Chapter 4

The three burly men then began cornering me.

Mom ignored my resistance and grabbed my right hand, pressing my thumb onto the inkpad. The suffocating feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me again just then.

Just as my thumb was about to be pressed onto the inkpad, my phone suddenly buzzed in my phone pocket with a personalized email notification sound. I immediately jerked my hand away and pulled the device out.

The phone screen lit up, and I saw that it was a formal job offer letter from the top global company I'd just applied for.

The offer letter stated that I would be starting with an annual million-dollar base salary, plus stock options.

I kicked over the coffee table in front of me and raised the phone in my hand, screaming hysterically at Mom.

"Look at this! Read it carefully! I just got a job offer with a million-dollar annual salary! Yet, you still want to sell me to a shady factory for a mere 10,000 dollars?"

Tears fell uncontrollably from my eyes. All of the grievances I'd felt for the past 26 years of my life just surged forth.

"When I had a fever when I was young, you insisted on saving the 100 dollars by feeding me moldy chicken noodle soup! You never bought me any new clothes for school! You even ruined my college relationship for a mere 100 dollars!

"Why is your frugality only ever directed toward me?"

I screamed and cried, hoping that this million-dollar offer would make Mom hesitate even just a little.

Mom froze for a moment, a look of self-doubt appearing in her eyes for the first time. However, it only lasted for a fraction of a second.

She spat on my shoes and yelled back at me, "Who the hell do you think you're trying to fool? A million dollars? That's nothing but a scam!

"Nothing compares to the immediate 10,000-dollar payout that Leroy is giving out now! You must be out of your mind to think that you'd ever amount to anything, you worthless piece of shit!

"You should even be thanking your lucky stars that you can still be of help to us by paying off Andrea's hospital bills!"

A feeling of utter despair nearly suffocated me. My own mother didn't think that I amounted to anything more than a few cents, after all—not my life, and certainly not my dignity.

Meanwhile, Dad and Austin lunged at me, grabbing me by my arms so that I couldn't move.

Leroy brought up a coil of rope and began binding up my hands and feet. Just as he was about to loop the rope around my neck as well, I suddenly stopped crying.

I just looked at Mom and began to laugh coldly.

I managed to free one of my hands. Then, I pulled out my phone again and played a medical video that I'd prepared beforehand. A medical specialist was wearing a professional doctor's coat in the video as he explained how regular folks could technically save money on hospital treatments at home.

I turned up the volume.

"You love being frugal, don't you, Mom? Let me do some calculations for you.

"Did you know that the high heat in the factories can make people produce up to three gallons of sweat in a day? And doctors say that sweating is as good as dialysis because it removes all the toxins in the body!"

I then stared into Mom's eyes, watching as the angry look in her eyes slowly turned into one of confusion and curiosity.

"In other words, working a day in the factories is equivalent to waiving the dialysis cost of 2,000 dollars a day! And you even get paid for it!

"Don't you think it would make more sense for Andrea to go there instead? She'd be getting rid of all her toxins and still bring home a sizable pay for you! Tens of thousands of dollars! That's just a win-win situation for everyone!"

Mom's eyes lit up visibly after hearing that. Her Scrooge-like mindset instinctively took over her reasoning as she mumbled, "Tens of thousands… of dollars…"

Suddenly, she turned to look at Andrea, who was weakly lying on the couch.

Andrea got such a fright that she hurriedly waved her hands in refusal. "I can't go there, Mom! I'll die there!"

Mom just rushed up to her and slapped her hard.

"Shut up! You don't even know how much it costs to keep you around! Don't you know that hospitals are all black holes that just suck the money out of you?

"This is a free way to get your dialysis done! And you'd even get paid for it! How could you even think about giving up such an amazing opportunity!"

Then, Mom turned to Leroy and said, "I'm not selling Alice anymore, Leroy. I'll sell Andrea to you instead!"