Chapter 2 — Midnight Doorbell

“A young girl is so calculating and has no tolerance at all.” I stared at the screen, my heart starting to pound again. The rain outside the window grew louder and louder, rushing against the glass. Her son sent another text message: "It's raining so heavily outside, are you cruel enough to let my mother stand outside in the rain?" "You're really not human, completely heartless!" Looking at that sentence, I slightly raised the corner of my mouth and quickly typed a line: "Okay, then I'll show you what a heartless heartless is." "In the future, if I ever open the door for your mother again, I won't have the surname Vuong anymore." The next afternoon, I had just woken up from a nap and there was door knocker. I looked out through my cat's eyes and saw the entire family of three people from the opposite side standing at the door at the same time. The old woman was supported by her daughter-in-law, sometimes coughing twice. Her son held a bulging file bag. I opened the door: "What's going on?" Her son brought the file bag over. Open it up, inside is a thick stack of papers. All were hospital bills, registration fees, blood tests, and a handwritten note, listed above: "Postpartum nanny expenses, five days, total three thousand yuan." I frowned: "What does this mean?" Her son put his hands on his hips, seriously pointing at the bills. "Wasn't the old lady locked outside last night, exposed to the rain, so she caught a cold?" "You have to pay these bills, right? Medical bills, check-ups, medicine bills, and even the rent for a temporary nanny for the few days she can't babysit..." "Why don't you tell me to take care of your mother too?" I laughed, really. The truth is so angry that I burst out laughing. The old woman standing next to her coughed even harder, holding her chest with one hand, constantly complaining of pain. Her daughter-in-law frowned and looked at me: "If you open the door, will my mother get soaked in the rain?" "In the middle of the night she rang someone else's house bell, you guys didn't educate her, but instead came to me to ask for money?" "If you don't convince me, you can go to court and sue. The court decides how much I have to pay, I will pay that much." Seeing my resolute attitude, the old woman coughed even harder, clutching her chest and continuously complaining of pain. Her son didn't answer, took out his phone, pointed it at me and pressed the record button. "Everyone help me share, demand justice." He said to the phone, then turned the lens to the old woman coughing next to him. "This is my mother, she is over seventy years old, just because she remembered the doorbell number wrongly, she rang the wrong house opposite." "As a result, this woman refused to open the door, locking my mother outside in the rain in the middle of the night. Now my mother is about to cough until damn, she doesn't want to take responsibility!” “Is this kind of person worthy of being a kindergarten teacher? Everyone, please give me justice!” After saying that, he threw the live broadcast link at the group of residents. Initially, the live stream room did not have many people. In less than two minutes, a media blogger in court No. 3 claiming to have one hundred thousand followers shared the livestream room, and the number of viewers immediately skyrocketed. Comments ran thickly on the screen. "Is this woman's heart made of stone? So cruel..." "That's right, clearly bullying the elderly!" "And also a kindergarten teacher? Looking at this face, you know that she is a bad person, is she also worthy of teaching children?" The old woman continued to cough next to her. Her son held the phone closer step by step, the lens almost pointed straight at my face: "Did you see? Everyone is looking. If you don't solve it, once the video is shared all over the internet, even if I want to delete it, I won't be able to delete it all."I considered for a moment. If I had a direct confrontation at this point, I would definitely lose. Even if you report to the police, at most they will only warn and mediate. So, when he lowered his head to look at the comments, I decisively closed the door. The next second, the sound

His angry shout came from outside: "Guys, look, this woman has a habit of being startled and ran away!" "Open the door, you bastard! What are you running if you don't do something wrong?" Then came the old woman's unclear cursing sound. Absolutely no longer any sick appearance like before. I leaned against the door to calm my mood, then called my husband: "Quickly write me a code and install it into the access control system. After eleven o'clock at night, our house bell will switch to ringing at the old man's house on the second floor." Twenty minutes later, my husband sent a text message: "Done." At eleven thirty that evening, the doorbell light was indeed on again. But the white box in my house remained silent, not making a sound. I stood at the entrance to the hallway listening below, and sure enough, I heard the old woman's voice: "Oh, it's finally open..." Then there was the complaint of the hot-tempered old man on the second floor: "What are you typing in the middle of the night!" "If you get angry again, I'll let you know!" The old woman shyly entered the elevator. Perhaps she thought her movements were too loud so she made noise to the old man on the second floor. At five thirty the next morning, it was just dawn. Passing by the door, I glanced at the video doorbell. The old woman stood outside the door again, holding a bunch of wild vegetables she had just dug in her hand.