Dad begged me. "This is all the money we have. Take it. Please save your mom's life. I don't want anything else. After she's out of the hospital, our house will be yours. We'll leave this place. We won't cause you any more trouble. Please, save her! She's your mother!"

I swatted his cards away and replied coldly, "Sorry, but this is a hospital. We have rules here. I can't operate on family. Don't waste my time."

The argument had drawn a crowd of onlookers.

Ethan's chest was shaking with anger as he slapped me hard across the face.

"Rosie Mitchell! All that education, and for what? The person lying there is your mother! If you don't help her, she'll die! Do you understand that?"

Dad's eyes grew dull with disappointment. He pointed at my nose and angrily yelled, "You're our only daughter! We worked ourselves to the bone to send you to school. We're not asking you to support us in our old age. But now, you can't even fulfill the responsibility of saving a life?

"When you were young, no one was there to take care of you, so your mom had to carry you while working. She was fired from five different jobs because of that! When you were in school, she'd get up at the crack of dawn, even in the freezing winter, just to make you breakfast.

"Rain or shine, she'd never let you walk home alone, and this is how you repay her? You're worse than an animal!"

I rubbed my ears in frustration.

"Are you done? Was I the one who made her do all that? She did it because she wanted to! Her illness is a genetic issue. If death wants her, there's nothing I can do. I'm a doctor, not a god.

"If you have the time to argue with me here, you'd be better off preparing for her funeral so you're not scrambling when she's gone."

Dad suddenly gasped for air and collapsed straight to the ground.

Ethan caught him just in time, but he didn't stop yelling at me.

"Your mom did all that because she loved you. She would give her life for you without hesitation, and this is how you talk about her? Mark my words, Rosie Mitchell! Karma will catch up to you."

As the crowd around us grew, I rolled my eyes.

"You're not the one about to die, so why are you all so anxious? I know she's my mother. Maybe you should ask her if she'd want me to break the rules."

I turned and pretended to ask into the ward.

Mom was still unconscious, so naturally, she didn't respond.

I spread my hands and said, "See? Even Mom doesn't want me breaking the rules."

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed at me, "Are you insane? How is she supposed to answer you when she's like this? I'm telling you now. Either you save her, or we're getting a divorce! You won't get a single penny from me!"

I didn't even look up. I just continued texting on my phone.

"Where the heck is the kidney? Isn't it here yet? The patient's in the OR waiting for a transplant!"

As soon as I sent the message, the kidney arrived in front of me.

The family of the patient in the operating room followed closely behind. Their faces were filled with hesitation.

"Dr. Mitchell, maybe we should let your mom have the kidney. She's in worse condition than my son. He can last another two months."

Dad's and Ethan's eyes lit up at the suggestion. But a second later, I shook my head, rejecting her offer.

"They're all patients in the hospital. I won't play favorites. Don't worry. Every life matters equally."

Dad suddenly slapped his head, and blood poured down his face. "What have I done? How did I raise such a heartless daughter?"

Ethan immediately pulled out his phone and had his lawyer draft a divorce agreement, threatening to make me leave with nothing.

I ignored him and turned to head into the operating room. But just then, a few bystanders stepped forward, blocking my way.

"Dr. Mitchell, we all know that you're a skilled doctor. But you became a doctor to save lives. You can't just ignore your mother. If you do this, who will trust you to treat them in the future?"

"Yeah. If you perform surgery on your mom, we'll look the other way. No one will report you, so it won't count as breaking the rules!"

After noticing that I wouldn't listen, Dad turned to the patient's family and kneeled in front of them. He begged them to forgo the surgery and give Mom a chance to live.

The family agreed, but I still refused.

"Surgery isn't a game. I've been preparing for this for a long time. Each patient's case is unique, and so is the surgical plan. You can't just swap one patient for another like that."

As I said that, I signaled to my colleague to take the kidney into the operating room.

Dad's desperate pleas only made the crowd more hostile toward me.

Someone pulled out their phone and started a live stream, inciting the entire internet to condemn me. The insults flooded in.

"This is what an expert doctor looks like? She can't even save her own mom, and she's supposed to save others?"

"Even animals know how to take care of their family. This ingrate is worse than an animal! She's not fit to be a doctor!"

"Get out of the hospital! If you don't, we'll never go there again!"

Someone even threw a set of keys at my head. Blood poured out instantly, and the scene quickly spiraled out of control. By the time the hospital administrators arrived, my surgical gown was stained with blood.

After hearing the nurse's account and seeing the comments online, they urged me to save Mom, but I still refused.

"I have my principles. No one gets special treatment. Not even my mother."

I left those words behind and stepped into the operating room.

Behind me, Dad's wailing echoed as he recounted all they had done for me over the years.

The cake soaked in rain on a stormy night, the textbooks paid for with spare change, and the mud-covered doll that conveyed love and blessings.

Despite their financial struggles, they had always given me all the love they could. I had been lucky enough to grow up in a warm family.

The day I got into the hospital for my residency, Dad and Mom held my hand and walked me around the village.

They had proudly told everyone that our family finally had a top student. They called me the pride of the Mitchell family.

When they found out that I was getting married, they had each worked three jobs for three years just to scrape together the down payment for a house. All so I wouldn't feel inferior in front of Ethan.

For 30 years, I'd never envied anyone else. I knew that their love for me was real, and I loved them too.

If that one thing hadn't happened, I might have risked my job to save Mom. But unfortunately, we couldn't turn back time.

The door to the operating room closed, shutting out Dad's desperate cries.

When the surgery was finally over, five hours had passed.

As I took off my mask and stepped out the door, I was met by a crowd of reporters eager to interview me, along with passersby condemning me on behalf of my parents.

"Hi, Dr. Mitchell. We heard you'd rather save a stranger than your mother. Is there something more to the story?"

"What story? She's just an ungrateful monster! The Mitchells raised such a heartless daughter. What a stroke of bad luck! She deserves to be hit by a car or struck by lightning!"

"She calls herself a doctor? Calling her an animal would be an insult to animals! The patient's family even agreed to give up the surgery, yet she still acted high and mighty. She prioritized her reputation over her own mother's life!"

"Get out of the hospital, Rosie Mitchell! Get out of the medical field!"

The crowd was so dense that I couldn't go through at all. After five hours of surgery, I was so weak I could barely stand.

After a long standoff, a nurse rushed over and dragged me away, pulling me out of the hellish scene.

I was brought to the hospital director's office.

Dad and Ethan were already there. Their faces were etched with exhaustion and despair.

The director, Hayden Moore, threw his phone before me, sighing heavily. "Take a look at what you've done."

I glanced at the screen. My name was all over the trending list.

"What an ungrateful daughter! She's a doctor but heartlessly abandons her mom's life."

"Does this heartless doctor even deserve to save lives?"

When I clicked on the comments, they were full of scathing remarks.

"Rosie Mitchell is my college classmate. Her mom once took a two-day train ride just to bring her some local specialties! Who would have thought that she'd turn out like this? No matter how good her studies are, she's just a morally corrupt beast!"

"I've never seen such a shameless doctor. She used her mom's life as a stepping stone for her career. Doesn't she fear her mom coming back to haunt her in her nightmares?"

"I curse this evil woman to get hit by a car, struck by lightning, and choke to death on water!"

Before I could finish reading, Dad collapsed to his knees in front of me.

"Please, I beg you. Dr. Moore has already agreed. Just sign the paper, and we can immediately transfer the kidney from another hospital for your mom. As long as she survives, I'll step forward to explain! I'll make sure no one criticizes you!"

Ethan also spoke up coldly. "Didn't you save that patient already? Now it's Mom's turn, right?"

I was about to shake my head in refusal, but the office door suddenly burst open.

A nurse rushed in, panicked. "Dr. Mitchell's mother just passed away!"

The four of us immediately rushed to the ward.

By the time we arrived, the ECG had gone flat. Mom was completely gone.

Dad, drained of all his strength, collapsed to the floor in despair. Tears poured from his eyes as he cried out, "How can I live without you, honey?"

His words were full of sorrow and pain. It moved the people around us.

Ethan's eyes turned red. He said through gritted teeth, "How can you be so heartless, Rosie? That's your mother! You could have saved her, but you let her die in front of you!"

The reporters and netizens, who had been waiting nearby, rushed forward. Red paint was thrown at my head, and black garbage bags were dumped all over me.

"Get out of the hospital! The hospital doesn't need a heartless monster like you! Get out!"

"You didn't even save your own mother! How can you call yourself human? Everyone, attack this ungrateful wretch!"

"We don't need this kind of doctor! If the hospital doesn't deal with her, we will!"

Hayden was pushed into a corner.

At the same time, a group of colleagues in white coats arrived, holding up banners.

"Fire Rosie Mitchell! Fire Rosie Mitchell! Otherwise, we'll all go on strike!"

"Get Rosie Mitchell out of the medical field!"

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot with rage as he spat, "Don't you admit your mistake?"

"Stop talking to her! If she doesn't admit it, we'll make her feel it!"

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering echoed down the hall. Then came a dull thud as something heavy hit the ground.

A nurse's face paled as she pointed at the window. "Shit! Dr. Mitchell's father just jumped from the building!"

A group of people immediately rushed over.

The building was eight stories high, with no safety barriers. Dad had died on the spot.

And I smiled.

Finally, the day had come.