Chapter 2

Jason and Myra exchanged a glance, their similar faces filled with disbelief.

"It hasn't come through?"

"Everyone else got theirs. How could you two not have gotten yours?"

"You're not lying to me, are you—waiting for me to leave so you can give a bigger share to this son who carries the Norris name?"

Jason immediately got worked up.

"What's that supposed to mean? My name is Norris, I'm a son. Isn't it only right that I get a bigger share?"

"You're a married-out daughter. Giving you a few dollars is already more than generous."

Before I could explain anything more, Jason and Myra both reached out to grab my phone to check whether the money had been deposited.

I sighed.

"It really hasn't come through."

"When I registered my bank card last time, I accidentally wrote down one digit wrong, so I went back yesterday to register it again. The property buyout money will probably take about a week to arrive."

As I spoke, I handed over the beat-up old phone that had died last year.

"Look at the phone all you want, but the screen's black and it won't turn on."

"Since you're both here anyway, why don't you buy me a new phone?"

The two of them stared at the phone for a long while, and once they saw the screen really was black, they finally believed me.

"Buy a phone? Where would I get money to buy a phone? You've got your own pensions, don't you?"

"I told you back then to transfer the property buyout money straight into my account, and you wouldn't. Now look what's happened. I'm waiting on that money to pay off the bridge loan on the house. If I wait another week, the interest is going to pile up a lot more!"

"What are you two even good for?"

"So aggravating. You're not worried, but I sure am."

Jason and Myra were furious, muttering a whole string of complaints.

Once they were sure they wouldn't be getting the money today, the two of them each said they were busy and left in a huff—and on the way out they didn't even forget to take back every one of the gifts they'd brought us.

Three:

After the two of them left, Keith finally spoke up, puzzled.

"Why didn't you tell the kids the truth?"

"Is it because the kids have been asking for money so often lately? Are you upset?"

"Don't blame the kids either. It's because we're the useless ones who never made any real money that they end up needing it."

"Anyway, we've got our pension and our health coverage, so why not just split this money evenly between them? That way they'll stop saying we play favorites."

I knew that if I told Keith about being reborn, about everything from my past life, he'd probably find it hard to believe—and it would break his heart to learn his own children had abandoned him and gotten him killed.

So I smiled.

"It's not that I'm angry at the kids today. It's mainly that money is the root of all evil."

"I was scrolling through short videos yesterday, and there was a family in almost the same situation as us. They handed all their money over, but their kids turned into ungrateful leeches instead."

"I don't care about the money, but I don't want to lose the kids, so I think splitting it evenly might not be the right thing to do."

Keith nodded, but he didn't believe me.

"We've been so good to the kids, treated them all the same their whole lives. How could they ever turn ungrateful?"

"If we go doubting them like this, upsetting them, driving them away from us, then that money really would turn into a disaster."

I sighed.

Keith had always been like this—simply good to the kids, which was why he'd foolishly give up everything.

After the property buyout money was split evenly, neither Jason nor Myra was satisfied, so to placate them, Keith handed over our pension cards too.

I got replacement cards later, but the money in them was long gone. That was exactly why Keith couldn't even come up with the hundred-odd thousand for surgery, and was dragged along until it killed him.

I didn't give in, but I didn't argue with Keith either.

"I know you believe in the kids."

"So I'll call them home one at a time, and we'll ask them face to face what they're thinking. Once we've asked them all, we'll decide. What do you say?"