Chapter 3 — 3.6 Million Yuan And The End For A Greedy Family

The group chat was still bustling, but in the blink of an eye it fell into dead silence. Two or three minutes passed. The aunts and uncles who were still enthusiastically defending... began to quietly withdraw each critical message. Right after that, my phone vibrated continuously. All are private messages from Co Xuyen.

"Tham Niem! Are you crazy? Dare to record?"

"Fuck you, delete it for me! Immediately! Right now!"

"You despicable woman! You've ruined my family's face! I tell you, this isn't over yet!"

Cursing, threatening, angry to the point of madness. I looked at those dirty words, the emotions in my heart finally calmed down. No more waves. No more anger. There's just... emptiness. I don't answer. Just calmly take a screenshot. Then, one turn… clean block. From Co Xuyen to everyone in the group. The world… is finally quiet. My parents sat next to me and watched everything. My father was so angry that he slammed the table, and my mother held my hand tightly, her voice trembling:

“Girl… luckily you knew how to take precautions…”

I leaned my head on my mother's shoulder. A feeling of safety that had not been there for a long time... quietly returned. But I know, this is just the beginning. Co Xuyen and his family... will not give up easily. After being blocked, Co Xuyen did not stop. He changed strange numbers and called continuously. From cursing to begging, then back to threatening, his words were jumbled like a lunatic. I don't answer the phone. I thought he would go crazy like that until he ran out of options. On the night of the third day, he appeared under my house. That day, I had just finished showering and was about to sleep when my mother knocked on the door, her face heavy.

“Nim Niem… Co Xuyen is below.”

I went to the window and gently opened the curtain. Under the streetlight, his shadow stretched, looking extremely haggard. No car, no dashing appearance. Hair is tangled, beard is growing. Completely different from the radiant man on his wedding day. Like two different people. He seemed to sense my gaze and suddenly raised his head. Eyes… exactly directed up to my room window. There's something in there... I don't want to understand. My father immediately picked up the phone to call the police, saying he was harassing him at night. I stopped.

"Dad, let me go down and see. I want to know... what else he can do."

I put on my coat and went down. Don't get closer. Just standing in front of the building, more than ten meters away from him. Cold look. Seeing me appear, he seemed to have grabbed a lifeline and rushed over. Then three steps away from me... He knelt down. In the middle of a quiet night, that sound... rang out extremely clearly.

“Nem Niem…”

As soon as he opened his mouth, his voice choked. He raised his hand... He slapped himself hard.

"I'm a bastard! I'm not human!"

"It's all my mother's fault! She thought of that trick! I was just confused and blinded by lard!"

He slapped himself and cried to admit his mistakes, his appearance was so miserable that anyone who saw him felt pitiful. If I hadn't listened to that recording with my own ears and seen his face when he was mad... perhaps I would have really softened my heart. My parents also came down, standing behind me. My father was so angry that he wanted to rush up and kick him, but my mother pulled him back. I raised my hand to stop him, calmly watching the performance before me. I want to hear. Let's see how much he can invent. Seeing that I didn't react, he knelt and took two steps forward, intending to reach out and pull my pant leg, but was stopped by my cold eyes. He stopped and cried even harder.

“Nien Niem, me wrong, really wrong! Can you give me one more chance?”

“I love you! I really love you that's why I married you!

“That money… do you think I can borrow it? I will definitely pay later! Please… without that money, I will be beaten to death!”

This sentence... finally touches on the point. Beaten to death? I laughed coldly in my heart, but on the outside I was slightly stunned, acting a bit "surprised".

“Beat to death? What does that mean? Didn't you… say to buy a car?”

He saw that my attitude seemed to soften and immediately seized the opportunity.

“My mother forced me to buy a car! She said my brother would lose face if he didn't have a car, and insisted that I buy it! How could I be so unreasonable as to take our future money to buy him a car?

One sentence… push away responsibility. Immediately after that, he began to make up a tragic story. I was tricked and lured into investing abroad by my best friend, and ended up with nothing. Not only did he lose all his savings, he also had to borrow a large sum of money from outside. Now that friend has run away, the entire debt falls on him. He held my hand, tears mixed with tears, crying like a child.

“Nian Niem, that 3.6 million yuan is money that saved my life! Truly life-saving money!”

“The creditor has given me an ultimatum. If I can't pay by the end of this month, they... they will take my life!”

“I can't see death without saving! We are husband and wife! You saved me this time, in the future I will be a buffalo and a horse to repay you!”

The performance was so bad it was… laughable. If it was really a failed investment, why in the recording did he say "fill the hole", not "repay debt"? If he was really tricked by his friend, why didn't he tell me before, and every day he pretended to be pleased? I decided to try him one more step. I pulled my hand out of his hand, my voice softened a bit, carrying some hesitation.

“You… how much do you owe? Why invest so much?

Co Xuyen saw that I seemed really shaken, and his eyes immediately flashed with crazy joy. He was so quick to want me to believe that he accidentally said something.

“It's not… it's not an investment! It's me in Macau making friends..."

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly covered his mouth. Her red eyes from crying suddenly widened, filled with panic. Just like a thief caught in battle. The air... froze again. The night wind blew past, bringing with it cold air. I looked at his pale face, at that expression of fear that was beyond words... In my heart, the last bit of love between husband and wife... was completely broken. It turns out, buying a car was just an excuse. Buying a house is a scam. Investment failure is a lie. That 3.6 million yuan, what he really wanted to fill... was the bottomless hole caused by gambling in Macau. The person I married is not just a greedy, fame-seeking person. But also... a gambler with no way out. In that moment, every emotion—anger, disgust, fear—surged at once. I looked at him. Suddenly burst out laughing. In the quiet night, my laughter was so clear it was cold.

“Co Xuyen.”

“I… finished.”