4: 4
Nellie rushed over and snatched the phone right out of my hand.
“I don't want this getting ugly either. Just hand over a two-hundred-thousand payout and we can settle it quietly.”
“You're the only college student in your family. I don't want to saddle you with a record. I only want to get justice for my mother.”
The middle-aged woman looked at Nellie with an aching sort of pity.
“You're too soft-hearted, that's why people walk all over you. With animals like this mother and daughter, you have to be harsh.”
“Otherwise who knows what other heartless things they'll pull down the road.”
The middle-aged woman shoved my mother and said impatiently, “What are you standing there for? If you don't want to ruin your daughter's future, hurry up and pay the compensation!”
My mother was so wronged she was on the verge of tears, and she said miserably, “I never abused any old woman. Besides, even if you sold me off, I couldn't come up with two hundred thousand.”
The property manager shot my mother a glance and said impatiently, “Then sell your house, sell your land, and if that's not enough, go sell your blood.”
“Either way, you've got exactly two roads. Pay up, or go to prison.”
My mother turned to me with a pleading look, tears shining in her eyes.
I grabbed my mother's arm and said firmly, “Mom, we didn't do it, so don't admit to it.”
“In a minute I'm going to expose Nellie's lie and clear your name.”
The property manager looked me over with distaste and sneered, “You two hicks can quit putting on your loving-mother-and-daughter act. Just pay up!”
Nellie squeezed out two tears and played up how pitiful she looked.
“After the fifty thousand you stole, fifteen thousand more isn't asking too much.”
“My mother is over eighty. Your mother nearly beat her to death. Life is priceless, don't you understand that?”
The people around us were moved by the scene, and they turned sympathetic eyes toward Nellie.
“What a poor woman. How could someone that old be put through this? There's no justice in the world.”
The middle-aged woman glared at my mother, jabbing a finger in her face, and snapped, “You heartless piece of trash, get down and kowtow an apology to the old woman right now.”
The crowd chimed in loudly too, “Apologize! Apologize now! On your knees! Kowtow!”
Seeing public opinion swing her way, Nellie could barely keep the smile off her lips.
My mother stood frozen in place, helpless as a child, not knowing what to do.
I stepped forward, seething, and said, “Until the truth of this has been properly investigated, none of you has any right to pass judgment on my mother.”
The property manager gave me a hard shove and said mockingly, “You broke little wretch, you dare to make noise here? This is a high-end community, not somewhere for you to bark.”
The middle-aged woman strode over and grabbed my mother by the collar.
“If you don't apologize today, don't even think about leaving here!”
I tried to get to my mother, but the people around held me back so tightly I couldn't move at all.
The middle-aged woman kicked the back of my mother's knee hard, and my mother went down, her face twisted with pain.
She pressed down on my mother's head and said furiously, “I see you'd rather do this the hard way. Apologize to the old woman, now!”
I fought against them with everything I had, screaming at the top of my lungs, “You monster, let go of my mother right now. She never hurt anyone!”
Just as my mother's head was about to be forced to the ground, a man came running up the stairs.
He saw me and said, out of breath, “Carol, I brought you the thing you asked for.”
I took it from him and shouted at the middle-aged woman, “Let go of my mother now. This is a brain-computer interface. Put it on Nellie's mother's head, and the computer screen will automatically show who hit her.”
“In a moment everyone will know exactly who the real culprit is.”
Nellie's expression turned unnatural, and she stared at the device in my hand in terror.
