Chapter 3

Megan had a congenital heart condition and couldn’t handle strenuous activity. During group play, she could only sit off to the side.

My nephew seized the chance and quietly circled behind her.

He twisted open the bottle and dumped the urine over her head.

“Look! She’s the real toilet!”

Clapping his hands, he shouted excitedly to the other children.

Startled, Megan clutched her chest, her face turning purple as she collapsed to the floor.

The teacher rushed to the office to get her medication.

However, my nephew only smiled more smugly.

When I handed the medicine to the teacher, he overheard that it could save Megan’s life.

He remembered how his mother always said that girl was a burden who would take half of what should be his.

If she were gone, wouldn’t that solve everything?

He carved the candy into pieces that matched the pills in both size and shape.

Then, while the teacher was busy receiving parents that morning, he slipped into the office and swapped the medication in the bottle.

Watching Megan after she took the pills, seeing no improvement in her condition, he grew even more pleased with himself.

It wasn’t until I rushed over from the ER and reviewed the kindergarten’s surveillance footage that his trick was finally exposed.

Yet when the police arrived, he still hid behind my overbearing sister-in-law, crying pitifully as he protested, “I just thought the medicine was too bitter… I wanted to switch it with candy to make Megan happy…”

At this point, the audience fell into silence.

“Do you still think he’s innocent?”

I spoke coldly.

Unexpectedly, one of the spectators who had defended him earlier snapped back, “He’s just a child. How could he understand the consequences of a prank? Kids are born innocent. How could a kid deliberately hurt someone?”

Several others chimed in as well.

“And who’s to say you didn’t abuse him first? Maybe that’s why he hates you.”

“Exactly. Without the full picture, we shouldn’t judge!”

I turned my gaze back to the screen.

“Then take a good look at what this ‘innocent’ kid does next.”

Megan was saved, and fortunately, there were no lasting complications.

My nephew was a minor, and my brother and sister-in-law paid for the emergency treatment.

No matter how hard it was for me to accept, he bore no responsibility in the end.

After I transferred Megan to a different kindergarten, my nephew, with no one left to bully, grew bored.

What happened last time made him realize that no matter what he did, the adults wouldn’t truly punish him.

He began imitating the thugs he saw on TV, lifting women’s skirts on the street.

Instead of stopping him, my mother and sister-in-law laughed and chatted cheerfully.

“Ethan’s growing up. He’s already interested in women!”

Encouraged, he became even more reckless.

Once, on a bus, he deliberately jumped onto a female passenger’s lap and started pulling at her clothes.

The woman was pregnant.

She was startled, and it was only thanks to her sister beside her that she didn’t fall.

She had to cover herself after her buttons were torn open while also protecting her stomach, utterly humiliated.

Her sister, furious, grabbed my sister-in-law and demanded an explanation.

My sister-in-law showed no remorse at all.

“He’s just a kid—kids act out, that’s normal. Let me tell you, my son is a minor. Even if he killed someone, he wouldn’t be sentenced to death!

“And besides, your sister is so fat. Who’d even want to look at her?”

The pregnant woman’s sister, unable to swallow her anger, turned to the internet for help.

But the comment section was flooded with ridicule.

“Who’d want to see that fatty? You’d have to pay me to even glimpse at her.”

“He’s just a kid. He hasn’t even hit puberty. How would he understand harassment?”

“This is what modern women are like. Can’t do anything useful, complain about basic chores, but they’re experts at writing sob stories and smearing people.”

Someone in the courtroom audience recognized the woman.

“Isn’t this that video that was trending not long ago?”

“What are these people thinking? Even if he’s just a kid, he knows he’s crossing a line and getting a kick out of it!”

Another group of spectators lowered their heads, saying nothing.

Perhaps they had been among the ones cheering back then.

On the screen, my nephew got his way once again.

As the woman got off the bus in anger, he suddenly ran after her, spat at her twice, and even stuck out his foot to trip her.

“Ah—my stomach!”

This time, it was serious.

The pregnant woman fell to the ground, blood spreading beneath her.

She lost the baby.

She had already been furious with my nephew. There was no way she would let it go now.

Her husband brought a group of men and caused trouble at my brother’s workplace every day.

He also plastered the neighborhood with posters that read, “Ethan Moore is a killer.”

My father, as the head of the family, couldn’t bear the neighbors’ whispers and judgment. In a fit of anger, he decided to take action.

As a result, he worked himself into a heart attack.

He hurriedly swallowed his medication, only to find that the pills in his bottle had also been replaced with candy—practice pieces my nephew had carved.

He wasn’t as lucky. Though he survived, he was left bedridden from then on.

That night, my nephew huddled in the corner, listening as my brother and sister-in-law discussed the situation.

My brother, timid and submissive outside, turned aggressive at home. He swung and slapped my sister-in-law across the face several times.

“This is all your son’s doing. What are we going to do now? It’s been days, and you still haven’t settled this?”

My sister-in-law clutched her face and wailed, “They’re asking for a fortune right off the bat. Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?”

She paused, then her eyes lit up.

“Your parents love Ethan so much. There’s no way they’d just sit back and let those people ruin his reputation, right?”

My brother let out a cold snort.

“What can they do? They don’t have any money.”

“My mom used to spend her pension on that pretty-boy streamer she follows. What’s his name, something like ‘Top Scholar’? Throwing him expensive virtual gifts until she didn’t even have enough left for food.

“And now my sister collects their pension every month and gives it back to them bit by bit. Mom doesn’t even have a cent to spare anymore.”

At the mention of me, my sister-in-law gritted her teeth in anger.

“Your sister is really something. She’s so petty. Ethan played a little joke on her daughter once, and she’s held a grudge ever since. Now she won’t lift a finger to help.

“She’s shameless too, taking your parents’ pension like that. Who knows if she’s really giving it all back, or secretly keeping half for herself?”

My brother sighed.

“What can we do? She bought that house for them. Her name’s still on the deed. They have no choice but to listen to her.”

“The house?”

My sister-in-law suddenly slapped her thigh, an idea forming.

“We’ll just say Ethan needs a place in a good school district. Your mom won’t risk his future. She’ll definitely pressure your sister into transferring the house to us!”