Hearing my father’s cheerful voice only made my heart sink deeper.
In my past life, I had gone numb when I saw the twenty-dollar balance on the card. I immediately called my father to ask about it, but he started yelling,
"Alice, are you a fucking ungrateful wolf? I might as well have raised a dog instead of you!"
"The card your mother and I gave you had at least a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in it. Now we only ask you to act like a sister and give your sister-in-law a red envelope of ten thousand and one dollars and you cry poor to me?"
"You’re playing games with your family. You’re just as heartless as those rich people now!"
His words made me doubt myself. My parents had sacrificed so much for me—how could I suspect them?
I slapped myself in guilt, thinking I should first tell my parents about my illness, then report the theft to the police to find out where the money had gone.
I took the subway and then the bus to my parents’ house. Before I even stepped through the door, I overheard the conversation inside.
"Mom, Sissy said that the wedding plan is ready. Because we need so many roses, we have to book them in advance. Please transfer two hundred thousand to me as a deposit."
"Son, the money in your sister’s card hasn’t arrived yet. Tell Sissy to wait a few days. Our family already paid five million, so two hundred thousand isn’t a big deal."
I rushed in like a madwoman to confront them after catching the truth—but it only led to a tragic ending.
Thinking of this, the sadness in my eyes turned into anger. Anyway, I was killed by them, so I just gave up!
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?”