Chapter 2 The Price of Ten Years

At three in the morning the next day, I got up as usual.

Daniel got up with me, saying he would help me for one last day.

Steam rose from the breakfast stall, stinging my eyes. For ten years, I had struggled to make a living amid the smoke and bustle of this little stall.

Many of my regular customers had heard that I was selling it and gathered around me.

"Emily, you can't give up cooking like this. Where are we going to get such good breakfast sausage after this?"

"Exactly. How can you just quit all of a sudden?"

I forced a smile that looked uglier than crying and told them there was an emergency in the family.

Daniel had already brought the buyer, Walter, over.

"Daniel, the most I can offer for this stall is $300,000. You know how tough business is these days."

Walter lit a cigarette and brushed him off casually.

My heart sank.

After ten years of pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into this stall, the equipment and location alone were worth more than that.

"$500,000. I won't sell it for a cent less," I said through gritted teeth.

Daniel pulled me aside and hissed under his breath. "Are you out of your mind? Is this really the time to haggle over a few hundred thousand dollars? Sophie is waiting for the money to save her brother's life!

"What does someone like you know about running a business? You have no idea what you are talking about!"

He berated me mercilessly in front of an outsider.

My face burned with humiliation.

Just then, Susan showed up too. She was wearing an old, faded dress, her face pale and haggard.

The moment she arrived, she grabbed Walter's hand and pleaded through her tears, "Sir, please, I'm begging you to have mercy. My son is waiting for this money to save his life."

Then, she turned to the neighbors gathered around us and cried, "I've never been good at anything in my life. I only have this daughter, and now I have to trouble her adoptive mother's family to run around trying to save my son. I am truly a sinner."

She had chosen her words perfectly, making me look like some selfless saint.

Everyone's eyes turned toward me.

If I insisted on my price now, I would become the heartless villain who refused to save a dying man.

Daniel immediately stepped forward and caught the frail-looking Susan, soothing her gently. "Susan, please don't be like this. Emily is not that kind of person. She's just not thinking clearly right now."

The two of them played off each other perfectly, making me look like a complete clown.

In the end, I signed the contract for $300,000.

I looked at the scars on my arms left by years of hot-oil burns and felt like the past ten years had all been one big joke.

The money hit the account soon after.

Sophie took my bank card, saying she was going to the hospital to pay the $300,000 deposit.

I felt uneasy and said I wanted to go with her.

Daniel immediately stopped me. "What are you going for? Hospitals are crowded, and things can easily get lost. Just give the card to Sophie.

"You are just a breakfast-stall vendor. You can't help at the hospital anyway, so don't make things harder."

His tone was filled with contempt.

I handed the card to Sophie.

She took it and immediately threw herself into Susan's arms.

She cried out, "Mom, Evan can be saved!"

After crying for a while, she wiped her tears and slipped the card into Daniel's hand.

"Dad, I don't know how to handle something like paying the deposit. You should do it. I trust you to take care of it."

Daniel took the card and patted her shoulder affectionately. "Good girl. Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

From beginning to end, neither of them even looked at me, much less thanked me.

That night, I quietly cleaned up the guest room.

Daniel came over and said, "Let Susan have the master bedroom. She is weak, and the guest room is too small for her to sleep comfortably."

I froze. "Then where are we supposed to sleep?"

"We will sleep in the guest room."

He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, leaving me no room to argue.

I watched as Susan moved into the master bedroom that Daniel and I had shared for more than a decade. She did not hesitate in the slightest.

She even told Daniel to replace our wedding photo on the nightstand with a solo portrait of Sophie.

At that moment, I finally understood—this house was no longer my home.