Chapter 3

I ate well, drank well, and slept well at my parents' home. Life was extremely comfortable.

The only discomfort came from Zack's daily phone calls and messages.

In the evening, I received another punctual call from Zack.

But this time, when I answered, it wasn't Zack's voice, but my mother-in-law's.

I remained silent, waiting for the other end to speak first.

After some faint urging in the background, my mother-in-law started speaking haltingly.

"This time... it's my fault. I'll... give you back the money, and I'll cook better meals from now on. Please come back."

Then Zack's voice came on the line.

"Mia, Mom knows she was wrong. Please come home. It's not good for you to stay there for so long. Your parents already had issues with me, and if you keep doing this, they'll look down on me even more."

In reality, whether I returned home or not wasn't important. What mattered was that Zack was afraid my father would give him a hard time at work.

Understanding his twisted motives, I remained silent.

Zack softened his voice, using the approach that I used to fall for.

"Mia, I've missed you so much these past few days."

Hearing this, I felt a wave of disgust, goosebumps breaking out all over my body.

Afraid he might say something even more nauseating, I quickly agreed.

"Alright, I'll come back tomorrow afternoon."

The next day, I returned as promised.

The table was full of home-cooked dishes. Although certainly not as good as our previous housekeeper's cooking, they had at least made an effort to apologize.

After the meal, my mother-in-law reluctantly returned the money to me.

For the first few days after I returned, my mother-in-law did her job passably well.

But by the fourth day, she gradually began to show her true colors.

Lazy, sloppy, careless.

One day, Zack came home with a face as black as thunder and went straight to the bathroom, spending a full hour there.

At the dinner table, he asked his mother, "Mom, how did you wash these clothes?"

My mother-in-law put on an innocent act: "I wash them every day, what's wrong?"

I saw Zack put down his chopsticks with considerable force, barely containing his anger.

"I've had a cold recently, so my nose isn't working well. Today, I wore the clothes you washed to work, and everyone I met avoided me. When I asked, they all said my clothes smelled bad. How could that be if you wash them every day?"

I had smelled it in the morning, but I didn't say anything.

My mother-in-law probably smelled it too, but she didn't dare say anything.

Now that the truth was out, my mother-in-law still tried to defend herself.

"There are so many clothes to wash every day, it's normal to forget one."

Zack was gritting his teeth, struggling to control himself.

"Mom, stop making excuses! Is it so hard to admit you made a mistake?"

I was also struggling, trying not to laugh out loud. The show of dogs biting dogs was about to begin.

My mother-in-law suddenly stood up: "Fine, now you're starting to despise your old mother. When I raised you from a baby, changing your diapers and feeding you, why didn't you complain about your old mother's poor work then? Now that you've grown up, you're nitpicking everything your mother does..."

Zack's face grew darker and darker as his mother ranted.

My mother-in-law was spitting as she yelled, and suddenly turned her attack on me.

"And you're no better! Making your old mother-in-law work all day, my back and waist aching. Don't think you're really a princess. Take a good look at yourself before you judge others. Both of you are ungrateful!"

I stepped back to avoid her spit, still trying to reason with her.

"It's just a job that you're paid for, not exploitation. If you really can't handle it, don't force yourself. I have high standards for my life, and Zack can't lose face when he goes out. By being so careless, you're hurting both of us."

My mother-in-law's face turned the color of pig liver.

"I'm hurting you? Zack, search your conscience, has your mother ever hurt you?"

With his mother being so unreasonable, Zack was about to lose his temper.

"Mom, I couldn't hold my head up in front of my colleagues today, all because of you. You've really gone too far this time!"

This pushed my mother-in-law's anger to the limit. Before either of us could react, she ran towards the front door.

By the time we caught up with her, she was already downstairs in the community.

My mother-in-law plopped down on the ground and started wailing loudly, her voice carrying far and wide.

"Oh, how miserable I am! I worked myself to the bone to put my son through college, and now that he's successful and married, he's forgotten all the good his mother has done. He's joining his wife in bullying me!"

The commotion attracted a lot of attention from the neighbors.

Some were watching from their windows, others came downstairs for a closer look.

Remembering how the neighbors had criticized me in my previous life, I pushed Zack forward, sarcastically saying,

"Your mother, you deal with her. I'm just a wicked daughter-in-law, I won't get involved in your mother-son affairs."

With that, I melted into the crowd of onlookers, distancing myself from the situation.