Chapter 2 Twenty Years of Exploitation
The moment those words came out, it was as if the whole world had been muted.
Then whispers spread around.
"My God... a whore? She looks so dignified, but turns out she has been doing that behind the scenes?"
"No wonder she is thirty-five and still unmarried. Which decent man would take her? She has probably been played out long ago. Stay away from her. Don't catch any unclean disease..."
"Her own Mom said so. Can it be fake? Truly, you cannot judge a book by its cover. I even felt a bit sorry for her earlier."
"Pah! Lowly thing. How dare she cause a scene here? Get out already. Don't dirty the wedding!"
Every sentence came from my former relatives and friends.
I stood there as all my dignity and decency were instantly torn to shreds.
The deepest cuts came from the blades of my closest kin.
It was fine.
Since it had come to this, we were no longer family.
I looked at the woman I was supposed to call mother. A low, hoarse laugh rolled from my throat.
"Hehe... Yes, Mom, you are right. I am a whore. The money I earn is dirty, all from spreading my legs for flesh trade."
"But what about you all? When you asked me for money, you never minded the dirt."
"I am thirty-five years old this year. You have leeched off me for a full twenty years.
At fifteen, I washed dishes in a restaurant all winter.
My hands were covered in frostbite. I finally earned over five hundred, and you snatched it all to buy shoes for this good-for-nothing.
Then you told me your brother is a boy and cannot lose face. "
"At twenty, I attended classes during the day and set up a stall at night, saving every penny to continue my studies.
You stormed into the school, in front of all my teachers and classmates, called me unfilial, cursed me as lowly, and forced me to drop out just to take my money so he could keep squandering it. "
"At twenty-eight, you forced me to empty my savings to buy a house for this loser, saying you would never ask me for another cent and that I could marry well with dignity.
I believed it. I lived in a leaking basement and got sick all over.
But what happened? He took the money and gambled it all away.
You lightly said, 'Boys will make mistakes,' and my eight years of blood and sweat were gone. "
"This year I am thirty-five, Mom. For a full twenty years, you have scraped at least one million three hundred fifty thousand from me, flesh and blood included. Tell me, is this 'business' of mine profitable enough? Enough to buy you three of the best coffins?"
The next second, there was a loud thud.
My Dad collapsed to the ground and fainted.
My Mom immediately burst into curses.
"Shut up! What sin did our Jiang family commit to birth a bitch like you! You are here to claim lives! You caused your dad to faint from anger. You must pay compensation. You must give us that house!"
The surrounding relatives also shook their heads. My eldest uncle pointed at me with a pained expression.
"Is there any daughter in the world like you, who will not stop until the family is ruined?!"
The wedding was completely ruined.
As for the paternity test?
No one mentioned it.
After all, the pillar of the family had collapsed. Who cared about the truth now?
It was more important to quickly nail me to the pillar of shame as an unfilial daughter.
Soon, the most shameless counterattack came.
My Mom, along with her precious son, directly blocked my doorstep.
"Jiang Yao! You bitch, get out here! Pay up! You ruined the wedding, fifty thousand! Your dad's medical fees and emotional damages, one hundred thousand! Short one cent and I will make sure you die badly!"
But after banging on the door for a while, there was no sound from inside. They thought I was hiding inside, too scared to come out.
Then my brother took a bucket of paint from the trunk and viciously splashed it all over the wall and the security door!