All Chapters of Practice Marriage in Poverty? Say Hi to Real Poverty: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The words of my son, Shane Lewis, hit me like bullets, piercing right through my skull. I stared at him as he played with his limited-edition toy robot. I'd spent three sleepless nights doing freelance design work just to get that for him.His face, which looked just like Naomi Sullivan's, held a frosty indifference that should never have been found on a five-year-old."S-Shane, what are you talking about?"My throat had tightened. Every word was torture to get out."Mommy told me everything," Shane said flatly. "Mommy said that a truly capable man wouldn't constantly talk about money. "You spend all your time calculating all those expenses. You'd even run two blocks on foot just because of a supermarket discount. And you even got mad at me because I broke a toy.""I wasn't mad. I was just—""Mommy said that's what a petty, low-class man does," Shane interrupted as he coolly repeated Naomi's words. "She said you're fixated on trivial, short-term gains. Your love is both too wor

My laughter startled Jared and Edwin. They probably expected me to either explode in rage, curse them out at the top of my lungs, or fall to my knees and beg.Laughter was the only thing they didn't expect from me."Why are you laughing?" Jared questioned, his brow furrowed."It's nothing," I said, my expression stilling after my laughter died out. "I just thought you guys proved to be great actors as well."I walked into the bedroom and dragged out several storage boxes from under the bed. I bought them a few days ago. My plan was to use them to organize our off-season clothes in preparation for our new life following the end of our hard days."Oh? Have you come to your senses and decided to pack up so you can get the hell out of here?" Jared called out mockingly as he leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed.I ignored him.One by one, I methodically sorted through all of the expenses I'd covered in the last five years. During that time, I'd printed out the bank tran

My father had been a truly brilliant programmer, but he never got a chance to shine. His talents had gone unrecognized, and he died with a sense of unfulfillment."I don't have much to leave you, Ian. Take this. You can play around with it. Use it to record your hard work and your journey in life. Don't forget me, your father."Before Dad passed away, he gave me an old laptop. He'd modified it himself and programmed a custom system for it.I'd cherished that old laptop all these years and dutifully did as he'd instructed me. I recorded every single detail of my life, never missing a day.All along, I simply figured that once I finally made it, I could show it to Naomi and tell her with a smile, "Look. See how much we had to overcome to get here."Now that I thought about it, it truly felt like the biggest irony in the world.It was precisely this habit of mine that became my sole lifeline.I retrieved the old laptop from a hidden compartment in my suitcase and turned it on. I op

While not exactly a tsunami, my lawsuit caused significant waves among the financial and legal circles."High-Society Scandal! Naomi Sullivan of Sullivan Group Sued by Husband Over Illegal Labor Practices!"A headline like that was enough to grab everyone's attention.Naomi and Jared clearly hadn't expected me to come at them in this manner. After two days of radio silence, they chose an arrogant and foolish way to respond to the lawsuit. They held a press conference.I sat on the couch in Yvette's office, watching the live broadcast. Through the screen, I stared at the impeccably dressed Jared."I feel both deeply hurt and confused by Mr. Ian Lewis' actions," Naomi said to the camera, looking like someone who'd loved deeply but had suffered a great betrayal."I admit that I designed a trial with the intention of testing human nature. However, my original intention was simply to find a partner who could share both joys and hardships with me. I was never looking for an employee

The final court verdict came faster than I'd expected.Sullivan Group's legal team couldn't mount any defense against the evidence Yvette presented in court. She'd submitted the five-year records that had been documented using blockchain technology, which meant that they couldn't have been falsified or tampered with. She also submitted a few key audio recordings as evidence.In the end, the court ruled that both Sullivan Group and Naomi, as an individual, were guilty of committing illegal labor practices and commercial fraud against me.Sullivan Group was ordered to provide full compensation for five years of labor, including the value of benefits owed, such as insurance and pension fund contributions, as well as triple overtime pay.Aside from that, they also had to provide an astronomical nine-figure sum in compensation for other non-financial damages and emotional distress.As for Naomi, due to her involvement in commercial fraud, and with the conclusive evidence of her activ