Chapter 5

Martha froze, her eyes bloodshot. More and more onlookers gathered. Martha dramatically collapsed onto the ground. She sat there, pounding her hands on the floor, tears flowing instantly. “Oh, my bitter fate! I raised my son through such hardship, and now I have to ask for his approval just to buy an onion! I have to depend on his mood! I might as well be dead!”

Passersby stopped, watching the unfolding farce. Their gazes shot at me like searchlights.

“What bad luck, to have such a black-hearted son.”

“An onion only costs a few dollars. This man looks well-dressed, too. How can he treat his parents so harshly?”

Some angered people even threw the hot porridge they had just bought at me.

I immediately shielded Leo in my arms. The scalding porridge hit my back. A burning pain shot through me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hint of triumph on Martha’s lips.

“Ethan, everyone here is watching. You wouldn’t be so shameless as to refuse our allowance now, would you?”

I crouched down, looking Martha directly in the eye, my voice low but clear enough for everyone around to hear. “Martha, don’t be in such a hurry to cry. You just said I treated you harshly.”

“Then tell everyone, how did my son get his injuries?”

I gently lifted a corner of Leo’s shirt, revealing the bandaged wounds around his waist.

Leo shivered, his small hands clinging tightly to my neck.

A low gasp rippled through the crowd.

A flicker of guilt crossed Martha’s eyes, but she quickly stammered, “Th-this… he fell himself!”

I sneered, pulling out the medical report from my bag and holding it above my head. “Fell?”

“Leo’s injuries were clearly caused by your stick. Simply because he wanted to ride the carousel one more time.”

“The City Children’s Hospital Orthopedics Department diagnosed a fractured sacrum, caused by external force. The police have already filed a case, and the mediation order is still in my bag. Do you want to see it?”

The crowd stirred, pointing and whispering at Martha. Robert rushed forward, snatched the medical report, and stuffed it into his mouth. “Don’t you dare slander us!”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to swallow the paper. “You think you can slander us with two flimsy pieces of paper!”

I snorted, pulled out my phone, and played a recording. Martha’s voice immediately echoed through the crowd. “Ethan, I’m disciplining your son for you! He only filled out an application for two dollars to go out, but he still wanted more money. He’s only five and already so greedy. Spare the rod, spoil the child! I broke three sticks hitting him!”

Everyone glared fiercely at Martha, who was still slumped on the ground. Some even spat at her.

“Beating a child like that for two dollars? Even the devil would take lessons from you!”

“You old hag, you said you were going to die, so go ahead and do it! Bullying a child like that, you’ll go to hell even after you die.”

Sarah rushed over, vigorously tugging at my sleeve. “Ethan, let’s talk about this at home. Don’t make a spectacle of us here!”

I stood up, shielding Leo. “A spectacle?”

“Sarah, you earn three thousand a month, but you drive a luxury car and wear a designer watch. Where did all that money come from? Do you want me to itemize it in front of everyone? Let’s see who’s making the bigger spectacle!”

Sarah’s face instantly turned beet red. “You… you’re talking nonsense!”

“In three years, I transferred a total of seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars in allowance to Robert and Martha. At least fifteen thousand dollars was transferred to your account every month.”

I spoke slowly, each word echoing at the hospital entrance. “I support Robert and Martha, and you all leech off them. I accepted that. But what right do you have to squander my money and beat my son like this?”

Martha scrambled up from the ground, pointing a finger at my nose and yelling, “Bullshit! We were disciplining him! Brandon spends money freely, that’s one thing, but Leo is five and already greedy for two dollars. What will he be like when he grows up?!”

A young father suddenly stepped out from the crowd, his face full of fury. “Old man and old lady, what era are we living in? Still playing favorites like that? Look what you’ve done to this child!”

“Exactly! She was just lying on the ground playing the victim. Turns out she’s a biased old woman!”

“Using her son’s money to support her daughter, and beating her own grandson? This family is something else!”

The tide turned instantly.

Martha’s face contorted, and she lowered her head, wishing she could just disappear into the ground.

Robert, seeing the situation was getting out of hand, grabbed Martha’s arm, wanting to leave. “Alright, alright, let’s talk about this at home. Don’t let people laugh at us here!”

Sarah glared fiercely at me, then pulled her parents away. At the exit, she turned back to look at me, her eyes filled with viciousness. “Ethan, you just wait. This isn’t over!”

A month later, I received news that my parents had both committed suicide by poisoning!