Chapter 3

He flung those words at me, grabbed Giles, and rushed downstairs.

I covered my face and stood there, my ears ringing.

The neighbors were still pointing and gossiping.

I rushed over and grabbed one of them. "How do you all know about this?"

Her eyes darted away. "Your husband and son told us... they said you were faking illness just to get the bride price and dowry back."

In my past life, I already knew the truth.

But hearing those words come out of someone else's mouth in this life still felt like a chunk had been gouged straight out of my heart.

I didn't understand why Giles would do this.

The family wasn't rich, but we were comfortable enough, and from the time he was little he had never gone without anything.

As for when Sidney's heart had turned elsewhere, I knew even less about that.

But no matter what, I would never let myself repeat the fate of my past life!

I took my savings, turned, went downstairs, and headed straight for the bank.

I withdrew two hundred and eighty thousand in cash and packed it into a woven sack.

Then I found my niece, who worked as an account manager at that bank.

"Wendy, do your aunt a favor." I lowered my voice. "Pull Giles's bank records for the last two years."

Wendy was startled. "This... that's against the rules, isn't it?"

I took her hand. "I think someone's scammed him. Your aunt has never asked you for anything in her whole life. Just this once."

Wendy bit her lip and nodded. "All right. I'll check through the internal system after I get off work and email it to you."

I nodded and said goodbye to her.

Then, carrying the sack, I went by my memory from the past life and found the hospital room where Marcia had stayed after giving birth.

But I never expected to be stopped at the door by a middle-aged woman.

It was Marcia's mother, Vanessa Lambert.

She looked at the woven sack in my hand and scoffed.

"What are you here for? Bringing pumpkins?"

"What a joke. Her daughter-in-law is giving birth, and the mother-in-law won't put in a single cent, just lugs over a sack of pumpkins. Has she no shame!"

I gripped the woven sack tight and was about to explain when Sidney and Giles came out of the room.

The moment the two of them saw me, their faces changed at the same time.

Giles rushed over and yanked me aside. "What are you doing here, stirring up trouble?"

Sidney's face darkened too. "Go home right now. Don't make a spectacle of yourself here!"

I knew that if they found out there was money in the sack, that two hundred and eighty thousand would never reach Marcia.

Just as I was trying to find some excuse to smooth it over, Vanessa started cursing at the door of the room.

"Everyone, come look! This is my daughter's mother-in-law! Her daughter-in-law gives birth and is in her postpartum month, and instead of taking care of her, she wants to go off traveling! Now she's even hauled a whole sack of pumpkins to the hospital. Who's she trying to humiliate!"

My head exploded, and I hurried to explain.

"I didn't go traveling! And there aren't pumpkins in this sack! I came to book a postpartum care center for Marcia!"

Vanessa sneered. "You swindled away her bride price and dowry, and now you're still spinning big promises here, booking some postpartum care center. You really think our Marcia is that easy to fool? Bah!"

The room was crowded with family members and patients, all of them pointing and whispering about me.

"This mother-in-law even schemes over her daughter-in-law's bride price and dowry. She's really not human!"

"Exactly. This daughter-in-law has the worst luck for eight lifetimes, marrying into a family like this."

Giles sighed. "My mother's health is poor, and we really did spend a lot on her medical care. She didn't want it to be like this either."

Sidney looked grief-stricken. "As long as everyone's healthy, that matters more than anything. Back when she did her own postpartum month, she got through it on pumpkins, so she thought she'd prepare some pumpkins for her daughter-in-law too. Please, everyone, go easy on her."

The instant he said that, the way everyone looked at me changed.

"So the sack really was full of pumpkins?"

"Fobbing off a new mother with pumpkins, like she's feeding a pig? How rotten! And she still has the nerve to show up at the hospital!"

I was trembling all over. "I did not pocket my daughter-in-law's bride price and dowry. If you don't believe me, you can go to the bank and check the records!"

"Spouting lies to slander people. Believe it or not, I'll sue you for defamation!"

The crowd around me fell silent at once.

Just then, Vanessa suddenly pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and slapped it across my face.

"I was going to leave you a little dignity, but it seems you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"