My daughter, Maybelle, scored first in the entire province on her college entrance exam, so I bought her the luxury earrings she had been longing for as a reward.
When my daughter-in-law found out, she instantly lost it.
“I gave birth to a son for the Wright family and only got an 130,000 dollars red envelope. But she just got into college and received luxury earrings worth several million? Why?!" she seethed.
"Even if she got into Stanford or Harvard University, so what? She’s still a money-losing burden who can’t carry on the family line. I really don’t know what that old hag is thinking!”
I’ve always been calm and composed, but this time I slapped her across the face.
“Maybe you’re a burden in your mother’s eyes, but Maybelle is not!” I spat coldly.
She thought giving birth to a son meant she could do whatever she wanted? Dream on!
——
After three grueling years in high school, Maybelle finally got into her dream school—Stanford University.
To reward her, I ordered a set of luxury jewelry she had admired for a long time—earrings, a matching necklace, and a ring. The total cost was over two million dollars.
When the jewelry arrived, she wore everything proudly, took some photos, and posted them on her social media. [My mom, as expected, always goes big! These earrings worth millions are on a whole different level!]
I smiled in satisfaction and gave it a like.
That’s right—no need to even ask who bought them.
But unexpectedly, our family group chat blew up that night.
It turned out my daughter-in-law, Rochelle, saw the post and immediately went on the Instagram to make a public post:
[Can anyone relate? My sister-in-law just got into college, and my mother-in-law rewarded her with millions in jewelry. I gave birth to a son for the Wright family and only got 130,000 dollars. Isn’t this blatant favoritism?]
Because it touched on mother-and daughter-in-law drama, the post went viral quickly.
Even more coincidentally, Maybelle happened to see it while scrolling.
The comments were full of sympathy for Rochelle, painting her as a poor, mistreated daughter-in-law.
In her exaggerated retelling, I became a stingy, heartless mother-in-law who ignored her during pregnancy, abandoned her during postpartum recovery, and gave her nothing but a pair of gold bracelets and 130,000 dollars for having a son.
One comment read. [Girl, you should be grateful. I didn’t even get 80,000!]
Rochelle replied immediately. [What do you know? I married into a rich family. What’s 130,000 supposed to buy? Can’t even afford a luxury car or house!]
[My mother-in-law carries bags worth over a million, but she only gives me a few hundred thousand? That’s just unfair!]
[And I gave birth to a son, the Wright family’s only heir. Her daughter, a money-draining girl, just got into college and gets millions in jewelry. How is that fair? What the hell is that old witch thinking?!]
Maybelle was furious when she saw the post and immediately shared it in the family group chat.
The two started arguing right there in the chat.
I was tied up in a conference call and didn’t see any of it until later—by the time I opened the group, there were already hundreds of messages. Just scrolling through gave me a headache.
Before I could finish reading, Rochelle emerged from her room, holding my three-month-old grandson and dragging a suitcase behind her.
She looked humiliated, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, clearly ready to storm out.
I frowned. “Rochelle, what do you think you’re doing?”
Her tears fell instantly. “What am I doing? Mom, didn’t you see what Maybelle said in the group chat?”
“I’ve done everything for this family—carried and birthed a child—and I thought as a fellow woman, you’d understand how hard it is. But I never expected you and your daughter to gang up on me!”
“Now I get it. I’ve always just been an outsider in this family. Since that’s the case, I might as well go back to my parents’ house!”
