Chapter 1 — Shrimp Plate At Engagement Party

During the engagement party, I was eating when my future mother-in-law suddenly pushed a plate of shrimp in front of me. "Peel the shrimp for your brother-in-law. She just got her nails done, it's inconvenient."I was stunned. More than twenty people at the table simultaneously looked at me. The future husband curled his fingers like an orchid, calmly waiting as if it were a natural thing. I didn't move. The future mother-in-law immediately threw her chopsticks down on the table: "Didn't anyone teach you manners? Once you enter my house, it is your duty to serve your brother-in-law!" She scolded me for not being educated, scolded my mother for not knowing how to teach a daughter. I laughed. I picked up the entire plate of shrimp and placed it directly on her head. Shrimp sauce ran down her face. The whole room was silent.01In the private room where the engagement party was being held, the sound of people talking was bustling. At the main table, Giang Nguyen's mother, Luu Phuong, suddenly pushed a plate of oil-braised shrimp in front of me. The shiny red shrimp shell was still covered in thick sauce. "Tham Nguyet, peel the shrimp for Dinh Dinh." Her voice was not loud, but loud enough for the more than twenty people at the table to hear clearly. My hand holding the chopsticks stopped in mid-air. Giang Dinh sat opposite, holding up the nails he had just done. The fingertips were covered with crushed stones, sparkling under the light. She tilted her chin at me, her eyes as if things were supposed to be that way. I looked at the plate of shrimp, not moving. The atmosphere was immediately quiet. Everyone's eyes were like headlights, simultaneously focusing on me. Luu Phuong's face darkened. She slammed her chopsticks on the table, emitting a crisp "pop" sound. "Didn't you hear that?" "Didn't anyone teach you manners? Once you enter the door of our Giang family, it's your duty to serve your brother-in-law!" Her voice suddenly became high-pitched, her finger pointed straight at my nose and scolded. "What an uneducated thing! How does your mother raise her daughter? Not at all observant!" My mother's face immediately turned white. sick, my father's fist tightened under the table. Giang Nguyen sat next to me and pulled my arm, lowered her voice and said: "Nguyet Nguyet, don't be stubborn. Just peel a few animals, mom is angry." I laughed. I slowly put down my chopsticks and stood up. Under everyone's surprised eyes, I brought up the plate of shrimp braised in hot oil. The plate was still warm. I walked behind Luu Phuong, holding my arms steady, my wrists slightly turned. The entire plate of shrimp and the sticky sauce were placed neatly on top of her curly hair that she had worked hard to style. Red shrimp, dark brown sauce running down her cheeks. A shrimp was stuck on her earlobe, shaking as if it was about to fall. The whole room was silent. Time seemed to stop. Giang Dinh's scream broke the silence. "Ah! Mom! What are you doing!" It took a few seconds for Luu Phuong to react. She trembled as she touched the oil on her face. "You... you're crazy!" I pulled out a few pieces of paper and carefully wiped my hands clean. After that, I looked at Giang Nguyen who was still silent. "Giang Nguyen, is this your family's rules?" Giang Nguyen's lips trembled. He looked at his mother, who was covered in shrimp shells, then looked back at me, her eyes filled with panic and not knowing what to do. He didn't answer. Instinctively, he rushed to help his mother, impatiently asking: "Mom, are you okay? Are you burned?" Luu Phuong pushed him away, pointed at me, shouted hoarsely: "Call the police! Report to the police now! Arrest this shrewd woman!" My father immediately stood up, shielding himself in front of me. "You are in-laws, you can't say that. You are clearly the one who humiliated my daughter in front of everyone!" Phuong seemed to have just heard something extremely ridiculous. "Is it humiliating if I ask her to do something? Later, when she married into our house, all the dishes in the house had to be washed by her!

Is that also humiliating?" The aunts on Giang Nguyen's side also stood up to chime in. "Yes, being a daughter-in-law inherently requires a bit of hard work." "Girls these days are pampered too much. When we were young..."I looked at this chaotic family and felt extremely disgusted. I pulled my father back and calmly said: "Dad, let's go." "Go?" Giang Nguyen suddenly turned his head and rushed forward to grab my wrist. His strength was so great, he squeezed my wrist so much it hurt. "Tham Nguyet, you can't go!" His eyes were full of blood, both angry and pleading. "Today you If things turn out like this, you must apologize to your mother! Right now, immediately!”02 “Excuse me?” I looked at Giang Nguyen, feeling like this was the first time I knew him. His hand was still squeezing my wrist, his expression fierce. “Yes, sorry! You made my mother like this and still want to wash your hands of it and walk away?" Luu Phuong's crying became even louder. She sat on a chair, letting the sauce drip onto her expensive silk dress. "My fate is so miserable! He's about to marry a woman who destroys houses and doors! Oh my god, don't you have eyes? "Giang Dinh held a tissue, wiped her face, and added fuel to the fire. "You, why are you still talking nonsense to her! This kind of woman absolutely cannot be allowed to enter our door! What bad luck!" My father was so angry that he was shaking. He was about to move forward to argue but was held tightly by my mother. I snatched my hand from Giang Nguyen's hand and used enough force to make him take a step back. "Giang Nguyen, listen carefully." My voice was not loud but extremely clear. "First, this marriage is annulled." "Second, from now on, you, your mother and your sister no longer have any relationship with me." "After speaking, I turned around to leave. "Stop!" This time, the person who called me was Luu Phuong. She stopped crying and stood up from the chair. A few shrimps fell from her hair to the ground. She wiped her face, her dark eyes staring at me. "Tham Nguyet, you think so well." "If you want to cancel the marriage, it's fine. We in the Giang family don't necessarily need you." She stopped, the corners of her lips curved up into a calculating smile. "But the books must be calculated clearly." I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "The ten thousand dowry money you gave me was used to marry my daughter-in-law. Now that my daughter-in-law is no longer there, should I return the money? My mother immediately said: "We will not lack a penny of anything that needs to be paid!" "Not only that." Luu Phuong raised his other hand, covered in oil, pointing to Giang Nguyen. "To marry you, my son bought the wedding house. The down payment was one million, our family spent seven hundred thousand. She said her house's conditions were not good, so she only spent three hundred thousand. Now I'm not married anymore, the house is in my son's name. Do you still want to get those three hundred thousand back?" She laughed coldly, her voice harsh. "Don't even try! Today you embarrassed me in front of so many people, those three hundred thousand are considered compensation for my mental damage! Upon hearing this sentence, my parents' faces completely changed. Three hundred thousand is almost all of my family's savings. Giang Nguyen stood next to his mother, bowed his head, tacitly admitting. I looked at the mother and daughter, one playing the evil role, the other playing the good role, coordinating without any flaws. It turns out that this is the true purpose of the mother and daughter. From the beginning, they didn't have good intentions. Forcing me to peel shrimp was to test the waters. If I resisted, I would be the one who was controlled and oppressed for the rest of my life. If I resisted, they would cancel the marriage and swallow my family's money. In the room, the Giang family started whispering again. "Three hundred thousand is not a small amount of money."

It's really big now." "That's right, if you say sorry, you'll die? We must make a big deal of it." Hearing those words, a smug look appeared on Luu Phuong's face. She was sure that I would be controlled. She thought that for three hundred thousand, I would bow my head, admit my mistake, and beg her. Looking at her shiny face, I suddenly felt extremely funny. I took out my phone, unlocked the screen. "Aunt Liu, are you sure you want to settle accounts with me?" My voice was extremely calm. So calm that it made Liu Phuong a little uneasy. "You... what do you want to do?" I didn't pay attention to her, directly opened the photo album, found a screenshot and put the phone in front of Giang Nguyen. "Giang Nguyen, see for yourself." Giang Nguyen suspiciously took the phone. With just one look, his face immediately turned pale. His hand holding the phone began to tremble uncontrollably. On the phone screen was the bank's electronic transfer receipt. Recipient: Giang Nguyen. Transfer amount: Three hundred and fifty thousand. Content: Prepayment to the wedding house. Giang Nguyen's breathing stopped. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with fear and disbelief. "I... I..." He stammered and still couldn't say a complete sentence. Seeing that his reaction was not right, she grabbed the phone. When she saw that number, her eyes widened. "Three hundred and fifty thousand? How is this possible! Didn't your family say it was only three hundred thousand?" She screamed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. I took the phone out of her hand. My voice wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone in the heart. "Aunt Luu, my family collected three hundred thousand. The remaining fifty thousand is my own money that I have accumulated over the years of working." I turned to Giang Nguyen, my eyes cold as ice. "Giang Nguyen, I will transfer three hundred fifty thousand to you so you can pay the down payment. Why does his mother always think there is only three hundred thousand? Where did the other fifty thousand go?" Giang Nguyen's lips trembled, a small layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. He did not dare to look at me, nor did he dare to look at his mother. Luu Phuong's mind turned very quickly. She immediately understood something, fiercely glared at her son. But at this moment, she was forced to point her finger at me first. "Who knows if this photo of yours has been edited or not! Nowadays, anything can't be faked!” “Yes, you, she's definitely deceiving people!” Giang Dinh also shouted in support. "Whether it was edited or not, go to the bank to print the transaction history to find out." I said calmly. I put away the phone and continued: "What about the one hundred thousand dowry money?" I looked at Luu Phuong and slowly said each word. "One day before the engagement, my aunt told Giang Nguyen to tell me that she had recently seen a jade bracelet worth fifty thousand but was short of money." "Giang Nguyen said that after all, they were about to become a family, and told me to take fifty thousand from the betrothal money in advance to buy a bracelet as an engagement gift for her, to give her a surprise. "At that time, I transferred fifty thousand to Giang Nguyen." I opened another transfer history. On it was clearly written fifty thousand, the content was "money to buy a bracelet for aunt". "Aunt Luu, where is the bracelet?" Why haven't I seen you wearing it?" Luu Phuong's face immediately turned from red to purple. Instinctively, she looked towards Giang Nguyen, her eyes seemed to want to eat human flesh. Giang Nguyen no longer had any blood on his face. He stood there like a clown whose clothes had been stripped. All eyes were focused on him. There was suspicion, contempt, and scrutiny.