Chapter 8 — I Can't Be Patient Anymore

Then I looked straight at my mother-in-law, my voice was so light that it seemed like it had no force, but every word cut into my skin.

“She broke it, not a torn vase.”

“It's the only thing my mother left behind.”

“It's 30,000,000 yuan.”

“It is a national-level literary artifact.”

"It's something that you... can't pay for in your whole life."

Mother-in-law is soft. Sit down on the ground. She looked at the pile of debris. Things that were once priceless. Now it's just a pile of rubble. Mouth opened, wanting to say something, but no sound came out. Chu Dinh was also dumbfounded. Look at the debris. Then suddenly burst into tears.

“Sister-in-law… sister-in-law… we didn't mean it… we didn't know… mom didn't know…”

“Don't know?”

Laughed until tears welled up in my eyes.

"If you don't know, do you have the right to take my things?"

"If you don't know, do you have the right to attack?"

“I… I pay…”

My mother-in-law suddenly crawled forward and grabbed my pant leg.

"Uyen Thanh, mom... I sold the house to you... don't call the police... we are one family..."

I bowed my head to look at her.

"When you broke my mother's portrait, did you consider me family?"

“When you broke into my house, did you consider me family?”

“When you took the vase, did you consider me family?”

“I was wrong… Mom was wrong…”

The mother-in-law cried so much that her tears and nose mixed together, her face was wrinkled, and there was absolutely no trace of the arrogance from a few minutes ago.

“Uyen Thanh… please forgive me… mom kneel down with me…”

She actually collapsed as she spoke. Right on stage. Right in front of hundreds of spectators. Right in the middle of the livestream. She hugged my leg tightly, crying until she was hoarse, as if if she just cried loud enough, everything could go back to being as if it had never happened. But in my heart... There is not a single ripple. There was only a feeling of disgust that spread little by little.

“Forgive her?”

I slowly pulled my foot out.

"Okay."

The mother-in-law raised her head, a faint ray of hope flashing in her eyes.

“Wait until you pay me the full 30,000,000 yuan.”

“Wait until she finishes jail.”

“I will forgive.”

Her face immediately turned gray. I looked straight at her, my voice monotonous as if I was reading a pre-written verdict.

“According to the criminal law, intentionally destroying property of particularly great value will be punished with imprisonment from three to seven years.”

“30,000,000 yuan.”

“Enough to count as ‘exceptionally large’, right?”

Her eyes widened. Then turn white. Chu Dinh rushed forward, crying and shaking. The whole studio was in chaos. The MC panicked and called an ambulance, the staff scattered, and the audience held up their phones to record as if they were afraid of missing a climactic scene. Standing in the middle of that chaos. Look at the broken pieces of porcelain. Look at the woman who smashed everything. Watching the collapse of a family I once tried to keep. Then turn around. Step off the stage. The camera follows. Reporters gathered around. I pushed them away. Don't stop. No reply. Go straight out. The sunlight outside was blinding. I stood in front of the TV station gate, took the phone, and called lawyer Truong.

“Lawyer Truong, you can report to the police.”

"I will send all the evidence: the livestream video, the appraisal paper, and the video recording of her admitting that she took and broke the vase on her own initiative."

“Criminal and civil prosecution, please prepare it.”

“I want her… to pay the price to the end.”

I'm not waiting for an ambulance. On the way home, the phone vibrated frantically. All strange numbers. Probably a reporter. I turned it all off. The whole world immediately fell silent. But in my head... The scene just now kept repeating itself. The vase fell. Minus broken bar. Mother-in-law's pale face. Elder Liu's trembling voice. Thirty million. The buzz of the crowd. I felt a sharp pain as the piece of porcelain cut into my hand. Remind me that. This is not a dream. Come home. Chu Minh was there. He stood in the middle of the living room, his face pale, a broken cup at his feet, his mother-in-law sat on the sofa still crying, Chu Dinh patted her back, the two children huddled in a corner, not daring to make a sound. The door just opened. Chu Minh turned around. Red eyes as if they wanted to devour me alive.

“Lin Uyen Thanh!”

He rushed forward, grabbed my arm, the force was so strong that it almost crushed the bones.

"Are you satisfied? Do you have to destroy this house to be satisfied?!"

I looked at him. The man who slept next to me for three years. Suddenly felt funny.

“I broke the house?”

I withdrew my hand.

“Chu Minh, it was your mother who broke the vase, not me.”

“But you can't say those words on livestream!”

He roared.

"That's my mother! That's your mother-in-law! You embarrassed her in front of the whole country, will she live in the future?!"

"She did those things, have you ever thought about 'how to live'?"

“Destroy my mother's portrait, have you thought about it?”

“Barge into my house, what do you think?”

“Arbitrarily taking my things, what do you think?”

“But… but she didn't mean it!”

Chu Minh began to stutter.

"You don't know the vase is worth money! If you knew, how would you dare to break it!"

"If you don't know, do you have the right to destroy other people's things?"

“Chu Minh, those are my things.”

“Not mine.”

“Not your mother's.”

“Not from the so-called ‘our house’.”

“My stuff?”

Chu Minh felt like his nerves were touched.

"We're married! What's mine is mine! What if my mother sees my things? She's my mother-in-law! We're one family!"