Chapter 4 — I'm No Longer A Reasonable Daughter-in-law

"If you don't want to, don't hold back." Mom grabbed my hand, "You can just come here and stay, stay as long as you want. Send Doa Doa back to kindergarten down here, I'll pick you up every day. The place you just came from is also resting for a while, take this opportunity to think about the next step."

“This idiot.” Mom patted the back of my hand, "What are parents born for? To be a strong support for their children. You fly high, we are happy. You are tired, you can always come back here."

In the afternoon, I took Doa to the familiar park since I was a child. The slide has been replaced, the swing has been repainted to shine, only the sand pit is still there, almost unchanged. I sat on the bench, watching her and several other children happily build sand castles. The warm April sunlight shone down, bringing with it a feeling of relaxation that I hadn't felt in a long time. The phone vibrates continuously. Ha Tuan sent more than a dozen messages.

"Wife, can I go home? Let's sit down and talk properly."

"I know you're not happy, but family members should be able to sympathize with each other."

"After all, Ha Man is my biological sister, I can't see her family without a place to live."

“Just over half a year, I promise they will move out after that.”

"My parents are old, it's very sad for me to leave like that."

After reading it, I just found it funny. He knows I'm not happy. He knows that half a year is not short. He also knows his parents will be sad. So what about me? What about my half year? If my parents knew all this, would they be sad? I don't answer. When I got home in the evening, my father had already prepared the dinner tray. Simple dinner, three savory dishes and one soup, all of which are my favorites. Doa Doa ate more than half a bowl of rice. While eating, she complimented her grandfather's egg fried rice, which was ten thousand times better than her mother's.

“Of course, my mother also learned her skills from him.” My father smiled proudly.

After eating, I went into the kitchen to help my mother clean up. Doa Doa pulled her father out to the living room to play tic-tac-toe, if she won, she would scream, if she would lose, she would also scream, noisily but happily. The phone vibrates again. This time it's the mother-in-law. Looking at the two words "Mom" flashing on the screen, for the first time I saw it so dazzling. The bell rang for the sixth time, I dried my hands, and picked up the phone.

“Hello, I'm listening.”

“To Uyen, have you eaten yet?” The mother-in-law's voice rang out, it sounded familiar, but the enthusiasm was too round, as if it had been practiced before.

“I've eaten.”

"Where is Doa Doa? Are you good?"

“Good boy.”

Silence for two seconds.

"To Uyen, you're in such a hurry to go today, I haven't finished telling you yet." Her voice turned to an admonishing one, "I know you're not comfortable when the Man family moves in. But we're a family, we have to take care of each other, right?"

I said nothing.

"It's really difficult for him and his wife right now. There's a lot of pressure to pay for the house, and Loi doesn't earn much. We're brother and sister, so with better conditions, it's a good idea to help the younger siblings a little." She continued, "I know you're a sensible person and won't compare with your sister. Why don't you bring Doo Doa home tomorrow and I'll make braised ribs for you, your favorite dish."

"Mom." I interrupted, my voice still very calm, "I don't like braised ribs, I like steamed ribs. I'm allergic to pepper, but my cooking mother has never avoided that dish. I like mushroom soup the most, But mom said Ha Tuan can't eat mushrooms, so he hasn't cooked them once in six years."

The other end of the line paused.

“Besides, it's not like I've never helped before.” I continued, “When Ha Man got married, I was 10,000 happy. When she bought a house, I lent her twenty thousand, but I still haven't paid it back. When Doa Doa was born, she was eight hundred happy. When she gave birth to the second child, I was happy three thousand. Mom, help is a two-way thing, you can't always get it from just one side."

My mother-in-law clearly did not expect me to speak so directly, so she remained silent for a long time before speaking:

“Are you planning with me?”

“It's not calculation.” I said, “I just want to say, these past six years I've been trying to understand this. I understand so much that now I'm tired and want to rest a bit."

“But I can't say I'm going like that! What else can the neighbors see? People think there's something big going on in our family!”

“Isn't there something going on at our house?”

“You…” Her voice was high-pitched, “To Uyen, I always thought you were a reasonable daughter-in-law. Tuan has a hard time working, so if you don't stay home to take care of him, that's fine. You even take him and run away, what else is there?"

“Ha Tuan is thirty-three years old, not a three-year-old child.” I replied, “He can take care of himself. Furthermore, Mom, I quit my job and now stay home to take care of my child full-time. Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

“Quit your job?!” Her scream of surprise from the receiver also made me feel deafening, "Why don't you discuss such a terrible thing? If you don't go to work anymore, the whole house will fall on Tuan's head, do you know how great the pressure is?"

“I know.” I replied, “So to reduce the pressure on him, I decided to cut down on family expenses. Moving back to my hometown will save a huge amount of money on electricity, water and gas, and food costs for four people will also be reduced. Mom, aren't I sharing the burden to help him?”

"Mom, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up. Doa Doa has to go take a shower."

“To Uyen child——”

I pressed the hang up button. The world suddenly became pure. I leaned my back against the kitchen door frame. The living room light is warm, dad is teaching Doa Doa to draw a fish with simple strokes, mom is peeling apples, cutting them into small pieces and placing them on a plate. The TV is broadcasting the weather forecast, saying it will be sunny tomorrow and the highest temperature is twenty-three degrees. This scene is so idyllic. So simple that it makes me sad. The thing I struggled to find for six years in a family that didn't belong to me, turned out to have never left this place. The phone lights up again. Ha Tuan texted.

“Mom just called me, she was crying. To Uyen, what do you want?"

I thought for a moment, then typed.

“I want to be considered a family member, not a sinner. I want my feelings to be respected, not ignored. I want my contributions to be recognized, not taken for granted. I want to live in a house that I pay for in installments, without having to look at anyone's faces. Are these requests too much?

He didn't answer right away. It wasn't until Doa Doa finished showering, finished reading the comic, and obediently fell asleep that the phone screen lit up again. Ha Tuan texted: “I'm sorry. But he really had no choice. Those are my parents, my biological sister.” I look at this text very long. Then locked the screen and kissed Doa Doa's forehead.

“Sleep well, dear.”

“Good night mom.” The girl muttered a word, turned over, and fell asleep again.

I lay on the familiar bed since childhood, looking at the ceiling. The luminous star stickers from when I was a child are still there, more than twenty years later, and have long since ceased to shine. But in the darkness, there was still a faint glimmer of light. On the third day of staying at his grandmother's house, Ha Tuan drove over. The trunk of the car was filled with things: goji berries and black sesame seeds for my parents, a new box of crayons for Doa Doa, and even the cosmetics set I had left on the dressing table was also brought along. Mom opened the door, still polite: "Ha Tuan is here, come in."

“Mom, dad.” Ha Tuan put his things down at the entrance, looking timid like a first-time visitor, "I came to visit To Uyen and Doa Doa."

Dad walked out of the room and nodded slightly: "Sit down. To Uyen is taking Doo Doa to the park to sketch, she'll be back later."

“Then let me go pick up you two…”

“No need, the park is right behind.” Mom put the tea cup down in front of him, "Sit down, I have something to ask."