Chapter 3

I enjoyed a comfortable life at my parents' home, eating and sleeping well.

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

That evening, I received Jack's call right on schedule.

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

I remained silent, waiting for her to speak first.

After some muffled prompting in the background, my mother-in-law started speaking haltingly.

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

Then Jack's voice came on the line.

"Lily, Mom knows she was wrong. Please come home. It's not good for you to stay away for so long. My parents already have issues with me, and if you keep this up, they'll look down on me even more."

The truth was, whether I returned home or not didn't really matter. What mattered was that Jack was afraid my father would give him a hard time at work.

Understanding his ulterior motives, I remained silent, not responding to him.

Jack softened his voice, using the approach that had always worked on me before.

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

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

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 laden with home-cooked dishes. While certainly not up to the standards of our previous housekeeper, it was a clear attempt at an apology.

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

For the first few days after my return, my mother-in-law did a passable job with her duties.

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

Lazy, sloppy, careless.

One day, Jack came home with a face as dark as thunder. He went straight to the bathroom and spent a full hour washing up.

At dinner, he questioned his mother, "Mom, how did you wash these clothes?"

My mother-in-law feigned ignorance. "I wash them every day. What's wrong?"

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

"I've had a cold lately, so my sense of smell isn't great. But today, wearing the clothes you washed, everyone at work avoided me. When I asked, they all said my clothes smelled awful. How could that happen if you wash them every day?"

I had noticed the smell in the morning, but I hadn't said anything.

My mother-in-law had probably noticed too, but she didn't dare admit it.

Now that the truth was out, she still tried to defend herself.

"With so many clothes to wash every day, it's normal to forget one or two."

Jack gritted his teeth, struggling to control himself.

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

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

My mother-in-law exploded, standing up abruptly. "Fine! So now you're finding fault with your old mother! When I raised you from a baby, changing your diapers and feeding you, you didn't complain about how I did things. Now that you've grown up, you're nitpicking everything your mother does..."

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

Spittle flying, my mother-in-law suddenly turned her anger towards me.

"And you're no better! Making me work all day, my back and legs aching. Don't think you're some princess! Take a good look at yourself before you start ordering me around. Both of you, ungrateful!"

I stepped back to avoid her spray, but still tried to reason with her.

"It's not ordering you around, it's just work that you're paid for. If you really can't handle it, don't force yourself. I have high standards for my life, and Jack can't lose face at work. By being so careless, you're hurting both of us."

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

"I'm hurting you? Jack, search your conscience! Has your mother ever hurt you?"

With his mother being so unreasonable, Jack 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 herself down on the ground and began wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, what a miserable life I have! I worked myself to the bone to put my son through college, and now that he's successful and married, he's forgotten all his mother's kindness. He's ganging up with his wife to bully me!"

Her dramatic performance attracted quite a crowd of neighbors.

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

Remembering how the neighbors had criticized me in my previous life, I pushed Jack forward, sneering, "She's your mother, you deal with her. I'm just the evil daughter-in-law, I won't interfere in your family matters."

With that, I melted into the crowd of onlookers, washing my hands of the whole affair.