At that moment, my father urged impatiently on the other end of the phone, “Did you hear me? This girl likes to eat seafood. Buy more. Don’t be stingy. And don’t forget the red envelope I asked for…”

Before my father could finish speaking, I interrupted him in a cold tone, “Wait. I’ll be there soon.”

He didn’t notice anything unusual in my voice. After a few perfunctory remarks, he hung up the phone. But when I showed up at the door empty-handed, my parents’ expressions instantly shifted.

“Where are the things?” Mom walked over, her tone full of reproach. She glanced outside again and again, unwilling to believe it. “If you can forget something this simple, what else can you even be trusted to do?”

“Forget it, forget it. Just ask someone to deliver it,” Dad said with a glare. “Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and place an order on your phone.”

“I think you’ve gotten used to being a rich wife—lazy, spoiled and gluttonous.”

His words snapped me out of my daze. Yes, I could have lived a life without worrying about food or clothing. But I had fallen out with my in-laws and willingly turned myself into a blood bank for my so-called family. How pitiful!

I sat down on the sofa with a cold expression. In front of all the relatives, I pulled out an IOU and slapped it onto the coffee table. “This is the 50,000 Joseph borrowed from me. When do you plan to pay it back?”

My mother picked up the IOU in confusion. After reading it clearly, her face instantly darkened. “Alice, you actually asked your own brother to sign an IOU?”

She was about to tear it up, but seeing the relatives’ eyes on her, she choked back her anger and changed her tone. “Your father and I have always believed boys should be raised with discipline. We were too strict with him. He’d rather borrow 50,000 dollars from you than ask us. That’s our failure as parents.”

Sensing the awkward tension, the relatives quickly tried to mediate.

“Alice, you’re not short on money. Today is your brother’s big day. Let’s not talk about the 50,000 now.”

“I heard your parents have been transferring 5,000 dollars to you every month. Over the years, that’s way more than 50,000. Your brother doesn’t have a penny. You should be more understanding.”

“Besides, your husband’s family is wealthy. What they save on snacks alone is probably more than this. The richer people are, the stingier they tend to be.”

With everyone siding with her, my mother became even bolder. “Your brother is so considerate. He said he’d take your father and me on a honeymoon. I thought the travel expenses shouldn’t burden the young couple, so you transfer 50,000 from that card to me first. We’ll pay you back eventually.”

I sneered and replied with just two words, “No money.”

My mother jumped up at once. “How could there be no money!”

She pulled up the transfer records on her phone and started scrolling through them one by one, clearly wanting to prove herself right in front of the relatives.

“We’ve given you 180,000 dollars over the years, haven’t we? We agreed this was for emergencies—not for you to waste! I didn’t expect you to become so vain after just three years of marriage. I shouldn’t have sent you to school. What use were all those saintly books you read?”

When I was younger, my parents had set very low academic expectations for me. They always said that girls just needed to be happy. Back then, I thought it was a form of love. Now I realized—they just didn’t want to invest time or money in me.

Calmly, I took out my hospital diagnosis and laid it on the table. “I have cancer. The 5 million dollars in that card are gone. I urgently need money to survive. So you must return that 50,000 dollars!”

“What!” my parents exclaimed in unison, though there wasn’t a trace of concern in their eyes.

My father didn't even glance at the diagnosis and he directly scolded me on the spot, "Alice, in order to avoid giving money, you can even make up a story so far about terminal illness?"

I was amused by his words and just as I was about to refute him, I heard my phone ding.

"5 million dollars has been credited to your bank account."

I was stunned. Just as I reached out to check what was going on, my father snatched my phone away. His eyes were filled with unconcealed excitement.

"I was wondering why there was only 20 dollars left in the card. It turns out you transferred it here."

My mother also came over, her expression full of glee, not even bothering to hide her intentions. "Another 5 million dollars! Joseph’s marriage is now secure."

My parents beamed with joy as they stared at the balance, while my medical record booklet lay forgotten on the table, completely ignored.

The bitterness in my chest finally triggered the tears I had been holding back for so long. If I hadn’t died once, I wouldn’t have believed these were the very family members I once trusted wholeheartedly.

"Enough, what does my money have to do with you!" I shouted, snatching the phone back and turning to leave. I didn’t care about the money anymore. I just had to focus on saving my own life.

"Run?" Dad quickly reached out and grabbed me, then slapped me across the face without warning. He roared at me with a furious expression, "What are you talking about? What do you mean it has nothing to do with us?"

"Your mother and I have been wearing the same clothes for years. Which month have I not sent money to you? But whenever we need to ask for a little bit in return, you start playing games. It’s better to raise a piece of meat than raise you!"

Even though I had died once, hearing these same words again from my father still made my whole body tremble.

I yelled back, "You know exactly how much you’ve taken from that card! How dare you say that to me!"

Dad was stunned for a second, but then became even more irate and slapped me again, harder. "Everyone just heard the sound of 5 million arriving—what exactly did we take from you?"

Mom pointed at me like she was mourning, "You have no conscience. No wonder even your husband doesn’t want you. You’re so cold-blooded, you deserve to be unloved!"

The moment she mentioned Tommy, pain gripped my heart. I thought of that gentle man being forced to kneel by me. I thought of how he now refused to answer my calls. A surge of pain rose in my chest, making me dizzy and I collapsed to the floor...

In the haze, I heard my parents talking.

"Why is she fainting at this time? Joseph and Sissy will be here soon. I don’t have time to take her to the hospital."

"Just leave her in the room. Who knows if she’s really fainted or not? She hasn’t touched a man in months. Maybe her hormones are out of whack. That would explain why she’s acting so strange today!"

"Oh right, we still haven’t bought the seafood she likes. Do you know her bank account password..."

When I finally regained consciousness, I found myself lying on a narrow camp bed in the utility room.

I got up weakly and looked through the crack in the door. My mother was helping my brother peel shrimp with a smile on her face. A table full of people was laughing and chatting joyfully—but none of it had anything to do with me.

I pushed the door open without emotion. The moment I stepped out, all their laughter and conversation came to an abrupt halt. Dad glared at me in disgust.

"You wake up just as the meal starts. You really know how to pick the time."

Joseph gave Dad a discreet look and reminded him softly, "Dad, Sissy is on video, be careful when you speak."

Dad didn’t care. "What are you afraid of? The in-laws already know her. She’s an unfilial daughter who spends her parents’ retirement money like water!"

I clenched my fists and shouted back, "Yes, with such a difficult sister-in-law like me, Sissy should think carefully about whether she wants to marry into this family."

Dad slammed the table and glared at me. "What nonsense are you talking about! You’re a married daughter. Do you think you have the right to manage family matters?"

I sneered and shouted toward the phone, "Did you hear that? In the Horan Family, a married daughter is like spilled water. You’d better think twice about how Sissy will live here."

"I gave you face!" Dad slammed the table in fury and lunged toward me.

"Oh my, why is this family so hostile?" several female voices shouted from the phone screen.

Sissy looked visibly embarrassed.

My mother, panicked, quickly held my father back and explained frantically, "No, no! Our daughter has been on edge ever since her husband abandoned her. Not only did she drain our savings, but she’s also been sulking at everyone. Joseph would never behave like that."

I forced a bitter smile, then quickly pulled my medical records and IOUs out from a pile of shrimp shells.

Rushing toward Sissy’s phone, I shouted excitedly, “Do you want to know where Joseph’s money really came from?”

Joseph stepped in front of me nervously. “Sister, is it necessary to bring up your personal issues in front of the whole family right now?”

At that moment, a middle-aged woman’s voice came through the phone, calm but stern. “Joseph, step aside and let your sister speak.”

“The reason I asked Sissy to keep the video on is because I had a bad feeling. Now is the perfect time for us to see what kind of family you truly have.”