Chapter 7 — Mother's Application for Money

I wanted to stop it but there was no time. The corner of her mother's lips curled up in gloating, but she still pretended to be pompous: "Ten thousand? You think I'm a beggar? Are you that stingy when you go to Maybach?" "Thirty thousand, I just gave it to Gia Di. Take as much as you want!" Hearing that, Uncle Tan's first reaction was heartbreak. He quietly picked up a piece of meat and put it in my bowl, softly asking again: "Thirty thousand? Are you sure?" Mom thought he agreed, so she immediately nodded: "Sure, not even a penny short." Uncle Tan sighed, hung up Aunt Lam's phone call, then helplessly said: "Okay." My mother proudly raised her head, her arrogant expression filled my heart with disgust. For his son's sake, Uncle Tan had to humble himself and promise to have enough money in three days. Seeing that patient look, I completely exploded. I slammed the table and stood up: "I won't donate! I won't donate even a hundred thousand!" "Go away immediately! Go now!" Uncle Tan was stunned by my angry attitude. He couldn't believe it. His eyes turned red. "You bastard! People give you money, how dare you not donate? If I tell you to donate, you have to donate!" Mom grabbed my ear tightly and scolded me like when I was a child. I violently pushed her hand away, my voice cold: "Go away too! I don't have the kind of mother like you!" My mother rushed forward and tried to hit me, but I brushed it off and she fell to the ground. "You bastard! You dare to betray me? Even your own mother won't accept it?" My throat was choked, trying to hold back my tears: "Yes, I won't accept it." "Since my brother was born, you have only been his mother, not mine." Her face was slightly guilty, her eyes awkwardly avoided. I didn't give her a chance to explain, so I turned around and left the restaurant. I don't know how I trudged back to the dormitory. I just felt empty and exhausted. I fell onto the bed and slept until the afternoon. The phone ringing woke me up. It was the instructor, his voice urgent: "Gia Di, your mother insists that you drop out of school, go to the staff room immediately!" I ran over and my mother was still in the staff room, making a lot of noise: "She's my child, I won't let her go to school anymore! How does your school interfere with my child's freedom?" "You're a parent, but arbitrarily letting a student drop out of school is against the law, we can't do it!" "I don't care! I have to take Duong Gia Di home right away, you hand her over here!" I walked forward, my voice firm: "I won't go with you. Mom, don't even dream of it." more!” As always, her first reaction was to hit me. She pointed straight at me and scolded me: it was ungrateful and unlucky, it was an unlucky comet. But I was unusually calm. Until she said: "If you don't follow me home today, don't expect to come back anymore!" “We sever our relationship!” She looked confident again as if she was sure I would submit. Because in the past, no matter how outrageous her demands were, just to continue being her daughter, I would blindly agree and beg for forgiveness. But now, I don't want to be her child anymore. So I said: "I can't even pray." Her pupils constricted, unconsciously asking again: "What did you say?" "I said, pray-still-can't!" Her face turned red with anger. "Very well! Let the teachers testify today!" "Duong Gia Di and I severed the mother-son relationship, from now on life and death are irrelevant!" I borrowed the teacher's pen and paper, wrote a complete "death note" and gave it to her. For the first time, my mother was confused and held the pen for a long time without signing. "What? Do you regret it? Then kneel down and beg me!" I intentionally teased her, and in the end she waved her hand and signed.