Chapter 2

“Mia, don’t push it! The whole point of keeping vigil is to let the dead rest and leave this world peacefully. Do you really think this stunt is respectful?”

“The one who died was my mom, your mother-in-law. You’re treating her death like entertainment, like a tool to get followers. Do you even have a conscience?”

Seeing that I’d shut off the livestream, she immediately jumped up and shoved me hard.

“Are you crazy? I’m livestreaming! So many people are watching!”

“I finally got to a hundred thousand followers. If I lose followers, that’s a lot of money!”

Mia shoved me so hard that I staggered and crashed into the offering table, knocking over the candle stand. The incense fell to the floor and snapped in half.

In that instant, something inside me snapped too.

My mom had died such a horrible death, and as the daughter-in-law, she wasn’t even sad. Instead, she pulled a stunt like this.

She wouldn’t even let my mom rest in peace, not even in death.

“Mia, have you lost your mind? This is a funeral!”

I could feel my hands shaking, and I fought hard against the urge to slap her.

“You’re here to keep vigil. My mom never wronged you while she was alive, and as her daughter-in-law, you should be sending her off respectfully!”

“Go wash your face. If I see you livestreaming again, I’ll throw you and your phone out together!”

I rarely got this angry, and I rarely raised my voice at her like this.

She stared at me in a daze for a moment. Once she realized I was serious, she just rolled her eyes and left in her high heels.

I bent down and picked up the incense from the floor, then cleaned up the offering table.

Looking at my mom’s portrait, where she was smiling at me, guilt suddenly surged through me.

“Mom, I’m sorry!”

I knelt on the floor and cried until I couldn’t breathe, filled with regret.

Mia was a very vain woman. I’d known that since I was pursuing her.

But fortunately, my career was going pretty well, and I had some money. She was young and pretty, and she was gentle and considerate toward me. I was willing to spend money on her, and I also wanted to marry her.

Not long after we got married, we had a child. She said she didn’t want to look after a kid because it was too tiring, so my mom had been raising our daughter all along.

Later, when livestreaming took off, she used her pretty face to attract a lot of followers.

She often filmed our family life, and viewers loved it. Some sent her gifts, and some bought stuff from her livestream.

Within a year, she had earned some money herself and tasted the benefits of livestreaming.

I never cared when she filmed those things before. When I heard people say our family was happy and our daughter was adorable, I even felt a little proud.

I never imagined that while my mom was still alive, Mia would make her take care of the kid and do the housework, and after she died, Mia would still try to squeeze out her last bit of value.

The dead deserve respect. I couldn’t forgive what she’d just done.

But even so, for my daughter’s sake, I had never thought about divorcing her.

After keeping vigil all night, and with all that grief on top of it, my spirit had been completely drained.

But there would be a lot of relatives and friends at the funeral soon, and I had to force myself to stay strong and handle my mom’s affairs.

Some relatives had already arrived, but I still hadn’t seen Mia anywhere.

By the time the funeral was about to begin, Mia finally showed up late.

From far away, I saw her holding up her phone. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but she still looked good.