At the most critical moment of my grad school admission interview, my mother suddenly burst into my room, a glass of milk in hand. Instantly, a bold system prompt popped up on my computer screen. [Interview interrupted. Score invalidated.] I slammed my hand onto the keyboard, my voice hoarse: "Mom, let's cut all ties!" The room was silent for a few seconds. She looked at the black screen, then down at the half-spilled milk. "Just for this?" I closed my eyes, physically and mentally exhausted. "Yes, just for this." My mother placed the milk heavily on the desk, looking flustered and at a loss. "Chloe... quickly turn on your computer, Mom will apologize to the examiner..." "Mom didn't know you were interviewing, I just felt bad you were staying up late and wanted to bring you a glass of milk." My father, hearing the commotion, hurried in, rubbing his hands together to smooth things over. "Yes! It's all a misunderstanding! Quickly contact the examiner, Mom and Dad will help you explain." I stood up, the chair legs making a harsh screeching sound. "That was the last question of the interview. I spent a whole semester preparing for this." "I missed out on Stanford during undergrad, and now my chance for grad school there is ruined too!" My mother covered her face and sobbed. "Mom didn't know... you didn't tell me either..." My father put his arm around her: "Your mom is wrong, but her intentions are good. We're a family, we need to be understanding." It was always this routine. One admits a fault, the other plays peacemaker. And I, bound by the word "understanding," was nailed in place. I hadn't eaten dinner that night. Waking up half-starved in the middle of the night, I got up to find something in the kitchen. Passing the master bedroom, I heard hushed conversation from behind the slightly ajar door. "You overacted. What if she really hates us now?" It was my father. "Hate what? I apologized." My mother's tone was light. "I saw the notification on the tablet synced to her phone ages ago." "This is great, the interview is ruined. Now she can take the civil service exam here in the city..." "You are smart." My father laughed, sounding approving. I stood outside the door, my body turning ice cold. I suddenly remembered middle school, when she had picked the lock on my door just like this. Always saying, 'You're my daughter, Mom is just caring about you.' I resisted countless times, but all I got was her breaking into my room again and again, controlling my life. It wasn't until I took a knife and cut my wrist that she, with a livid face, finally put the lock back on. I thought that was in the past. It turns out, over all these years, the lock was never truly replaced. I violently pushed the door open. The two of them jumped. "I heard everything." My voice was terrifyingly calm. "Mom, you did it on purpose." The panic on my mother's face lasted only a second before she immediately plastered on a smile. "Chloe, you misheard, Mom just accidentally..." "Accidentally?" I cut her off: "Accidentally looked at my tablet?" Her smile froze. Then her eyes reddened, and her voice softened. "I really am doing this for your own good, I'm your mother... how could I watch you go down the wrong path?" "What's the point of going to grad school out of state? Staying near your parents, getting a stable government job, and getting married, that's the right path!" She reached out to grab me, but I stepped back. "For my own good? Are you paving the way for me?" I stared at her. "Or are you just terrified of me slipping out of your control?" That fragile facade instantly fell away. "I am your mother, would I harm you?!" She stopped hiding it. "I gave birth to you, so your life belongs to me!" My father quickly interjected: "Say less! Your mom has a quick temper, but her intentions are good..." "Her intentions are good." I repeated softly: "I've heard that for twenty years. One of you slaps me, the other gives me a piece of candy. I've played along for twenty years." I looked around at them: "But today, I'm done playing your game!" I turned back to my room and quickly packed my backpack. "Don't you dare leave!" My mother lunged at me. I threw her off and walked to the door. "Chloe Smith! Apologize right now!" My father's face darkened. Holding the cold door handle, I looked back one last time. "From today on, we are cutting all ties!" The door closed behind me, cutting off all sound. The hot, humid summer night wind hit my face, but I felt freezing cold. Standing under a streetlight, I checked my phone. Balance: $23.50. 2. In elementary school, I loved to draw, so she tore up my sketchbooks. "What future is there in drawing?" In middle school, I wanted to build model airplanes, so she cut off my allowance. "Will this nonsense get you into a top high school?" For college applications, I put down a top out-of-state university, and she changed it to a local community college. "The outside world is too dangerous, you can't handle it." Unable to bear it any longer, I trashed my room. She sat in the ruins, crying heart-wrenchingly. "Mom worked like a dog for you her whole life, and this is how you repay me?" My father chimed in from the side: "Chloe! Would your mom harm you?" Right! I used to tell myself that when I felt suffocated: She's doing it for my own good. After walking aimlessly for a long time, my phone rang. It was my good friend, Sarah. After hearing me out, she only replied: "Send me your location, I'm coming to get you." Half an hour later, I was at her house. Her parents asked nothing, just silently set an extra place at the table. That night I slept on the floor in her room, and relying on this shelter, I slowly caught my breath. Since I was little, my mother strictly forbade me from interacting with other students. She said they would be a bad influence and affect my studies. Especially boys. In her eyes, boys were all up to no good, cheap, and only got close to me to seduce me. Once, a male classmate asked me for directions. After she saw it, she went straight to the school that day and hung a banner. Pointing at that boy, telling him to stay away from me. Later, she spread rumors about him everywhere until he was forced to transfer schools. From then on, I was completely isolated by my classmates. Only Sarah was the one person brave enough to approach me during those dark teenage years. Early the next morning, I was jolted awake by a call from the class president, Kevin. "Chloe! Control your mother! If she spreads rumors in the group chat again, I'm calling the police!" I opened WhatsApp. At the top of my chat with Kevin was his message from last night. "We're just waiting on your part for the group project." Attached was a smiling emoji. Below that, were over a dozen voice messages from my mother. "You little animal! How dare you try to seduce my daughter?" "I'll let the whole school see what kind of trash you are!" I suddenly remembered, the WhatsApp on the tablet at home wasn't logged out. Trembling, I opened our grade's group chat. At the very top was a post from my account: a photo of Kevin at the beach. Caption: "Who are you dressing like this for?" Followed by a mini-essay, every word vicious. "Dressing like a male prostitute, and you're trying to sell yourself to my daughter?" "My daughter is destined for great things, stay away from her, you filthy piece of trash!" Below that was Kevin's counterattack. He posted full screenshots of our chat, proving he was just asking for the assignment, and requested the school handle this seriously. The group chat exploded. Classmates were calling her a "crazy bitch" and saying she "needs to get her head checked." My mother was actually fighting with dozens of people: "Your parents are the failures! Raising a bunch of little animals!" Until the academic advisor intervened: "Chloe's parent, please stop immediately and apologize!" She retorted directly: "Who the hell are you? Is it your place to interfere with how I discipline my daughter?" The advisor was furious: "Chloe! Bring your parent to my office immediately! Otherwise, you will face severe consequences!" I gripped my phone tightly and walked out of the room. My parents were having breakfast with Sarah's parents. "Chloe, let's go home after you eat these dumplings." My mother smiled and handed me a pair of chopsticks. "Why did you spread sexual rumors about Kevin in the group chat?" Her smile froze: "Mom was just afraid you'd be taken advantage of by that kind of boy..." "What right do you have to casually spread rumors about others just because you're 'afraid'?" I roared, cutting her off. My father slammed the table: "There are outsiders here! Have some decency!" "Since I was little, your way of dealing with 'fear' is to destroy the person who makes you afraid." I looked at my mother, feeling the sheer absurdity of it all. "Just because you're neurotic, you're going to ruin someone else's reputation again?!" Slap! A loud slap rang out. Her hand was shaking: "I gave birth to you and raised you, not for you to disobey me!" I covered my face and laughed. "Right, you gave birth to me and raised me." I looked at them. "So I deserve to be an object, held tightly in the palm of your hand?" "I am your daughter." I said softly: "Not a dog you keep, forever chained by the neck, slapped when I'm disobedient." I got up and rushed out the door. Sarah grabbed my bag and chased after me, her voice dry. "It was my parents... who told yours." Under the blazing sun, I suddenly stopped. "Sarah, three years ago when you helped my mom change my college application... how did you feel?" The breathing behind me stopped. "The password." I turned around to look at her. "I only ever showed it to you." She turned deathly pale, and after a long time, squeezed out a sentence. "Your mom... took a picture of me coming out of a motel with my high school boyfriend." "She threatened me, saying if I didn't help her, she'd plaster the photo and our chat logs all over the school!" "Mark was innocent, and his parents were government workers..." "What about me?" My throat tightened, my face full of bitterness. "Three years ago it was Stanford, now it's grad school, it's all ruined! You were my only friend!" "What choice did I have?!" She jerked her head up, her eyes red. "Ruin me or ruin you? Your mom had us both by the throat!" "Who told you to have a mom like that!" I felt a violent jolt, a powerless, suffocating feeling making me dizzy. "Sorry, I understand." I turned and walked away. Her calls were quickly drowned out by the traffic. 3 Before I even walked out of the street, my phone rang. It was the academic advisor. "Chloe!" She sounded troubled: "The school reviewed the final exams and determined you cheated. Your graduate school recommendation is canceled." "You should really communicate well with your parents about this..." As soon as the advisor hung up, a text message popped up. Mom: [Your Uncle Zhang said the school reviewed the final exams and determined you cheated.] [Be good and come home, only Uncle Zhang can handle this.] Zhang Jianye, a distant relative working in the school's academic affairs office. I studied so hard for those finals and answered the questions so smoothly, how could I be accused of cheating? I leaned my back against the scorching hot wall. Are they going to strip away my very last chance? After calming down, I used money from a loan app for the first time and checked into a cheap motel. I collapsed on the bed, physically and mentally exhausted. When I was woken up by a call from my older sister, Rachel, it wasn't even fully light out yet. She was my only buffer in that house. When we were kids, every time I was being scolded harshly, she was the one who pulled me out of the room, giving me a moment to breathe. But the irony is, she herself was my mother's most successful "creation." She was accepted into a teaching college out of state, but our mother burned her acceptance letter. "Why does a girl need to run so far away?" She cried all night, and the next day went to the local college our mother had arranged. She went on thirty-six blind dates and finally married after our mother nodded her approval. On her wedding day, she didn't cry, her eyes were just empty. On the phone, my sister's voice was as soft as always. "It's not safe for you to live outside alone, come stay at my place." I remembered the last time I saw her, the bruises on her wrists, and the phrase: "Your brother-in-law... Mom chose him too." "No," I said. "Then... three days from now is the baby's first birthday party, can you come?" I squeezed the silver bracelet in my bag, bought with my scholarship money, and the toothless smile of my little nephew flashed before my eyes. "...I'll be there." On the day of the birthday party, I sneaked into the nursery. Only to see the baby wearing that tacky gold locket my mom kept hidden at the bottom of her chest. She always said she would pass it down to "the most obedient child." My fingers tightened. The door was pushed open violently, my mother rushed in, and snatched the silver bracelet right out of my hand. "Where did you get the money for this?!" My sister hurried in and picked up the crying baby who had been startled awake. She didn't dare look at me, just kept her head down, rocking him gently. My arm was grabbed tightly by my mother and I was dragged into the main hall. "Everyone, judge for yourselves!" My mother's voice was shrill. "She cheated on her exams, she might not even graduate! And now she wants to cut ties with the family!" The gazes of the relatives stabbed into me. I tried to pull my hand back, but she pinched me extremely hard. At that moment, I felt like I had been stripped naked and thrown into a crowd. My mother put on a smiling face and looked towards the main table. "Good thing her Uncle Zhang is here." "Mr. Zhang, tell us, is there any hope for this child's exam situation?" The distant relative from the academic affairs office pushed his glasses up his nose. "The expert panel determined she cheated, I'm afraid even her degree is in jeopardy." He turned to me, his tone "earnest": "Chloe, listen to your uncle's advice, go home first and solve the problem." The room erupted in uproar. "She always looked like such an honest kid." "This is it, she's going to lose her degree." My father pulled at me: "Did you hear that! Uncle Zhang is trying to save you!" My sister stood at the edge of the crowd holding her baby, avoiding my gaze. I looked at the smugness in my mother's eyes, Zhang Jianye's hypocritical face, and the disdainful looks from the whole room. "Uncle Zhang, is this expert panel permanent or temporary? When was the review process initiated? What exactly constitutes the cheating?" His Adam's apple bobbed, but he couldn't answer. I turned to my mother: "So, you guys arranged this... using 'cheating' to force me home?" My mother's face changed drastically. Zhang Jianye slammed the table: "Nonsense! The procedures are compliant!" "Then make the procedures public!" I scanned the room full of people, finally looking at my sister holding her child. Her fingers were white from gripping so hard. "This isn't over." I looked at Zhang Jianye, enunciating every word. "You know exactly how clean the procedures in the academic affairs office really are." "If this really blows up," I paused, glaring at him viciously. "I don't mind flipping the table and letting everyone see what's hidden underneath." As I turned to leave, I heard my sister's trembling voice. "Chloe... please, I'm begging you..." I didn't look back. The summer night wind hit my face, my palms were ice cold. That gold locket swung in my memory, heavy as shackles. And my sister had already put on her share. 4. I finally waited until the start of the semester in the small motel. On the first day back, I headed straight for the academic advisor's office. "I want to see all the evidence the expert panel used to determine I cheated. The review records, anomaly markings, signed documents." The advisor frowned: "Chloe, the result is final..." "If the procedures are compliant, why are you afraid to show me?" I stared at her: "Or is it that those materials don't even exist?" The commotion drew the department head and Zhang Jianye. Students started gathering in the hallway. "You're being provocative!" The department head's face was livid. "Since you're too afraid to show me the evidence," I raised my voice: "Then let me retake the exam right here, right now." Uncle Zhang frowned: "Chloe, stop being unreasonable!" "Whether I'm being unreasonable or not, taking the test will prove it." I stared at them: "Test, or no test?" The department head and Uncle Zhang exchanged glances. The crowd of students outside was growing. "Fine!" The department head gritted his teeth: "If you want to take it, take it! But this is the last time!" Two days later, a temporary testing room was set up in a small conference room. Four teachers proctored, and the hallway outside was packed with students. The questions were drawn randomly, even harder than the original exam, but I answered them smoothly. I handed in my paper in forty minutes. "Grade it right here." The department head said to Professor Lee, who was observing. Professor Lee picked up a red pen, the conference room so quiet you could hear people breathing. When she finished grading, Professor Lee was silent for two seconds: "Fifty-nine points." Dead silence fell over the conference room. A student outside loudly questioned: "Missed it by one point?!" The department head looked relieved: "Chloe, what else do you have to say?" I looked at the test paper, my mind a blank. "I want to see the grading details." "Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?" The department head exploded. Just then, my parents squeezed their way in. My mother rushed up to grab me: "Chloe! Stop this! Come home with Mom!" "Wait." I suddenly raised my voice. "Professor Lee, you graded very carefully! Especially that last question." "The solution steps I wrote, the derivation from step three to step four, are you sure you read them clearly?" Professor Lee's expression changed slightly. "And Director Zhang, what a coincidence you're here today too... even more coincidental is that Professor Lee, who graded the paper, was your college classmate, right?" The air in the conference room instantly froze. "What nonsense are you talking about!" Professor Lee stood up abruptly. "I demand to see my original exam paper right now!" I didn't back down an inch. "If the paper stands up to scrutiny, I will apologize and drop out immediately! But if you don't dare show it to me..." I stared at Zhang Jianye. "Then you have a guilty conscience!" Zhang Jianye's face turned blue and white. Under the mounting pressure, he suddenly smiled. "Fine, show it to her." The envelope holding the test paper was torn open and handed to me. I took it, my hands shaking slightly. Looking down, the handwriting actually was mine. Even the specific little hook I make when writing the word "Solve," and the slight curve when I write the number "7," were exactly the same. The key derivation in the last question was crossed out with red pen, annotated: "Jump in logic, insufficient basis." It was my handwriting. "See clearly?" Zhang Jianye's voice sounded. "It's your handwriting, right? You wrote it, right?" I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Uproar outside the door: "She really did write it herself..." "Then what is she making a fuss about..." "What do you have to say for yourself now?" The department head said tiredly: "Chloe, it's time you apologize!" Professor Lee also stood up, her face full of anger. The accusations from the watching crowd grew louder. My parents came from either side to grab my arms. I violently shoved them away: "Don't touch me!" In the dead silence, they stepped forward again, shoving me more roughly towards the door. I braced myself against the doorframe, looking back at everyone: "I didn't cheat!" Everyone froze. I panted heavily, staring dead at Zhang Jianye, staring at Professor Lee, staring at that test paper with the perfect handwriting. Suddenly, I let out a cold laugh: "I know what happened." My voice wasn't loud. But it made the entire hallway instantly fall dead silent.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "394599", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel