Chapter 2
Lisbeth wiped off her snot and saliva and directly smeared them on the floor.
"Ah!" I suddenly covered my ears and screamed.
Lisbeth was stunned for a moment.
I also sat on the floor and started crying, my voice louder than hers.
"Lisbeth, please be kind to my mom, even just a little bit. She's already so old. Please don't make things difficult for her!"
In the end, the doctor rushed over and told us to go home. He told us that my dad might not be able to make it.
When I heard this, I almost collapsed, feeling endless sorrow swirling in my heart.
Tears flowed out my eyes instantly.
When we got out of the hospital, Lisbeth fiercely shot a glare at me.
My intuition told me that after my dad died, the pretended harmony between Lisbeth and me would no longer exist.
So, I glared back at Lisbeth.
As soon as we got home, Lisbeth started rummaging around.
But I didn't pay much attention to her.
Suddenly, Lamont seemed to have a sudden recovery. He opened his eyes and looked a little more energetic.
But this wasn't a good thing actually. Ralph held Lamont's hand.
"Dad, could you please tell us the password of your bank card? Otherwise, it'll be troublesome for us in the future."
Lamont's hand shook, and Ralph quickly fetched a pen and paper.
I didn't intend to look at the password. I just accidentally took a step forward. But Ralph immediately covered the paper, preventing me from seeing it.
"Ralph, what do you mean by this?" I questioned him incredulously.
To be honest, I was not short of money.
But Ralph's attitude chilled my heart. After all, Alfred had helped him a lot over the past few years.
But now, Ralph was actually treating me like an outsider!
I couldn't help wondering, Has he been pretending to be nice to me all these years?
Just then, I heard my mom and Lisbeth having a fight.
We hurried over.
Then, I saw Lisbeth holding a one-million-dollar check.
Mom wanted to snatch the check over, but Lisbeth resolutely refused to give it.
When Ralph saw it, his eyes lit up.
I was also shocked.
I knew that my parents had some money, but I didn't expect them to have one million dollars.
Both my parents were retired teachers, and their pension was almost 10 thousand dollars a month.
But they always lived frugally.
Even when their TV broke down, instead of buying a new one, they would choose to listen to the radio.
It was me who couldn't bear it at that time and bought them a new TV.
My parents had been thrifty for almost all their lives, and I still couldn't understand it.
Lisbeth snapped, "Look what I've found! You don't have money? Then what is this?"
It was the first time Lisbeth had seen a check for such a large amount, and she was a little bit excited now.
My mom shouted at Lisbeth, "Well, the money will be yours after I die. But now, I am still alive!"
It was the first time I'd seen my mom so angry.
Dad was yowling in the room, unable to utter a word.
Suddenly, we heard a loud bang.
We hurried to my dad's room, only to find that he had fallen to the floor.
Ralph hurriedly helped Lamont up, reaching out to feel Lamont's breath with his hand trembling.
Then, Ralph froze in place.
The next second, he started to wail.
"Dad..."
Lamont died from the tumble.
And we didn't even get to say a word to him before he died.
At this moment, my hatred towards Lisbeth reached its peak.
She had crossed my bottom line.
I was really at the end of my patience.
I pushed Lisbeth hard.
And I yelled at her, "My dad is dead. Are you happy now? How about we sell this house and give the money to you too, huh?"
Shamelessly, Lisbeth said, "Okay. Since you said so, don't change your mind later."
I didn't intend to be kind to her anymore.
So, I said to her, "Listen, according to the law, I'll get a share of your family's two houses and that one million dollars.
Lisbeth got unhappy when she heard this.
And she shouted, "No way! It's already lucky enough for you to attend school back then. Now you still want the family's property? Don't be so shameless, okay? Don't think I don't know. When Dad was in the hospital, he definitely gave you money. Otherwise, how could you be willing to take care of him at that time?"
Lisbeth kept bringing up this matter, sounding like I would only take care of my own parents only when I could get money from it.
I really wanted to ask Lisbeth if this was how she treated her own parents.
Chapter 3
I thought it was a moral obligation to take care of one's parents.
Besides, I was taking care of my own parents.
I took out my phone.
Then, I said to Lisbeth, "Come on. Check it yourself. If I ever got a penny from them, I will immediately give 100 thousand dollars to you."
At this time, Ralph stood between us and tried to smooth things over.
He said to me, "Come on. Don't say that to Lisbeth. Just tell her that you won't have that money. We are all family. Don't be so harsh."
When I heard his words, I became even angrier and exploded.
"Ralph, I'm not joking with you. You've been educated, so you should know that one's daughter and son have equal inheritance rights, right? Just look at how bad her attitude is. What's wrong for me to argue with her over that one million dollars? Even if it's only 100 dollars, I still won't allow Lisbeth to get my share."
When Ralph heard this, his face instantly turned gloomy.
"You really wanna force me, Lacey?"
I really didn't want to waste my time arguing with Ralph. It seemed that in Ralph's eyes, money was the most important thing, even if it meant that he had to force our mom.
But Lisbeth didn't give up.
She snorted at me, "Which family's daughter still gets the inheritance? In our hometown, women have to give money to their family every year even after they get married."
When I saw my tearful mom beside me, I felt so sad for her in my heart.
Lamont had just died, but Ralph and Lisbeth had already begun to plan how to get all the inheritance.
When Lamont was still alive, he was respected in the village because he was a teacher.
And many parents would go to him to discuss family matters.
But now, our family was in a mess. If Lamont knew about this, he would probably be furious.
I calmed down a little and spoke to Lisbeth.
"Lisbeth, I don't believe my family didn't give you any money to let you buy those two houses. If you dare to force my mom again, I will have a serious talk with you about your houses."
Lisbeth was intimidated by me and stopped making a fuss.
When we were handling Lamont's funeral affairs in the village, Lisbeth happily told everyone that my parents had one million dollars in savings.
Lisbeth also said that when her son got married, she could get a dowry of at least 200 thousand dollars. After she got the money, she could buy another house in the city area.
In that case, she would have three houses.
Lisbeth kept showing off about it.
Now, everyone in the village knew about this.
Someone remarked, "Well. I didn't expect the Bagehot family to be so rich. Now that Lamont is dead, I bet his son and daughter will be so happy since they can have all his money."
I had been suppressing my anger throughout the funeral.
When it came to settling accounts, Lisbeth acted dumb and said nothing about how to divide that one million dollars.
Last night, my mom cried and told me that Lisbeth probably didn't intend to give her a penny.
I told Lisbeth, "Mom found the will at home. It's written on it that Mom will get 500 thousand dollars, and I and my brother will split the remaining 500 thousand dollars."
Lisbeth's face instantly darkened.
"The will means nothing, okay? I'm telling you, this money is all mine, and you won't get a penny. Besides, your mom is so old. What's the use of her having so much money?"
Lisbeth's words made me so angry that I smashed the cup in my hand directly on the ground.
"Lisbeth, you're really shameless. Just because you have the check doesn't mean that you will have all the money."
Lisbeth grabbed my mom's collar and said angrily, "Tell her if the money is useless in your hand! You still have some money in your pocket, and that's enough. Are you really gonna have that 500 thousand? I'm telling you, if you dare to give the money to your daughter, we won't come to look after you when you get old. Just let your daughter help you."
My mom was still in a daze. Lamont had gone, and no one in the family could be more heartbroken than her.
Lamont used to be the head of the family. And now, without him, my mom seemed to have aged a lot overnight.
"You took my mom's money, yet you still dare to bully her?" I really wanted to kick Lisbeth hard.
But considering that my nephew was still here, I didn't do anything.
Chapter 4
Alfred came over and looked at the shards of glass on the floor, asking, "What happened? Something's wrong?"
I replied, "Well, Lisbeth said if we dare to take the money, she would no longer look after our mom."
When Alfred heard that it was my family matter, he immediately kept his mouth shut and fetched the broom to clean the shards on the floor.
Mom's eyes had become swollen from crying these days. She said to Lisbeth hoarsely, "You haven't taken care of me much. Every time Lamont and I were hospitalized, it was Lacey who came to take care of us."
Lisbeth interrupted impatiently, "Alright, alright. Stop it. How much money did you give her behind my back? You think I know nothing about it?"
She brought up this matter again.
I really couldn't stand being slandered by her like this anymore.
She told everyone in the village that I took my parents' money, making me a disgrace.
"Lisbeth, stop it."
"Stop what? Telling the truth? Why don't you go tell all the villagers to stop gossiping? You're really a drama queen, Lacey. If you really care about your mom, why not take care of her yourself?" Lisbeth shouted angrily.
I retorted loudly, "It was you who said you were too busy with work and couldn't come to take care of my parents, remember? Why are you bringing up these things again? I didn't do anything wrong!"
I felt Lisbeth was really unreasonable. When Lamont was in the hospital, I took out my own money to help out.
But in the eyes of Lisbeth and her family, I was the one who took benefits from it.
At that time, neither Ralph nor Lisbeth was willing to go to the hospital to take care of my parents. That was why I had no choice but to stand out and help out.
But now, Lisbeth distorted the fact.
She snorted, "You said you could take leave to take care of them at that time. Since you can, why don't you ask for a leave again this time?"
I pointed at her nose angrily and snapped, "Just wait. I not only want that one million dollars, but I also want a share of your family's houses!"
The next day, I found a lawyer and said I wanted to sue Ralph and Lisbeth.
Lisbeth came out cursing and drove us away with a broom in her hand.
Ralph came out, wanting to pull her back.
He told Lisbeth that it was too embarrassing to act like this in the village.
But Lisbeth sat on the ground and started making a scene again.
She wailed, "Oh God! Please help me! Someone is being shameless, wanting to rob my family!"
In a short while, a crowd gathered around.
Some people tried to calm Lisbeth down, advising her to negotiate with me and not to make a scene like this.
But Lisbeth didn't listen and became more and more unreasonable.
Seeing this, I changed my mind and also began to act like a crazy woman.
I wailed, "When my parents were in the hospital, Lisbeth refused to go and look after them, saying that they were not her parents.
"She also said that even if she married into our family, she still had to give money to her own parents. I know she has taken a lot from my parents over the years.
"Her family has always been very stingy. They used to buy their pots and many other necessities using my parents' money.
"Now, she even wants to take all the money that my dad left for my family."
I cried loudly and sadly.
My neighbors, who had watched me grow up, came over and helped me up.
One of them pointed at Lisbeth and accused, "You're her sister-in-law after all. How could you be so harsh to her?"
Another person added, "Well, I heard from Lacey's mom that her family is very poor. They even need Lacey to buy them food or some other necessities."
The crowd started to discuss in a clamor.
Seeing that the situation was not good for her, Lisbeth stopped crying.
Then, she stood up and said, "But you must've got some money from your dad when he was in the hospital."
I retorted, "Even if I did, so what? I needed money to hire a carer for him."
Others echoed, "That's right. That's right. We all know that it was Lacey who always came here to take care of her parents. But you, Lisbeth, haven't visited them for more than a year at least."
Lisbeth didn't know how to refute at this time.
I exchanged a look with the lawyer and threw the lawsuit paper at Lisbeth.
"Lisbeth, if you don't follow the will, the court will teach you what to do."