A Stranger in My Marriage
After seven years of marriage, my wife had rarely asked me to accompany her back to her parents' home. She always said she didn't want me stepping into that cramped, crowded little house and feeling wronged.
This year, during the New Year, I happened to be in the city where my in-laws lived for a business trip. By chance, I came across a local video online. It was posted by a resident of an upscale neighborhood.
"Mom, Dad, my beloved wife and son—thank you for giving an orphan like me a complete and happy life."
The elderly couple in the video were dressed in the same high-end outfits I had bought for my in-laws.
I thought of how frugal they had always been, how they lived simply and spared every penny. A decision formed in my mind: tomorrow, I would buy them a place in that very neighborhood, in their name, so they could enjoy a comfortable retirement. It would be my small act of filial piety.
But the next day, the moment I stepped into the residential complex, I saw my in-laws coming downstairs—with my wife and a child.
Could it be that my wife had secretly bought them an apartment?
I pressed my lips together, about to step forward, when a man rushed over and caught my father-in-law just as he nearly stumbled. "Dad, careful now."
My footsteps froze.
My wife was an only child. I had never heard of any foster relatives.
He called my father-in-law "Dad."
Then… who was I?