After returning to my in-laws' home for Christmas Eve dinner with my wife, Winona Zachary, only my mother-in-law, Jenny Stroll, was busy while the others were all on their phones.

I had just sat down when Jenny started cursing, "They just sit there and wait to eat. They didn't even offer to help. Are they trying to exhaust me?"

She would even slam the pots and pans from time to time. "How heartless for young people to let an elderly person like me serve them!"

I felt a bit restless and nudged Winona. "Maybe you should go help her?"

Jenny's insults escalated after hearing that.

Remembering it was my first time spending Christmas at my in-laws' house and not wanting things to get too ugly, I got up to help. However, Jenny dumped everything on me as soon as I entered the kitchen.

Suppressing my anger, I finished cooking dinner, served it, and got ready to eat.

Jenny suddenly spoke up. "Wait, we need to settle some accounts before we eat."

I was stunned. Settle accounts? What accounts?

Jenny Stroll took out a pile of receipts and placed them on the table. "The total cost of tonight's dinner is 652 dollars. Everyone should contribute equally."

Everyone needed to split the cost of Christmas Eve dinner? Were my in-laws so cold and distant with their family? I felt a bit uncomfortable, but I did not take it seriously. I thought I had nothing to do with it anyway.

After all, the gifts I had bought cost a few thousand dollars. It would be strange if she were to argue over a hundred dollars with me. Besides, I had travelled for hours and prepared a huge Christmas Eve dinner. I was starving, so I just picked up my plate and started eating.

Unexpectedly, Jenny snatched the plate from my hand, her voice sharp and piercing. "Why are you acting as if you've never eaten in ages? We haven't even split the cost of the dinner yet! Why are you eating? 326 dollars. Pay me now!"

I thought I misheard her. "Did you say 326 dollars? I'm paying half by myself?"

Jenny spoke as though she were utterly justified. "Yes! You're an outsider. You can't just come to our house and eat and drink for free, can you?"

The word 'outsider' pierced my heart like a thorn.

The gifts I brought totaled over 4,000 dollars, enough for dozens of meals like this.

She actually started arguing over a few hundred dollars for the meal, calling me an outsider!

"Jenny, we're a family now that I'm married to your daughter. What do you mean by calling me an outsider? Even if we're splitting the bill, it should be evenly distributed among all six of us. Making me pay half is unreasonable!" I suppressed my anger.

Jenny glared at me with a mean expression. "You have to pay me for this Christmas Eve dinner!"

Seeing the situation escalating, my wife, Winona Zachary, grabbed my arm and pleaded in a low voice, "Darling, forget it. It's just a little over 300 dollars. I'll pay her. Making a scene like this during Christmas will make us a laughingstock."

"No!" Jenny stood up abruptly, spitting as she spoke. "Winona, if you consider yourself my daughter, you won't pay for him! He has to pay!"

She grabbed my laptop bag from the couch and began rummaging through it roughly.

"Jenny! Why are you going through my bag like that? What if you break my laptop?" I stood up too, my anger somewhat subsiding, but my voice still carried some anger.

Jenny did not stop. She dumped everything from the laptop bag onto the floor, yelling, "It's your fault for not wanting to pay up! I'll get my payment myself then!"

I angrily reached out to grab the bag from Jenny.

Jenny just refused to let go. The laptop fell to the ground with a loud crash, and the screen shattered right away. My head went blank immediately. "Do you know how much this laptop costs?"

This laptop cost over 5,000 dollars and was an Alienware top-of-the-line model.

She broke it right after I got it.

Jenny crossed her arms and scolded me, "I don't care how much it costs. All I know is that you have the money to buy a computer, yet you refuse to pay for Christmas Eve dinner. You're really shameless!"

"You're completely unreasonable!" I bent over to pick up the laptop. Looking at the damaged parts, I was furious. "I won't pay for this, and I won't eat the meal either! I'll see what you can do about it!"

After saying that, I wanted to grab my luggage and go home.

Winona caught up to me and grabbed my arm, pleading in a low voice, "It's too late now. We're in a remote area, and it's not safe to go now. How about we go back tomorrow morning? "

I was exhausted and could not bear to travel for another few hours, so I reluctantly agreed.

I did not believe that Jenny would cause any more trouble if I stayed for one night, so I went back to the room to sleep.

Winona secretly brought me a plate of pasta, ingratiatingly let me eat a little to fill my stomach.

My resentment lessened somewhat.

…

I woke up early the next morning and packed my luggage to go home, but I discovered that my property deed was missing.

I remembered clearly that the property deed was just issued before I came back. I had been busy packing to come here, so I casually stuffed it into my suitcase after getting it. How could it be gone?

Seeing that my expression was off, Winona asked, "Darling, what's wrong?"

I said with a sullen expression, "The property deed is missing."

Just that one sentence upset my brother-in-law, Adam Zachary, who was passing by the door. "Aaron Quincy, what do you mean? You're not trying to say someone in our family stole your property deed, are you?"

Jenny heard this and got all worked up. "Winona, look at the kind of person you married! Not only does he freeload, but he also tries to frame someone in our family as a thief! This is outrageous!"

Caught in the middle, Winona tried to grab me while trying to persuade us both. "Mom, calm down. Aaron didn't say you stole it. Darling, don't get agitated either. Maybe it fell out when you were packing, so you didn't put it in your suitcase."

It was not impossible.

However, I did not want to suffer at my in-laws' house and waste time arguing with them, so I dragged Winona straight home. I could not find the property deed at home either, so I had to prepare the documents to get a replacement.

A few days later, I received a call from an unknown number. "We're moving into the house you sold me. Give me the keys."

I was caught off guard. "What did you say? When did I sell the house? Did you dial the wrong number?"

The caller had an unpleasant attitude. "What? Trying to renege on the deal? I've already transferred the money. It's 800,000 dollars. I even received the property deed."

The caller also sent me a picture of the property deed. It was indeed the one I had lost. It even had my signature on it.

I was livid.

A house worth over 1.8 million dollars was sold for only 800,000 dollars, and I did not even receive a single penny. Based on the information the caller provided, I learned that Jenny had sold the house to him. He and Jenny were relatives.

Jenny had indeed stolen the property deed from my suitcase.

I called Jenny to question her, "Who said you could secretly sell my house?"

Jenny did not show the slightest guilt. She even sounded smug, as if she had a hold on me. "So what if I sold it? It's all because you refused to pay the 326 dollars for Christmas Eve dinner! How dare you talk back to me? Watch how I'll deal with you!"

"It's my pre-marital property. It has nothing to do with the Zachary family! This is stealing. It's illegal!" I shouted furiously as I trembled with anger.

Jenny argued stubbornly, "Illegal? You're my daughter's husband. What's yours is hers, and what's hers is mine! How is it illegal for me to sell my own things? Anyway, I've already sold the house and received the payment. Do you really think I can't handle your spoiled brat attitude?"

I had been giving in, but all I had gotten in return was Jenny's defiant attitude. It was impossible to reason with an unreasonable person like her, so I hardened my heart and called the police.

When I arrived at the local police station at my in-laws' place, Jenny was throwing a tantrum. Seeing me, she rolled over and was about to slap me. "You bastard! How could you call the police?"

Winona also hurriedly came, her expression looking a bit grim. "Aaron! That's my mom! How could you be so extreme?"

I shoved Jenny aside and looked coldly at Winona. "Your mother made things difficult for me at Christmas Eve dinner, yet you didn't even say a word. Now, she's stolen my property deed and sold the house, and you're accusing me instead?"

Winona's expression turned grimmer.

Jenny kept insisting she was not stealing. She had just sold her own house.

I did not waste time explaining and directly showed the police all the documents proving the house was my premarital property.

If investigated further, Jenny could indeed face criminal charges. Jenny was ignorant about the law, and so was the relative who bought the house. They simply thought that obtaining the property deed meant the sale was complete.

They had no idea about the specific procedures for property transactions and the transfer of ownership. Therefore, the transaction was invalid.

My house was still mine.

If I did not pursue the matter, Jenny would not need jail time.

Winona pleaded with me, saying Jenny was old and could not go to jail.

I did not want to pay her any attention, but she eventually knelt before me and swore that she would never let me suffer any more mistreatment. Only then did I reluctantly agree not to pursue the matter.

However, I decided to move out of our marital home. I felt I needed to seriously consider whether my marriage to Winona was worth continuing.

After I got home, Winona tugged at my suitcase, constantly apologizing. "I really didn't know my mom would do that. She knows she's wrong now. If you refuse to go back, we won't go back. Darling! Please don't do this!"

I did not soften my stance and only told Winona that I would not divorce her if Jenny stopped causing trouble as she promised.

Now, I needed some peace and quiet.

Winona showed her attitude through her actions, sending me to work and picking me up from work every day, as well as cooking for me.

Jenny seemed to have stopped causing trouble.

However, Winona said she had to work overtime and could not pick me up one day, so I went home by myself.

As soon as I got to the complex entrance, the security guard said to me, "A group of menacing-looking people was looking for you, but I had no reason to stop them since they had an access card."