if they were his very lifeline. "That's our entire family's savings! How am I supposed to pay for my dad's treatment now?!" Sarah shrieked and lunged forward to grab my hair. "You're trying to kill my dad! I'll fight you to the death!" I backhanded her, a sharp slap landing squarely on Sarah's face. Her cheek swelled instantly. The sound was incredibly crisp, and the entire hallway went dead silent. "Want to fight to the death? Come on then!" I held up the scissors, my eyes fierce. "Didn't get enough back at the house, did you? This is a hospital. I don't mind sending you to the ER again!" Sarah clutched her face, stunned by the blow. Staring at the scissors in my hand, she backed away in terror. Tom clutched the broken card and looked up to roar at me: "Chloe, don't push it! Even if the card is cut, I can just report it lost and get a replacement in a few days! This money is still mine! I'm the primary account holder!" "Yours?" I sneered, looking down at this average, overly confident man. "Tom, have you forgotten? With your dead-end job paying three thousand a month, you can barely afford your own cigarettes and alcohol. Which penny of the two hundred thousand on this card did you earn? I earned all of it, working from dawn to dusk running my online store!" "Have you ever heard of marital assets? Even if I burned it, half of it belongs to me!" I crouched down, stared straight into Tom's eyes, and enunciated every word: "And you're mistaken about one thing. The money on this card? I transferred it out ages ago. While we were on the way to the hospital." "What?!" Tom's face instantly went deathly pale, like he'd seen a ghost. "Where... where did you transfer it?" "This money is going to be used to save Mom. As for your dad's old face..." I glanced at Arthur, who was listening intently on his hospital bed, and gave a cold laugh. "Figure it out yourselves. Isn't Sarah the filial one? Let your sister pay for it. Doesn't her family own a supermarket? She can't pull together a few hundred thousand?" The fire instantly redirected to Sarah. Sarah jumped like her tail had been stepped on. "Why should I pay? A married daughter is like spilled water! I didn't get a share of the family assets, why come to me for elder care? Tom, you're the son, you must pay for this!" When Arthur heard the money was gone and he hit a wall with his daughter, he trembled with rage. He pointed at Tom and cursed: "Useless! Can't even control a woman! The money was all taken! Are you trying to let me die of pain?!" Tom, caught in the middle taking heat from both sides, finally directed all his fury at me. "Chloe! This is illegal transfer of assets! I'm going to sue you! I want a divorce!" "Divorce! Let's get divorced right now!" I stood up and dusted off my hands. "Whoever backs out is a coward! But Tom, remember this: before the divorce is finalized, whoever holds the money holds the power. You want to save your dad? Sure. Kneel down and beg me, kowtow to Mom three times, and maybe if I'm in a good mood, I'll give you enough to buy some burn ointment for your dad." "In your dreams!" Tom gritted his teeth. "Then just waste away here." Just then, the doors to the emergency room opened. A nurse wheeled out a bed and called out, "Family of Margaret Lee! The patient is awake, but her condition is critical, she needs surgery immediately! Who is signing and paying the fees?" I immediately rushed over. "I'll sign! I'll pay!" I grasped my mother-in-law's frail, thin hand. Her eyes were half-open, and cloudy tears slid from the corners of her eyes. "Chloe... don't spend the money... Mom won't be treated... save the money... for Tommy..." Hearing this, I burst into tears despite myself. "Mom! You're foolish! You feel sorry for him, but what is he doing? He's calculating how to pull your plug to save money so he can fix his dad's face!" My mother-in-law trembled, struggling to turn her head toward Tom standing a short distance away. Tom stood there, still clutching the broken card, his eyes evasive, not daring to look at his mother at all. Arthur yelled from his bed, "Tommy! Don't sign! If you sign, you have to pay! That's my life-saving money!" The light in my mother-in-law's eyes dimmed little by little. Like a candle in the wind, that final glimmer of hope was completely extinguished. She closed her eyes, and two trails of clear tears fell. "Sign it... Chloe... Mom... will listen to you..." Chapter 7 The surgery fees were paid, and my mother-in-law was wheeled into the operating room. I sat on the bench like a guardian demon, coldly watching the nest of vile people arguing at the end of the hallway. Because there was no money to pay the fees, Arthur could only lie on a cot in the hallway. The nurses had given his burns basic treatment, and he groaned in pain. "Sarah! You ungrateful wretch! I fed you and clothed you, and now you won't even fork over twenty thousand?" "Dad! My oldest boy needs to go to tutoring classes! Where would I find spare cash? Besides, my brother lives in a big house and drives a car, why should I pay?" "That house was bought by Chloe, that shrew! The car is in her name too! I'm completely broke right now, Sis!" Tom squatted on the floor, holding his head, looking utterly defeated. Listening to their arguing, I felt nothing but intense irony. This was the "family" my mother-in-law had served her whole life. Without my mother-in-law as their free maid and punching bag, this family instantly fell apart, revealing its true colors of selfishness and apathy. About four hours later, the light above the operating room went out. The doctor walked out and took off his mask. "The surgery was relatively successful; we removed a portion of the lung lobe. But given her age, she'll need chemotherapy afterward. Whether she can pull through depends on her willpower." I let out a breath of relief, my legs turning so weak I almost sat on the floor. When my mother-in-law was wheeled out, the anesthesia hadn't worn off yet. With an oxygen mask on her face, she looked incredibly small and fragile. I escorted her all the way to the ICU. After settling my mother-in-law in, I walked out of the room and bumped right into Tom, who was loitering suspiciously by the door. Seeing me come out, he immediately put on a fawning expression, holding a boxed lunch he'd bought from who-knows-where. "Wife... you must be tired, right? Want something to eat?" He handed over the lunchbox, but his eyes kept darting toward the hospital room. "How... how is Mom?" I didn't take the lunchbox; I just looked at him coldly. "Spit it out." Tom awkwardly pulled his hand back and rubbed his hands together. "Um... the doctor said Dad's face needs skin grafts immediately, or it'll scar and be ruined, and it could get infected. The doctor has asked for the payment several times already..." "And so?" "Wife, look... Mom's surgery is done. The remaining money... could you lend it to Dad first for this emergency? We're family after all, blood is thicker than water..." "Lend?" I laughed, laughing so hard tears almost came to my eyes. "Tom, do you still not understand the situation? Your mom is in there fighting for her life, and instead of thinking about how to care for her, all you care about is the face of your domestic-abuser dad?" "He's my dad! I can't just watch his face rot away, can I?" Tom grew anxious. "Besides, Mom's fine now, right? The money is just sitting there..." "Get lost." I only had one word for him. "Chloe! Don't push your luck!" Tom finally dropped his act, showing his true colors. "Let me tell you, you will give me that money whether you want to or not! I am your husband, and I have the right to manage our household assets!" "Husband?" I took out my phone and played an audio recording. It was the recording I secretly made on the ambulance earlier. In the recording, Tom's voice was crystal clear: [Chloe... my sister has a point. Mom is seventy, she can't handle the trauma of surgery. How about... we just do conservative treatment?] Tom's face instantly went deathly pale. "Why... why did you record that?" "Why?" I put away my phone, my eyes icy. "To keep it as evidence, of course. Tom, I've already consulted a lawyer. During your mother's severe illness, not only did you refuse to fulfill your duty to provide for her, but you also attempted to divert life-saving funds for cosmetic surgery for her abuser. That's called the crime of abandonment!" "If you dare harass me again, or touch a single penny of Mom's life-saving money, I will post this recording and the videos of your dad's domestic abuse all over the internet! I'll send them to your company group chats! I'll make sure that precarious job of yours is completely over!" Tom was terrified by my threats. A coward like him feared losing his livelihood and social death more than anything else. He pointed at me, his finger trembling for a long time, and finally spat viciously. "Fine! Chloe, you're ruthless! Just you wait! Wait until Mom wakes up, let's see how she deals with you! She listens to my dad the most. If she finds out you didn't save Dad, she'll definitely kick you out!" With that, he slinked away in defeat. I watched him go, feeling a sense of desolation. He was gambling. Gambling that the woman who had been beaten and scolded for fifty years would continue to accept his abuse for decades more. And I was gambling too. Gambling on the decades of silent screams within that frail body.
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