Chapter 1 Live Under Others' Roof
Words : 2092
Updated : Nov 21st, 2024
"Helen, can you lend me another ten thousand dollars? The hospital urged me again..."
Abe Chou said, looking at his wife Helen Xie with shame.
Helen was stunned when she heard the words, sighed tiredly, and took a stack of money from her purse and handed it to him.
Abe lowered his head, took over the money, and said thank you in a low voice.
Helen was tall and slim. Plus, her oval face and delicate facial features made her indescribably beautiful and striking.
Although Abe was also considered a handsome man, he was much inferior to her.
Three years ago, Abe, who graduated from college, was expecting a great future like all young people. However, at that time, his mother, who brought him up alone, got uremia.
While Abe was worrying about the medical fee, Helen, whom he adored for three years in high school, approached him and offered to marry him as long as he was willing to be her matrilocal husband.
Not only that, but Helen also promised to give him a lot of dowry money.
Although Abe knew Helen never loved him and knew that Helen came to him because of another man.
Abe accepted it in order to treat his mother.
In the past three years, Abe worked hard without complaint in the Xie family.
But even so, he was never accepted by Helen's parents. Moreover, he was often ridiculed by them.
Although Helen didn't taunt him much, she never allowed him to touch her in the three years of marriage.
Just then, Helen's mother opened the door and came in.
Seeing Helen giving money to Abe, she suddenly jumped up as if being stepped on the tail, "Helen, why are you giving money to this loser again?"
"Abe, do you know how much money you have taken from our family in the past few years?"
"Have you ever taken a penny back?"
Abe lowered his head in the machine-gun-like harsh words of his mother-in-law.
"Mom, I will return that money to Helen in the future. Now my mom is still waiting for dialysis..."
His mother-in-law said coldly, "What does your mother's illness have to do with our family? Are you thinking of our family as a bank? Do you know that Helen's company is now in the most difficult stage?"
After that, she said to said, "Helen, you can't give this money to him!"
While she was saying, she rushed forward to snatch the money from Abe.
"Mom, forget it."
Helen stopped her with a tired voice and said, "The company's problem can't be solved by ten thousand dollars anyway, forget it."
Seeing Helen's weary appearance, Abe knew that she must be very disappointed with him.
Her cosmetics company was going through the biggest crisis, but he couldn't help her and couldn't be her backing...
His mother-in-law's dissatisfaction with him seemed to have reached the extreme. She snarled, "What's the use of keeping you! Others' sons-in-law make a lot of money, and you ask for a lot of money from us. What a good-for-nothing!"
At this time, just afternoon, there was a knock on the door.
Abe frowned. Anger and shame both emerged in his heart.
There was a trace of helplessness and melancholy on Helen's pretty face. Then she got up and opened the door.
"Miss Xie, these are today's flowers. Please sign for them!"
There was a deliveryman outside the door, holding a large bunch of red roses in his hands, which looked particularly offending to the eye.
Seeing the bouquet of roses, Abe couldn't help but clench his fists tightly. He knew that Helen's suitor, Dale Chen, sent it.
Three years ago, Dale ignored Helen's retention and insisted on going abroad, which made Helen ask Abe to be her matrilocal husband in a fit of pique.
But when Dale returned from studying abroad a year ago, the first thing he did was to pursue Helen doggedly.
Unlike the low-income family of Abe, Dale, who returned from overseas, was not only a highly educated student in financial management but also a member of the local aristocracy that had become famous in recent years.
Helen rejected the first bouquet of roses sent by Dale a year ago; he had been sending roses to her every day, year after year.
If it were any other girl, she would have been moved by his persistence long ago.
Fortunately, Helen seemed to have been over Dale, so she never accepted his courtship, which gave Abe great comfort.
However, Abe's mother-in-law hoped that Helen could divorce Abe and accept Dale again.
In this way, the crisis of Helen's company could also be resolved.
After all, Dale's family was powerful. It was a breeze for him to help her.
However, Helen didn't listen to her mother.
She said to the delivery man, "Sorry, I won't accept it. Please take them back."
Her mother got up hurriedly and said, "Dale is a romantic. Why do you always refuse him?"
"I will sign for them!"
With that, she signed for the bouquet of fiery red roses with a fawning smile on her face.
Helen didn't scold her mother for what she did, but the fatigue on her pretty face intensified.
"Mom, I'm going to the bank to talk about the loan. I'm leaving!"
Helen said, then took her purse and went out.
As soon as Helen left, the atmosphere in the living room became even more embarrassing.
Abe's mother-in-law held the roses and praised, "These roses are so beautiful. What a good young man Dale is! His family is so rich, and he is so capable and romantic.."
Abe felt his face burning, standing up, and saying, "Mom, I'm going to the hospital."
With that, regardless of the contempt of his mother-in-law, he got up and went out hurriedly.
After leaving home, Abe felt a tightness in the chest.
The taste of being humiliated was unpleasant!
It wasn't like he never thought about changing all of that, but the money he earned from his ordinary sales job wasn't enough to treat his mother. What could he do to change the status quo?
The cruel reality was like a huge heavy stone that pressed down on Abe.
...
At the city hospital nurses' station.
"Hello, I'm here to pay Callie Wang's medical fee."
The nurse raised her head and glanced at Abe, checked on the computer, and casually said, "Callie Wang's medical fee have been paid, and paid with one million dollars, including the kidney transplant surgery fee and postoperative rehabilitation fee."
Abe froze. He had never seen his father since he was a child. He and his mother depended on each other for survival in this city, and they had few relatives and friends.
He couldn't figure out who paid the medical fee for his mother.
"Can you help me find out who paid the medical fee for my mother?"
Finally, Abe could not help being curious. He was not just curious. Abe always remembered what his mother said, people could have no money but couldn't lose his ambition.
Unfortunately, these three years, not to mention the ambition, even his dignity seemed to have been worn away.
"It was a thin, tall man. I don't know what his name is."
"By the way, that person asked me to give this to you."
As if thinking of something important, the nurse hurriedly took out a document pouch from the drawer and handed it to Abe.
Abe walked to the garden downstairs of the hospital and opened the document pouch with curiosity.
Except for an iPad and a bank card, there was nothing in it.
"What does this mean?"
Abe turned on the iPad with a hint of alertness, and then a video call dialog box popped up immediately. A thin old man said respectfully,
"Mr. Chou, hello, my name is Albert Zhao. According to your father's will, you are the sole heir to his trillion-dollar estate."
Abe's brain went blank, and he muttered, "My father?"
"Yes." Albert nodded and said, "Your father is the leading global Chinese businessman, the chairman of the Chou Group with a market value of trillions of dollars."
Albert continued, "I've sent a document to your mailbox. It's a five hundred and sixty-page list of assets; all were Mr. Chou's inheritance. You can succeed to the position of chairman of the Chou Group at any time!"
When Abe heard this, he immediately shook his head and said, "No, I won't do that!"
Albert asked in surprise, "Why?"
Abe said with a severe expression, "He abandoned my mother and me back then. I will never forgive him!"