My parents were cowards their entire lives. The only person they ever dared to throw their weight around with was my sister-in-law. They firmly believed: "She's been chasing your brother since high school. She can't live without him." When they got married, my mom didn't contribute a single cent. She even shamelessly took over the master bedroom that my sister-in-law had paid to renovate. My sister-in-law didn't make a fuss about it. Because of that, my mom thought she had completely dominated this "pushover." She bragged to everyone she met about how capable my brother was, landing a beautiful, successful wife who actually paid her own way into the family. But what they didn't know was that every late night, after they had made things difficult for her, my brother would drop to his knees and beg my sister-in-law for forgiveness. Like a dog wagging its tail, begging for pity. In the second year of their marriage, my sister-in-law never came back. And neither did my brother. 1 My sister-in-law was my brother's high school classmate. They had been together since college, dating for seven years. Whenever my mom brought her up, she always had a look of absolute certainty. "I saw her back then. Following your brother around with a huge smile, greeting me so enthusiastically." "Your brother said they were just classmates, but I could tell even then she was throwing herself at him." My sister-in-law really did do a lot. My brother admitted as much himself. "She's too good to me." He said that from Chicago to Boston, and then to New York, through all their moves, she handled everything. Renting apartments, buying furniture, settling in—she put in both the money and the effort. She worked hard, got promotions quickly, and eventually made twice as much as my brother. But she never minded. Even when it came to getting married, she took the initiative. In our rural town, taking in a daughter-in-law meant treating her like royalty. From the engagement to the wedding, money usually flowed out like water. But my sister-in-law was different. She loved spending money on our family. The first time she visited, she gave each of us a pearl necklace, packed in exquisite boxes. Seeing that our house was too dilapidated to be a proper bridal home, she paid out of pocket to have it fully renovated, inside and out. Later, when discussing the dowry, she only asked for ten thousand dollars. But the moment my mom heard that, she started crying poor: "Ten thousand? Where are we supposed to get that kind of money? Is she trying to drive us to the grave?" My brother got annoyed. "Mom, ten thousand is already the absolute minimum she could ask for under pressure. Any less, and she can't justify it to her parents." My dad, who usually took great pride in my brother, also pulled a long face. "It's not that we don't want to give it, but we've been paying for your education all these years. Where would we get savings?" "Son, Penny has a good temper. Just go coax her a little. She's twenty-eight, a year older than you. Don't you think her family is anxious?" "Mom," my brother tried to reason. "Penny makes her own money. We just need to show some respect and do things properly so she feels valued. Won't she be even more filial to you in the future?" "Filial?" My mom acted like she had heard a joke, her mouth twisting into a sneer. "Once she marries in, she's a member of the Miller family. Isn't it her duty to be good to her in-laws? Why should we have to buy that with money?" "What if she decides not to marry me?" My mom laughed, a shrewd glint in her eyes: "She's been with you for so many years, everyone in town knows it! Who else is she going to marry? She knew our family's financial situation from the start. I don't believe for a second she'd throw away her reputation over a little money! If you won't talk to her, I'll go do it myself." Terrified she would actually go and ruin everything, my brother bit the bullet and talked to her himself. When he came back, his face was ashen. And my sister-in-law, shockingly, asked for nothing at all. My mom excitedly slapped her thigh. "Really? I knew Penny was a good girl. Tell her not to worry, Mom will definitely love her like my own daughter from now on." My brother didn't reply and silently went into his room. But my mom was bursting with smugness, unable to hide her grin. "See, I told you. The more educated they are, the thinner their skin. They're so easy to manipulate." 2 On the day of the engagement, the bride's relatives filled the room. But my mom stubbornly changed the agreed-upon $1,700 "meeting gift" to $1,100. She shoved the thin red envelope into my sister-in-law's hands, sugarcoating her words: "$1,100. It's a good omen, meaning you're one in a thousand. You must accept it." The bride's parents' faces instantly darkened. My brother anxiously pulled at her: "Mom! We agreed on seventeen hundred!" "This has always been the tradition around here!" She acted wronged instead, staring pointedly at my sister-in-law. "Penny, you're not actually complaining it's too little, are you?" My sister-in-law reached out to stop her parents, who were about to explode. The corners of her mouth lifted very slightly, and she pushed the envelope back. "Mrs. Miller, I can't take this money. Leo and I can make our own money. It's better if you two keep this for your retirement." At the time, my mom completely missed the underlying implication in my sister-in-law's words. She put up a fake show of declining twice, then turned to the in-laws with a radiant smile: "You've raised such a sensible daughter!" And just like that, the marriage was settled amidst my mom's smug laughter. As soon as the guests left, she couldn't wait to show off to the neighbors: "Oh my, our daughter-in-law is just too sensible. She knows we old folks have it hard, so she absolutely refused to take any money. She said as long as she's with Leo, she's perfectly happy." Her smug face clearly broadcasted how capable she thought her son was. He didn't have to spend a dime to marry a beautiful, capable wife who paid her own way. It allowed my parents, who had been cowards their whole lives, to finally hold their heads high with pride. The villagers were full of envy: "The Millers really lucked out. Marrying a daughter-in-law without spending any money." "I heard she's very successful too, even bought a house in the city!" "Tell me about it. Unlike our daughter-in-law, who asked for tens of thousands right off the bat. I lose sleep over it every night." Hearing this, my dad proudly shared his "experience." "Setups and blind dates are unreliable. You have to let the kids find an old classmate. There's real affection there, so they don't care about money." "Sigh, my boy isn't as capable as your Leo. He got into a great college!" The neighbor handed him a cigarette, his face full of envy. My dad immediately put on that same foolish, cowardly smile he'd worn for decades: "It's just the kid working hard. We're useless." But before the ember on the cigarette even died down, he changed the subject: "Oh, by the way, that new AC in our house, and the fully automatic washing machine? Our daughter-in-law bought them. We told her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted. Said she wanted us to enjoy life a little." My dad tirelessly updated his "Daughter-in-Law's Filial Piety Log" every single day. From her single-handedly organizing the wedding, to how meticulously she took care of me, his youngest daughter. In the winter, worried I'd be cold, she mailed an electric blanket directly to our house. Whenever new packages arrived, they were usually clothes or school supplies she bought for me. She would even frequently ask my brother to transfer me some pocket money, fifty or a hundred bucks at a time, never stingy. I liked my sister-in-law. She was ten years older than me, but she seemed to see my awkwardness from afar. Sometimes, before I could even voice a need, the thing I wanted would already be delivered to me. Her kindness towards me had clear boundaries; it was never overstepping, and it never felt like charity. Whenever I got a package and excitedly shared it with my mom, she would look at me with disdain: "Look, she's at it again. Done sucking up to the old folks, now she's sucking up to the kid." My dad, after a couple of drinks, would smile in satisfaction: "Oh, she's doing all this just to please your brother. If you ask me, she couldn't survive without him." But I always felt that wasn't the case. I had video-called my brother once, and I clearly saw that with just one look from my sister-in-law, my brother would become incredibly careful and cautious. 3 But my parents didn't see it that way. They ordered my sister-in-law around as if it was their divine right. Half a month before Thanksgiving, my dad urged my brother to come home: "This is the new bride's first holiday with us. We have to visit all the relatives, and the gifts must be adequate. We can't let people look down on the Miller family." My brother agreed. They couldn't come back right away, but he mailed a massive pile of things. My mom called every day to rush them. Finally, two days before Thanksgiving, they arrived. The moment their new car parked, my mom grabbed my sister-in-law's hand, her smile hiding thorns: "Penny, you're finally back! Making money in the big city really is different, you can only leave at the very last minute. Anyone would think the company couldn't run without you. How much are they paying you that you can't even get time off?" My sister-in-law smiled and nodded: "Yeah, the company is quite generous. They just gave me a ten thousand dollar year-end bonus, so I couldn't just take time off casually." My mom's smile instantly froze on her face. Her mouth twitched, but she couldn't find a response. She unconsciously let go of her hand and turned to dig through the gift boxes in the trunk. She raised her voice, as if trying to regain control of the situation: "This box is for your aunt! That carton of cigarettes is for your other aunt!" My sister-in-law didn't reply. Meanwhile, my dad was squatting next to a case of premium bourbon, his fingers repeatedly tracing the gold lettering, his eyes wide. "Penny, you bought this? This... this must have cost a lot, right? Look at you, we're all family, why are you being so polite? How is an old man like me worthy of drinking this?" He looked up and grinned, revealing a dark gap where a tooth was missing. My brother quickly walked over, helped him up, and said in a low voice: "Dad, Penny bought that specifically for her father. Since we didn't give much money when we got married, her dad was pretty unhappy. We're using the holidays to make him feel a bit better." The smile lines on my dad's face instantly froze. He let out a flat "Oh" and walked away with his hands behind his back. My mom's face visibly darkened, and she immediately looked for another reason to exert authority. "Leo," her voice was tight. "Before it gets completely dark, hurry up and take your wife to your eldest aunt's house to deliver the gifts. We already arranged it, they're waiting. Don't be disrespectful." My brother frowned: "Mom, I just drove for eight or nine hours, and Penny is tired too. Can't we just go tomorrow?" "What kind of talk is that?" My mom kept smiling, but her words were forceful. "Relative etiquette is more important than anything. If you don't go, people will say your wife doesn't know any better. You need to think about your wife's reputation." Before she finished speaking, she looked up at my sister-in-law. "Penny, tell me, is Mom right or wrong?" My sister-in-law looked up, still wearing that docile expression, and nodded: "I'll follow your arrangement." I watched my brother and sister-in-law drag their exhausted bodies back into the car. "Mom, you're rushing them too much. Leo is clearly unhappy," I couldn't help but say. "What do you know?" The smile vanished from my mom's face, replaced by a cold, calculating gleam. "When a new bride enters the house, you have to establish the rules first. Don't think that just because she makes more money, she can look down on our family. If you don't grind down her temper right from the start, your brother will be the one suffering later. I'm doing this for your brother's own good." "I think my sister-in-law is perfectly fine. Don't go overboard," my dad said with a dark expression, pulling a bottle of the premium bourbon out of the case. "How am I going overboard? Your mom is right. Someone like her, who starts favoring outsiders the second she makes a little money, needs to be disciplined. Her dad is a dad, and I'm not a dad?" He stiffened his neck and poured himself a small glass. I was shocked. "Dad, isn't that the bourbon my sister-in-law bought to give as a gift?" "I'm just trying it today. What's she going to do if I drink it?" 4 My brother and sister-in-law came back very late. My sister-in-law was shivering from the cold, and my brother was busy boiling hot water for her. She turned around, saw me, and quickly pulled a red envelope out of her pocket, stuffing it into my hands. "Here, Chloe. Your brother and I's holiday gift to you. Wishing you peace and joy every year." She was still smiling gently. I squeezed the envelope, my throat tightening. The issue with the alcohol felt like a heavy stone pressing against the back of my tongue. But looking at her exhausted face, I couldn't bring myself to say anything. It was my brother who noticed the open case. His face turned dark. "Dad, did you touch this liquor?" My dad shuffled out of the back room in his worn-out slippers. He reeked of alcohol, his face flushed red, and his usually hunched back was now standing straight. "So what if I touched it? The liquor my daughter-in-law bought... as the father, I can't drink it?" My brother was trembling with anger. "Didn't I tell you..." "Tell me what? If I want to drink it, I'll drink it!" Perhaps the alcohol had given him liquid courage, stripping away his usual cowardice, making the veins bulge on his neck. He suddenly turned his spear toward my silent sister-in-law: "Penny, you tell me! This liquor, can I drink it or not?" All eyes were pinned on my sister-in-law. She stood quietly in the doorway, still wearing that faint smile. "Of course you can," her voice didn't have a single ripple of emotion. "Since it's open, you can keep the rest of this bottle. I'll just buy another one for my dad. But I don't have any cash on me right now, so the envelope Leo originally prepared for you will probably have to go toward filling this hole." The arrogance on my dad's face vanished instantly, freezing in place. "Buy? You're going to buy more?" My mom's shrill voice abruptly cut in. "Did money fall from the sky, for you to waste it like this?! You wasteful, useless..." "Mom!" My brother let out a low, sudden roar, cutting her off. "It's the holidays, what are you trying to do? Just go back to your room." My mom glared at my brother, her face red and her neck thick with rage. "Why should I go back to my room? Look at your wonderful wife, trying to use your dad's money to honor her own family! Does she have any manners at all?" She took a sudden step forward. "I'm going to teach her a lesson for you today." My brother anxiously stepped in front of my parents, grabbed their arms, and without another word, shoved them toward their room. My heart was pounding in terror as I stole a glance at my sister-in-law. There wasn't a trace of the anger I expected. She just looked at my brother's tense back, turned around, and went into her room. I felt incredibly uneasy and couldn't sleep. My sister-in-law's calm, almost apathetic look was like the winter moon—cold and distant. The living room had long since gone quiet. I noticed a faint sliver of yellow light leaking from under my brother's door. Driven by some strange compulsion, I crept closer. I heard my brother's voice, kept extremely low, carrying a kind of broken, desperate pleading I had never heard from him before. "Honey, I know they're being unreasonable, I'm furious too... just one last time, one last time, okay? If they keep acting this oblivious, we'll leave immediately... I'm begging you..." That voice didn't sound like a husband. It sounded more like a dog wagging its tail, begging for pity. My heart skipped a beat, and my suspicions were finally confirmed. As it turned out, the one being manipulated was never my sister-in-law. It was my brother. 5 The next morning, my mom woke up early and banged loudly on my brother's door. "Leo, time to get up." I quickly ran over and pulled her away. "Mom, Leo and Penny went to bed late last night, you shouldn't bother them." She glared at me, using the opportunity to scold me instead: "You have the nerve to talk? Sleeping in until the sun is high in the sky. When you get married, let's see who can tolerate this attitude of yours!" I lowered my voice and tried to reason with her: "Mom, Penny is going to get mad if you do this. Just for Leo's sake, give it a rest." She looked as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world: "What right does she have to get mad? If your brother hadn't said we shouldn't make a scene during the holidays, you think I would have let that wasteful brat off the hook so easily yesterday? She's lazy and ruins our finances, your brother will divorce her sooner or later!" I panicked and blurted out: "Mom, can't you see? Leo only said that to save face! He's absolutely terrified of Penny, that's why yesterday..." "You ungrateful traitor!" My mom cut me off sharply, poking my forehead hard with her finger. "What kind of magic potion did she give you? Bought your loyalty with a few cheap clothes, and now you're seeing things? Where do you see your brother being afraid of her? Of her?" Her yelling grew louder and louder. My brother walked out of the room with a dark expression and pulled her out into the yard: "Mom! Can you keep your voice down?!" Being disrespected by her son in public, my mom couldn't save face. "Leo, you can't spoil a woman too much. Your wife..." "Mom, what young person doesn't sleep in nowadays? You never used to wake me up like this, why do you insist on knocking on the door now that she's married to me?" "I'm disciplining my daughter-in-law for you! How can we let her act like she owns the place in our house?" "Enough, do you just have to cause trouble?" My brother looked utterly exhausted. "I'll wake her up in a bit. We're not eating at home today, I'm taking her to visit a few of my uncles." Hearing "uncles," my mom's expression instantly brightened. "Yes, yes, you should go! Have your wife prepare some good stuff. Your uncles are wealthy, they look down on cheap things. Take those two bottles of premium liquor with you." "Yeah." My brother gave a vague reply and turned to walk back inside. She didn't notice the profound annoyance on my brother's face. Filled with excitement, she enthusiastically shoved all the gifts my sister-in-law had originally prepared for her own family into the trunk. Not long after, he took my sister-in-law and left. For the next two days, they always left right after waking up and only returned late at night. My mom's smugness practically overflowed at the dinner table. "See that? That's how you order a new bride around. Making her run around visiting relatives and learning the routes is the only way she can earn face for us!" I stared at the greasy food in my bowl and couldn't help but talk back: "Mom, have you ever considered that maybe Penny just doesn't want to be in this house, which is why she'd rather be out running around all day?" "She wouldn't dare!" My mom slammed her chopsticks onto the table, her eyes wide. "It's not up to her whether she wants to stay in this house or not. You think your brother would let her get away with that?" I gave a bitter smile and didn't argue with her. I just hoped that once my parents' anger subsided, they would stop causing trouble and pushing my brother away. However, the conflict exploded during Thanksgiving dinner anyway. 6 That day, the Thanksgiving dinner was already on the table when my brother finally brought my sister-in-law home. My mom looked thoroughly displeased. "Penny, come help out in the kitchen. Learn how to prepare the fish. Leo loves fish, so you'll need to know how to make it for him in the future." My sister-in-law didn't move from her seat, just offered a slight smile: "There's no need. I don't like eating fish, and I don't know how to cook it." "If you don't know how, then learn! Are you expecting Leo to serve you for the rest of your life?" My brother quickly stepped in, trying to push my mom back toward the kitchen. "Come on, Mom. If you're too busy, I'll help you. I like cooking, and I'm better at it than she is." "Nonsense!" My dad sat on the sofa, pulling a long face. "Women's work. What's a grown man doing getting involved? You're embarrassing yourself!" "What's embarrassing about it?" My brother's voice was full of exhaustion as he reprimanded my dad. "How is a man loving his wife embarrassing? You should have thrown out those outdated, feudal ideas a long time ago!" Seeing my brother's dark expression, my dad's lips trembled, but he didn't say another word. I quickly went into the kitchen, helped my mom finish the fish, and brought it out. But the atmosphere at the dinner table remained stiff. My sister-in-law didn't seem to care, picking up her chopsticks and eating on her own. Seeing that my sister-in-law wasn't angry, my brother seemed to let out a sigh of relief, smiling as he placed a piece of ribs in her bowl. My mom watched this and suddenly let out a sharp laugh: "Penny, in the city... do you also enjoy this kind of luxury? Every meal served to you ready-made?" My sister-in-law chewed slowly, swallowed, and finally looked up, smiling gently: "Yes. Leo just loves cooking and serving me." She paused. "When he works overtime, I hire a maid. Anyway, I can afford it." "A maid?" My mom's voice pitched up sharply. "Does money fall from the sky? Now that you've married in, that money belongs to the Miller family! How dare you waste it like that?" "The Miller family's?" My sister-in-law gently set down her chopsticks, her voice remaining calm. "Do you still not know that everything Leo has is mine? Even he himself belongs to the Davis family now!" My mom looked at her in disbelief, her voice trembling: "What do you mean?" My sister-in-law smiled. "It means he gave me all of his money, and I used it to buy a house that's solely in my name, purchased before we got married. He transferred his residency to my address and became a part of the Davis household. Therefore, the head of the household is me. Now, don't you think it's perfectly justified for him to serve me?" Dead silence fell over the dinner table. My parents shot terrified and furious glares at my brother. He took a deep breath, as if using the last of his strength: "Why are you looking at me like that? Our family is so poor, and you weren't willing to contribute a single cent. If I didn't pay up, what right would I have to marry a wife?" "Penny is so outstanding. What made you think she would willingly pay her own way to marry me?" My parents looked as if they had been struck by lightning, unable to speak for a long time. My sister-in-law casually finished her meal, pushed her bowl away, and went back to her room.
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