Chapter 1

For my in-laws' golden wedding anniversary, I gave them a piece of custom jewelry worth a million dollars.

My father-in-law took it with a big smile, going on and on about how beautiful it was.

Every relative in the room looked at me with envy, saying they wished they had a daughter-in-law like me too.

But my mother-in-law didn't say a word. She was even wiping away tears on the sly.

I thought she was just overwhelmed, so I smiled and told her there would be even better gifts to come.

Who knew she would suddenly break into loud sobs right there:

"If only my baby boy were here, he and his wife would cook us a hot meal, not put on this kind of empty show!"

"You just want to look good, don't you! Dragging us two old people into playing this dutiful-daughter-in-law act! You just want everyone to praise you for being better than his little brother, isn't that it!"

My face went cold in an instant. I let out a bitter laugh. "When you were spending my money, how come you never thought about your youngest son? Now you suddenly remember him?"

My father-in-law, cheerful just a moment ago, slipped the jeweled ring off his finger and sat down to one side without a word.

I looked at the anniversary party I'd spent a small fortune arranging, the guests below murmuring among themselves, and suddenly the whole thing struck me as absurd.

Then, from behind me, came a scream that could tear your heart out:

"Mom!"

A young man in ragged clothes came bursting in, and the moment he saw my in-laws he threw himself to the floor, then scrambled toward them, snot and tears everywhere.

When I got a clear look at his face, fury shot through me and my eyes went wide.

"What are you doing here? Who let you come? Where do you get the nerve!"

My voice came out hysterical.

Everyone else in the room turned to look, studying the man's face closely.

They couldn't help letting out gasps. "Isn't that the youngest son? How is he here? Wasn't he locked up?"

I ignored him, found the security guards, and moved to have him dragged out. But my mother-in-law seized her chance, let out a wail, and threw herself in front of him, shielding him behind her, facing off against the guards.

"Anyone who dares touch my son will have to go through me! What's wrong with my son coming to my golden anniversary!"

Then she wrapped herself around the youngest son and held on tight, like she was protecting some rare treasure.

"Isn't there maybe some kind of misunderstanding here? Why don't we finish the ceremony first, and not make things hard on the boy."

A relative was speaking up for me. They all knew what had happened back then, and they were afraid that if I lost my temper today, no one would even get to eat, so they hurried to calm my mother-in-law down. I drew a deep breath, and for the sake of the whole family's face, I decided not to keep arguing with her.

But my mother-in-law wouldn't let it go, insisting there was no way her son was leaving. "Why can't I say it! She never once thought to help her husband's little brother! My son was barely in his twenties back then! And she forced him to go get a job! She's just vicious! She can't stand to see her brother-in-law do well!"

"She only agreed to put up a little money to send him abroad to study after our whole family got down and begged her. If that isn't a slap in all our faces, then what is it?"

Hearing all this, I shook all over with rage, and I couldn't hold back anymore. "Back then your youngest son wouldn't apply himself, so I, his sister-in-law, hired the best tutor to help him. And he deliberately caused trouble until he drove the tutor away!"

"I got him into the best company to work, and he turned it right around and said I was trying to hound him to death. In the end I was the one who paid for him to study abroad! And now you're saying it was my fault!"

My mother-in-law let out a roar and stood up to square off against me. "How is it not your fault? You knew perfectly well how insecure your brother-in-law was, and you still drove that fancy car on purpose just to provoke him!"

Then she turned to my husband, her voice climbing higher. "Look at your little brother, he'd never go find this kind of wife just to spite me! Anyone I didn't like, he dropped her, every single one!"

"You can't hold a candle to your brother! And this wife of yours can't hold a candle to his wife either!"

My husband's face darkened at once. He looked at me with something like reproach, as if he too thought this was my fault.

The whole room fell silent, everyone listening dumbly to my mother-in-law's accusations. For a moment I couldn't come back to myself. Back when the youngest son ran away from home, I was the one who had taken care of them all, giving it everything I had.

All these years, whatever was good, I gave it to them to use, to eat. I thought if I was good to them, they would change how they saw me.

And this was what it came to. This was what they had thought of me all along.

My father-in-law saw the looks on our faces and cut in with a cold snort, even shoving the youngest son straight into the seat of honor.

"Enough, daughter-in-law. If you hadn't insisted on playing the crusader back then, would your brother-in-law have run away from home? Would he have gone all these years unable to come back and see us? You think we'll be grateful just because you give us these things!"

"You went out of your way to invite all these people today, throwing a banquet in a big house like this! You just want to prove you're better than his brother, don't you? What a scheming woman."

Listening to all this mockery, my heart sank inch by inch to the bottom. It was because of their golden anniversary, because they said they wanted a ceremony they'd never forget, that I had gone and specially asked a friend to book this place.

And not one of them appreciated it. Instead they twisted everything against me.

I laughed bitterly, walked over to the youngest son, and kicked his chair over. He rolled straight off the seat onto the floor, and my mother-in-law shrieked and rushed to help her son up.

"If you hadn't caused the death of my child back then, and stolen from my home, and harassed our maid, would I ever have driven you out?"