Chapter 3 — Locking my card to leave, I left my husband's family stranded in a seven-star hotel

On the morning of the third day, I was woken up by the sound of pounding on the door. Opening the door, it was Ly Binh. She was wearing a hotel bathrobe, a face mask, and a phone in her hand.

“Sister-in-law, hurry up, mom told me to come up now.”

"What is up?"

"Mr. Phong called and told me to pay all the bills for the past few days. He'll come this afternoon."

I glanced at the clock. It's only seven thirty in the morning. Up to the twenty-eighth floor, in the presidential suite, the mother-in-law was neatly dressed and sitting on the sofa. On the tea table lay a stack of papers.

"Already here? Sit down."

She pointed to the chair opposite. I sat down, now I could clearly see the stack of papers. It is a detailed list of hotel expenses, each sheet is printed. The mother-in-law picked up the first sheet.

“Presidential suite, three nights, 68,000 yuan.”

Second sheet:

“Yacht charter plus lunch plus wine plus compensation, 34,000 yuan.”

“Two dinners at a Chinese restaurant, 56,000 yuan.”

“Room service, minibar, laundry, spa, 12,000 yuan.”

Fifth sheet:

“Miscellaneous expenses, airport transfer, luggage handling, additional decorations, 8,000 yuan.”

My mother-in-law laid out each sheet in front of me. Finally she picked up the computer and clicked a few times, then turned the screen towards me.

“138,000 yuan.”

I stared at that number.

"Plus I went to the duty-free store today. The two bags Ping Ping wanted were 76,000 yuan. Mom's lotion was 12,000 yuan. Buy some things for the kids, it's 20,000 yuan."

She clicked on the computer again.

"A total of 246,000 yuan. Is your card enough limit?"

"Tran Phong said, your card has a limit of 500,000 yuan, there's no problem swiping more than 200,000 yuan."

The mother-in-law stood up and smoothed her dress.

"Now go down to the front desk to pay for your room first, then we'll go to the duty-free shop together. Phong Nhi will come in the afternoon, have another delicious meal in the evening, come back tomorrow."

246,000 yuan. I sat still on the chair without moving.

“What are you still doing there?”

The mother-in-law began to lose patience.

“Go quickly.”

“Mom, I need to talk to Tran Phong a bit.”

"What's there to discuss? It's all agreed."

She opened her phone and showed me the WeChat messages. This is the message Tran Phong sent to her:

"Mom, just rest assured and spend it. To Niem will let me talk. Her card limit is enough."

I looked at that message. Suddenly burst out laughing.

“Sister-in-law, what are you laughing at?”

Ly Binh came closer.

"Hurry up and pay, we're still waiting for duty-free shopping. I've already thought about what to buy."

I stood up.

“I'll go pay.”

I picked up my bag and walked out the door.

“Ah yes.”

Mother-in-law called out from behind.

"By the way, please do the check-out procedure tomorrow, so you won't be flustered until then."

I walked out of the presidential suite and into the elevator. The moment the elevator door closed, I took out my phone and made a call.

"Hello, is this the bank switchboard? I want to report a lost credit card."

“Yes ma'am, please provide your card number and personal information.”

“Card number 6225…”

I read each number one by one, my tone strangely calm.

“I want to block and cancel this card.”

"Sir, will you confirm the cancellation of the card? Once canceled, the card will be permanently invalid and cannot be restored."

“I confirm.”

"Yes, it's been handled for you. Do you need any further assistance?"

“No need anymore, thank you.”

I hung up. The elevator just reached the first floor lobby. I didn't go towards the front desk. But step directly out the hotel door. Taxi was waiting there. It's the car I pre-ordered last night.

“Go to Phoenix airport.”

“Okay now.”

The driver started the engine. I sat in the back row, opened my phone and booked the nearest flight home. Departure 9:30 a.m. It's now 8:15 a.m. The car runs along the coconut tree-lined road in front of the hotel. I turned my head to look back at the seven-star hotel with its reflective glass sparkling in the morning sunlight. In the presidential suite on the twenty-eighth floor, my mother-in-law was probably still waiting for me to come back and say "payment is complete". Ly Binh is probably still standing in front of my mirror trying on lipstick, thinking about which new bag to carry this afternoon. Tran Hao is probably still playing games, waiting for his sister-in-law to pay him to continue spending. already on the way to the airport. The phone vibrates. It was my mother-in-law calling. I mute the sound. Vibrate again. Tran Phong. I also mute the sound. More than ten consecutive missed calls. I didn't pick up any calls. Before boarding the plane, I sent Tran Phong a WeChat message with only one sentence:

“Card canceled, pay yourself.”

Then I turned off the phone. When the plane took off, I leaned my head next to the window, watching the Sanya coastline gradually shrink in the distance. It was noon when we landed. As soon as I opened my phone, messages immediately flooded in like a flood. Missed calls from Tran Phong: 23 calls. Missed calls from mother-in-law: 11 calls. Missed calls from Tran Hao: 4 calls. Ly Binh's WeChat voice message: more than 30 paragraphs. I opened the first paragraph.

"Sister-in-law, where have you gone? Mom told you to come back quickly, the receptionist said she couldn't swipe the card!"

Second paragraph:

"Sister-in-law? Did you do something wrong? Go home and take care of it!"

In the third paragraph, her voice was clearly panicked:

"Sister-in-law, the receptionist said this card has been canceled! What's the story? Where are you?"

In the seventh paragraph, the mother-in-law's voice intervenes:

"To Niem, listen carefully! If you dare to run away, don't step foot in the Tran family's house again! Come back and pay me!"

In the fifteenth paragraph, her voice changed, and was mixed with crying:

"To Niem, I was too harsh just now, don't take it to heart. Come back quickly, we'll slowly negotiate. The receptionist said if you don't pay today, you'll call the police..."

The twentieth paragraph is Tran Hao's voice, the background is extremely chaotic:

"Sister-in-law, where are you? The hotel is holding us back, not letting us go anywhere, saying we have to pay before we can leave here. Mom is crying, please think of a way to go!"

The last message was from Ly Binh, sent ten minutes ago. The voice was both angry and choked:

"To Niem, are you crazy?! The hotel called security! Don't let us go out! You did it on purpose, right? Just wait, Tran Phong said he will divorce you!"

I put my phone back in my pocket and called a taxi home. The first thing I did after arriving was change the door lock password. The second thing is to call Phuong Vien.

“You're finally able to do something human-like.”

Phuong Vien burst out laughing on the other end of the line.

"And then what? What do they plan?"

“I don't know.”

I leaned against the sofa.

“It has nothing to do with me anymore.”

“What about Tran Phong?”

“Probably on the way to Sanya.”

“So as soon as I got off the plane I had to face a bill of more than 100,000 yuan.”

Phuong Vien laughed even harder.