I didn’t soften. “If you want me to split this hundred bucks with you, then pay back the twenty thousand you owe me from your last medical bill. I’m your daughter, sure. But your son isn’t dead! It’s not right that I always pay while he sits back and enjoys himself!”

The officers saw what was going on and made Buck hand over the money.

Ethel wasn’t satisfied. She planted herself in the hospital corridor and loudly proclaimed, “My god, I’ve never seen anything like this. You made your own mother sick, called the cops on her, and you don’t even pay a cent for her medical bill. If you were my daughter, I’d beat you to death! I’d rather have been childless than have a daughter like you!”

I turned to an officer and asked, “Is publicly insulting someone a crime?”

That question shut Ethel up finally.

In the end, I got all my gold jewelry back and left the hospital.

Buck demanded that I accompany Mom and take care of her, but I snapped back at him.

The next day, unwilling to “bother” her precious son, Mom discharged herself from the hospital in a hurry.

She was always like this. In front of me, she was either in pain here or hurting there. No matter how busy I was, I had to take time off to look after her at the hospital, spending both my money and my effort.

On one hand, she called me “thoughtful.” On the other hand, she sucked me dry relentlessly.

After growing completely disillusioned with her, I poured all my energy into my work.

But less than a month into a peaceful routine, something happened again.

Just because Ethel liked to eat wild mushrooms from the mountains near Lake Cushman, Mom had taken a train for an entire day and night to get there and personally pick fresh mushrooms.

She had spent several days on that mountain gathering mushrooms.

By the time she returned home with a big sack slung over her back, she had injured her waist and now needed to be on bedrest for two months.

One evening, as I was leaving work, Buck and Ethel blocked me at the company entrance. They were pushing Mom in a wheelchair.

Standing there, utterly self-righteous, Mom declared, “I’m sick now. You’re my daughter, so it’s only right for you to take care of me. And your sister-in-law’s pregnant.”

As if reading from a script, she added, “According to tradition, as the aunt, you’re supposed to give a cash gift of 3,000 dollars.