My Daughter-in-Law Humiliated Me at Her Wedding,Then I Inherited a Billion-Dollar Fortune

1: 1

The wedding had reached the tea-serving ritual.

That was when my daughter-in-law, in front of a hall full of guests, tossed down a 《Family Harmony Contract》 and told me to sign it.

The terms ran dense across dozens of pages.

【Article One:

After the marriage, the mother-in-law is to hand over all of her savings, and her pension card is to be held by the daughter-in-law.】

【Article Two:

After the marriage, the mother-in-law is responsible for cleaning, laundry, and cooking.

The stovetop must be kept free of grease and the floor free of water stains. Each violation incurs a two-hundred-dollar fine.】

【Article Three:

Without permission, the mother-in-law may not enter the son and daughter-in-law's room.

Each violation incurs a five-hundred-dollar fine.】

……

【Article Eighty-Seven:

Ten at night to seven in the morning is a strict silence period.

During this time she may not move about the room, may not watch television or listen to music, and may not use the bathroom.

Each violation incurs a one-thousand-dollar fine.】

……

"Tracey, what is this supposed to mean?"

I was hoping I'd read too much into it.

But my daughter-in-law only sneered with contempt.

"Old woman, quit putting on an act."

"Don't think that just because you're old, you get to lord it over this family like it's your right."

"From now on I'm the woman of this house. If you want to live with us, you live by my rules."

Looking at that smug, chin-in-the-air daughter-in-law, I suddenly found myself smiling.

So my daughter-in-law meant to lay down the law for me, her mother-in-law, in public, on her own wedding day?

I raised my eyes to my son, who had stood by the whole time, watching coldly, not saying a word.

"Is this what you want too?"

1

Because of this sudden turn.

The wedding that had been loud and lively a moment ago went dead silent.

My son, Ivan Dickerson, looked at me, his tone dismissive.

"Mom, don't blame Tracey. I agreed to it."

"Tracey married me without demanding some sky-high bride price like other girls do. She's already marrying beneath her. And now, this is the only thing she's asking for."

My body went rigid all at once.

I froze where I stood.

Staring in disbelief at this son I had raised with my own hands.

"Then do you even know what's written in there?"

My voice trembled faintly.

Ivan nodded.

"Of course. Some of the terms I added myself, to help Tracey out."

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

"Ivan, I'm your own mother."

"And you'd let your wife humiliate me in front of everyone like this?"

Ivan frowned slightly.

"How is this humiliating?"

"It's precisely because you're my mother that some things need to be put in writing, so you don't keep pulling the elder-of-the-house act on us whenever the mood strikes."

One sentence, light as air.

But it was like a poison-tipped blade, driven hard into my heart.

"Mom, it's just a signature. There are this many people watching. Just play along. Don't make me lose face in front of my relatives and friends, all right?"

I looked at that familiar face of Ivan's, and it suddenly felt like a stranger's.

The son I had carried for ten months and raised through such hardship could now, to please another woman, grind my dignity under his heel without a moment's hesitation.

My heart felt like a thing with a hole torn through it, cold wind whistling through.

It was June, yet I felt as if I'd been dropped into an ice pit, chilled to the bone.

And those relatives and friends who had once eaten at my table, drunk my tea, taken kindness from my hands, not one of them stepped forward to say a single word for me now.

Instead they watched me with a kind of gleeful anticipation, waiting for the show.

Seeing that I still stood there, unmoving.

My daughter-in-law, Tracey Cobb, looked thoroughly impatient.

"Ivan, what are you dawdling with her for? If we miss the lucky hour, there won't be any wedding at all!"

Ivan heard that and got flustered, his words tumbling out faster.

"Mom, it's just a signature. Is it really that hard?"

Just a signature?

He knew perfectly well that once I signed, I truly would have no dignity left at all.

They say a man forgets his mother the moment he takes a wife.

Before, every time I heard that saying, I'd give a small smile and let it pass.

It wasn't until today that I truly understood why an old saying could be passed down for a thousand years. There's a reason for it.

Swallowing the bitterness in my chest, I looked at the two of them.

"And what if I don't sign?"

Tracey's face darkened.

"Don't sign?!"

"Old woman, don't throw away what dignity we're offering you."

"If you don't sign, you can forget ever setting foot in our home again, and don't count on us taking care of you in your old age either."

I turned to Ivan.

"Ivan, and you? Is this what you mean too?"