The Buried TruthChapter 1 Body Under a High Threshold
Having become rich, I excitedly announced in public that I planned to build a mountaintop villa on the foundation of the old house.
However, as I began the construction, my father, Martin, threatened me with death, insisting that I must not stop.
Being willful since childhood, I had no intention of yielding.
Unable to persuade me, he finally yelled, "You bastard! That's your mother down there!"
I was stunned. My mother, Iris? Didn't my mother run away 20 years ago because our family was poor?
"Your mother committed suicide by jumping into a well," said my mother.
Everyone present believed it, but I knew my father was lying because 20 years ago, my mother and I had a secret, a secret known only to the two of us.
After ten years of hard work, I achieved wealth.
During over a decade of struggling in a foreign land, it wasn't the desire to bring honor to my family that propelled me forward. Instead, it was an incident from the past that had haunted my thoughts for 20 years.
This incident was the underlying reason for my reluctance to return to the village for ten years, and it was also the heart-wrenching pain that continued to haunt me in my midnight dreams.
But I had achieved success.
Those hidden pains were greatly alleviated by the success of my career, and I decided to get back everything I had lost over the years.
On Christmas, I dressed up and returned to the village. The villagers warmly welcomed me, creating an atmosphere that made it seem like I was returning home in triumph and glory.
But I neither went back to the new house I built for my father nor went to visit my aunt and uncles.
Instead, I went directly to the dilapidated old house halfway up the mountain because deep down, I saw this place as my only home.
Upon my arrival at the old house, I presented gifts and graciously entertained the villagers. With deliberate intent, I made a grand announcement in front of the entire village, declaring my plans to construct a luxurious mountaintop villa on the very foundation of the old house.
The villagers were well aware of my success, and those who had previously looked down upon me now greeted me with flattering smiles.