Chapter 5

When Lily was young, my husband had already passed away.

It was a time when my career was on the rise, and I struggled to balance family and work.

Despite my busy schedule, I made time to help her with homework, care for her health, and tried my best to spend time with her.

I never expected her to say she hadn't felt the warmth of family.

Did she expect me to revolve around her every day?

"I might not have done your laundry or cooked for you, but I hired a housekeeper. You could have whatever you wanted to eat."

"When you were unhappy, I might not have sweet-talked you, but I tried my best to solve the source of your unhappiness."

"I might not have made you ginger tea, but I found you a private doctor to take care of your health."

"I've done so much, and you say you haven't felt the warmth of family. Then go feel it more at Jack's place. After all, I'm cold-hearted."

I suppressed my anger and listed all these things I had done for her, feeling my years of dedication were unappreciated.

It would have been fine if she just lacked gratitude. After all, I brought her into this world, and I only hoped for her to live happily.

But I never expected her to harbor so much resentment towards me.

"I'm not stopping you from pursuing love. I have the right to decide how to use the money I earned."

"Splurging my money everywhere while complaining that I didn't give you family warmth - Lily, don't be so shameless."

My daughter's face turned as colorful as a spilled paint palette, alternating between pale and flushed.

She immediately defended herself, her voice tinged with a hint of grievance:

"Mom, I'm sorry. I just said the wrong thing in a moment of anger. How could you say such things to me?"

"If I hadn't been in a bad mood from being mocked for having no money, I wouldn't have spoken carelessly and made you angry."

Look at this good daughter I raised. Even when apologizing, she still had to shift the responsibility onto me.

"I really have no money. Look, I'm even allergic to these cheap clothes. Please restore my allowance," my daughter said, looking at me pitifully with tears in her eyes, lifting her sleeve to show me her allergic arm.

She hoped to evoke my sympathy.

"You have enough new clothes to wear different ones every day until next year without repeating," I coldly exposed her act of playing the victim. She did indeed have allergies to some fabric materials.

But she had so many clothes that she wouldn't worry about having nothing to wear.

"I'm your only daughter. Won't all this money be mine sooner or later anyway? You might as well give it to me in advance, isn't it the same?" Lily said.

"If you don't give it to me, I'll consider that I don't have you as a mother. We'll sever our mother-daughter relationship, and I won't take care of you in your old age."

Lily said viciously to me, with a hint of embarrassed anger, using elderly care to threaten me.

"Fine, let's sever it then. I might as well have given birth to a roast pork," I said, referring to a Chinese joke about useless children.

"But verbal agreements are invalid. I'll have someone draft an agreement, and you can sign it, Ms. Lily."

"As for elderly care, as long as I have money, there will be plenty of people to take care of me, certainly more filial than you."

I said with a smile, speaking very quickly, not accepting any threats.

It's really laughable. It's the 21st century, and she's still bringing up this issue. A young person living more conservatively than me.

As for elderly care, I'm more worried that her version of care would be the kind that leads to premature death by several decades.

Seeing that I spoke without any hesitation, Lily feared I would immediately have her sign the agreement. She left angrily.

As she left, she didn't forget to slam the door loudly.