Ivy Arrington, who had just been kicked out of the hospital, weakly returned to her condo, carrying an old canvas bag. She took out her key to unlock the door, but annoyingly, the key didn't go in. She was sure she didn't mix up the keys.
That's when she realized there was only one possibility: the lock had been changed.
She heard someone talking on the phone from inside her condo, so she knocked on the door. After a while, a delicately dressed middle-aged woman opened the door. The instant she saw Jing, she disdainfully said, “Weren't you in the hospital? What are you doing back home?”
The middle-aged woman was Ivy’s mother, Mary Wilson.
"I came back to get money to pay my medical expenses," said Ivy, her words hindered by her illness. When she was hospitalized, she paid a sum of money. But when she woke up, she found everything, including her bank card, was gone. The nurse said that a woman called Mary Wilson had taken it.
Mary, when she heard these words, scoffed, “Paying medical bills? You're a doctor yourself! It's a waste to give money to the hospital!"
Ignoring her mother, Ivy walked to the cabinet where her card was stored. When she found it empty, her face drastically changed. She asked, "Who took my bank card?"
Mary did not meet Ivy's eyes, but regained her composure noticing her daughter's weakness: "I gave the card to Holly. Since you're going to die soon anyway, spare some resources."
Ivy was filled with rage. She looked at Mary and said, “Since the time you took my bag from the hospital, you never visited me. You always favored Holly, but this money was my lifesaver!"
“What sort of lifesaver?" said Mary coldly. "The doctor told me, your cancer cannot be cured, even with copious money. Holly is about to marry Andy Wilson and they need money for their house. I have already withdrawn all the money from the card for her."
Ivy felt a bucket of cold water poured over her after hearing her mother's words. Her mother had always shown preference to her siblings, giving them the best of everything.
Ivy had always been reminded that as an older sister, it was her responsibility to take care of her younger siblings. She bore all this to keep the peace at home, but now she felt her heart bleeding hearing these words from her own mother.
But given her illness, she had no energy to argue with Mary. So, she opened the safe and took out the real estate ownership documents.
Seeing this, Mary was immediately infuriated: "What are you doing with the property deeds?"
“I’ll sell the house to pay my medical bills," replied Ivy coldly.
Mary immediately swore loudly, "You're so ruthless, actually planning to sell this place! Where will I live if you sell the condo?"
Ivy ignored her, grabbed the property deed, and prepared to leave, but Mary stopped her and said, "You can leave if you want, but leave the property deed here!"
Ivy could no longer hold back and said, "I bought this place with my own money, and I have the right to deal with it! When other people's daughters are ill, the whole family will contribute money to save her, but you gave all my money to Holly, and now even prevent me from selling my condo. Are you really my mother?”
She had wanted to ask this question for a long time. Why would other mothers treat their daughters gently and kindly, while on her end, Mary just ruthlessly squeezed her worth.
Years ago, she would hand over her entire salary. When she sensed something was wrong, she no longer wanted to give money to Mary. Since then, Mary never treated her well. After she bought this condo, Mary moved in under the pretext of looking after her.
Now, she even treated her like this!
After a short silence, looking at Ivy, Mary admitted reluctantly, "Anyway, at this point, I won't hide from you any longer. Yes, I'm indeed not your biological mother. After five years of marriage to your father, we had no children, so we adopted you from outside.”
"We originally intended to bring you up as our own daughter. But after we adopted you, I gave birth to three more children. As you were an orphan, you came to our family and we raised you, so of course you should pay us back!"
Ivy's face turned pale instantly. Over the years, she had doubts, but everyone in the family said that she was Mary's biological child. She didn't feel it was appropriate to bring it up, but she never expected that she was adopted!
Mary looked at her and said, "If we hadn't adopted you and taken care of you back then, you would have starved to death. We've let you live for thirty more years, you should be grateful! Leave the property deed and just go die somewhere else. Save us the funeral expenses. That's also a cost. We're still short on the down payment for Holly's new house!"
Driven to trembling frustration, Ivy took the deed and wanted to leave. Once everything was out in the open, Mary was even more fearless, trying to snatch the property deed.
Poor Ivy, who was seriously ill, could not compete with Mary. She lost her balance, hit the corner of a cabinet, and collapsed dizzily onto the floor.
After snatching the property deed, Mary frowned at the sight of Ivy lying on the floor, "Don't you dare die here. A dead body will make this condo difficult to sell!"
After saying this, she dragged Ivy out, threw her in the elevator, pressed for the basement floor, and then dumped her in the underground parking garage, leaving without a backward glance.
Ivy sat there dazedly, reflecting on her life, she realized it was a tragic life tale.
From a young age, she was oppressed by Mary and forced to do all sorts of farm work. She was taught to take care of her siblings and respect her parents. Originally, her academic performance was excellent. However, at the age of seventeen, in an attempt to catch a wild chicken, she was somehow pushed off a cliff and rescued by the village fool.
In the conservative rural culture of the eighties, Mary, upon receiving a dowry of 500 dollar from the fool, sought to marry her off to him. Thankfully, her grandmother couldn't bear it, and after giving Mary a thorough scolding, she called off the engagement. Yet from that point on, she was the object of incessant gossip and judgment. That summer break, she was shipped off by Mary to work in a factory in the south.
At the tender age of seventeen, she strived to change her circumstances. Besides her daily shifts at the factory, she found time to study, eventually passing the self-taught courses for a college degree and a bachelor's degree in medicine. She was taken as an apprentice by a renowned traditional Chinese doctor, which brought some improvement to her life. She got a decent boyfriend, only to have him snatched away by her younger sister, Holly.
Her life had been interfered with far too much. Mary’s family of four clung to her like maggots in a carcass, driving her to severe depression and breast cancer. Now, Mary had abandoned her here, waiting for death.
Resentment welled up within her. If only she had known sooner that she was not Mary's biological child, she would have definitely found a way to shake off the shackles they had imposed on her!
If she could do it all over again, she'd ensure she would not fall into depression and contract breast cancer. She would find a good man to have a happy and healthy love affair with, and make Mary and her parasitic family pay a heavy price!