Chapter 9 — I Can't Be Patient Anymore

That sentence again. One family. I looked at him.

“Chu Minh, ever since your mother broke my mother's portrait…”

“Since you told me to yield…”

“Since last night you told me not to make a big deal out of it…”

“We are no longer family.”

Chu Minh was stunned.

“What…what did you say?”

I looked straight at him.

“I don't need this marriage anymore.”

“Are you crazy?!”

Chu Minh glared at me, his voice seemed to come out of his throat.

“Just because of a torn vase, you want a divorce?!”

“Torn bottle?”

I repeated those three words, suddenly bursting into laughter.

“Zhou Ming, that's 30,000,000 yuan, the relic my mother left behind, the only thing she brought with her all her life and gave it to me!”

“But you hid it from me!”

Chu Minh seemed to grasp an excuse and immediately grabbed it.

"You knew that vase was valuable, why didn't you tell me? Did you protect me? Lam Uyen Thanh, what do you think I am, a thief?!"

“Yes, I hid it.”

I frankly admit.

"Before she passed away, my mother told me not to tell anyone, including you. She said, talent should not be revealed. Now I understand, she was right."

Chu Minh was so angry that he was shaking.

“I am truly hopeless!”

“Am I beyond cure?”

I nodded.

“So I ask you, if what was broken today was a relic left by your mother, worth 30,000,000 yuan, what would you do?”

Chu Minh opened his mouth, but could not speak.

“Will you forgive?”

I looked straight at him.

“I'll say let it go, we're all family, right?”

“You will prevent your mother from being dealt with, as if nothing happened?”

“Not like…”

He stammered.

"Not the same? Because your mother is alive, and my mother is dead?"

I looked deeply into his eyes.

"Chu Minh, my mother passed away. She left me two things, one is a photo, which was broken by your mother. The other is a vase, which was also beaten by your mother. Now you tell me to forgive you?"

Chu Minh was silent. He turned away, his fists clenched until they turned white. Chu Dinh spoke up, his voice trembling.

"Mom knows it's wrong... look, she also fainted, just woke up... can you let her go? The vase... we will pay for it, slowly..."

“Slowly?”

I turned to look at her.

"30,000,000 yuan, what will you pay for it? The last relic left by my mother, what will you pay for it!"

“We… sell the house…”

Chu Dinh spoke more and more softly.

"How much does your mother's country house cost? 800,000 yuan? 1,000,000 yuan?"

"How much is your savings? 500,000 yuan? 1,000,000 yuan?"

"There are more than 28,000,000 yuan left, what do you plan to pay with? Auntie's salary? Grandma's pension? Or the two children's lucky money?"

Chu Dinh was speechless when I asked him, tears falling continuously. The mother-in-law now raised her head, tears were still on her face, but her eyes were no longer pleading. It's resentment.

“Lin Uyen Thanh.”

She gritted her teeth.

“Do you really want to push me to the end?”

“It's not me that cornered you, it's the law.”

I opened my phone and turned on the recording.

"At the TV station, I have already made it clear. Intentionally destroying property of particularly great value, the sentence is from three to seven years. The elderly woman may be given a lighter sentence, but civil compensation, not even one penny, is not lacking."

“You… you really called the police?”

Her voice began to crack.

“Already reported.”

“They should be coming by now.”

The doorbell rang at that moment. Chu Minh's face changed. The mother-in-law jumped up from the sofa, panicking:

"Who? Who's coming?"

I walked out and opened the door. Outside the door are two Police officer, a man and a woman, with serious faces.

"Excuse me, is this Ms. Lam Uyen Thanh? We received information about intentional destruction of property."

I leaned over. Two policemen walked in, their eyes scanned the room, they saw broken glasses on the floor, their faces became even darker.

“Who reported the crime?”

“How specifically?”

I tell the whole story. From the mother-in-law breaking the photo. As for arbitrarily taking the vase for assessment. To the scene where she broke it right on live broadcast. And also the certificate, worth 30,000,000 yuan. I said very calmly. No additions. No emotions. But every sentence feels like a nail to the floor. The two policemen listened, their eyes became serious.

“Artifacts worth 30,000,000 yuan?”

“Yes, there is an appraisal certificate from the Palace.”

I gave the documents. They took a look, then turned to their mother-in-law.

“Are you the dam?”

The mother-in-law's face turned white, her lips trembled, and she couldn't say a word.

“It's… it's my mother beating…”

Chu Dinh cried.

“But she didn't know the value, she thought it was a fake…”

“Whether we know it or not, the act of intentionally destroying property has been established.”

The female police officer spoke up.

“And with such a particularly large amount of money, it constitutes a criminal offense.”

“No… it wasn't intentional…”

The mother-in-law finally found her voice again, but each word still trembled, as if it were choked in her throat.

“I… I was angry… it was a fake so…”

“Do you have the right to smash fake things?”