Chapter 4

However, I just silently watched them act until they were exhausted from crying. "Are you done?"

I straightened my collar and gave Lana a standard professional smile. "Since everyone is here, and Lana is live-streaming too, it's perfect."

I turned to my mom, who was still pretending to be unconscious. "Mom, since you said it was premium points, there must be a record in the app, right? Whether it's used or remaining, the system will show it when you check."

I moved closer to my mom. "Take out your phone and open that app in front of thousands of people in the live stream. If it's real, I'll immediately pay Cheryl 500,000 dollars and apologize, but if it's fake..."

I did not finish, but the meaning was self-evident.

My mom's crying stopped abruptly. Her eyes became frantic as she instinctively covered her pocket.

"My... My phone is dead!" She lied without thinking.

"It's alright." I took out a huge power bank from my bag. "I have a power bank. 20,000 mAh; more than enough."

My mom stepped back. "It's not... not compatible! I have an older model phone!"

"I have a universal adapter." I moved closer again.

Cheryl wanted to rush over to stop me. "What are you doing? Are you trying to rob us?"

I glared back at her. "Don't dare take it out? Or are you just nervous?"

I stared into my mother's eyes, my voice low but my words cutting deep. "The netizens are all watching. Just one glance at the records will prove I'm the thief. What a perfect opportunity. What are you hesitating for?"

The mood in the livestream began to shift.

Comments started flooding the chat.

[Yeah, why not just check the records and settle it?]

[Could the old lady be lying?]

Eager to stir the pot, Lana shoved the camera right into my mother's face. "Aunt Sophia, just take it out and show everyone. Prove her wrong!"

My mother was backed into a corner. With trembling hands, she was forced to pull out her phone.

Just as I reached out to take it, her eyes turned vicious, and her wrist violently jerked. "Oops!"

The phone flew from her hand, tracing an arc through the air.

With a splash, it landed precisely in the pot of red broth sitting in the center of the table.

Hot broth splattered everywhere.

The phone tumbled a couple of times in the red broth before the screen went completely black.

Everyone gasped.

My mom immediately looked utterly devastated. "Oh no! My phone! My reward points!"

She pointed at me and lashed out. "Celeste! Why did you smack my hand? You were afraid I'd check the records, so you deliberately knocked the phone out of my hand! Now, great. The phone is broken and the evidence is gone! Are you happy now?"

Cheryl immediately chimed in. "You all saw that, right? She destroyed the evidence because she's guilty! She's definitely hiding something!"

Lana's livestream chat exploded instantly.

Due to the camera angle, the viewers had not seen that my mom tossed the phone herself; they only saw us arguing.

[How evil! She destroyed the evidence!]

[This girl is terrifying!]

I stared at the pot of bubbling red broth. The last shred of hope I held for any familial bond was completely extinguished.

To uphold her lie, she was willing to destroy her phone to publicly shame me.

'Fine. If you want to play hardball...' I pondered.

I slowly looked up and pulled a tablet out of my bag. "Mom, have you forgotten? You could never remember your passwords, so you had me link your account to this tablet. And..."

I waved the tablet with a sneer. "I just happened to have it set up to screencast to the TV in the private room."

The massive 65-inch TV in the room, usually used for karaoke, suddenly flickered.

My mom's face turned pale instantly; she was even paler than when she had faked the illness earlier. "Don't... Don't turn it on!"