Chapter 8 I'd known since childhood that Dad always wanted a son . ] ] Due to the one child policy , they only had me as their only daughter . ] ] The two of them would often have explosive fights . When things got really heated , Mom would call Dad a freeloader , useless , a coward . ] Dad would get so angry the veins in his forehead would bulge as he called Mom a waste of space who couldn't produce a son . [ ] That's when Mom would give that cold laugh and say the words that made Dad see red . The house is part of my dowry - if you're so capable , move out . " " Let's get divorced . You'll leave with nothing . " Dad would storm out in a rage and not come home all night . ]] Young me could only hide in my room , silently praying for them to stop fighting . Now that Mom was gone , Dad had completely let himself go . His entire heart was with that mother and son on the side . [ ] his own daughter , had practically become his enemy . He glared at me with red eyes , looking like he wanted to tear me apart . ] " How much money did your mom give you ? " ] ] " Transfer it back - that's marital property . " ] ] His whole life , he'd schemed and calculated , but never could figure anything out . [ ] What bullslut marital property . ] Mom was dead - did he really think those lies she told him still counted ? } After quickly handling Mom's funeral arrangements , I put the house up with a real estate agent and went straight back to school . Mom was gone - I didn't care what chaos he stirred up . I found that bank card again , and looked back at those group messages . ] On the day my SATs ended , Mom had unusually posted " Three House Rules " in the chat . Cupin ! I went through all the chat records repeatedly , reconstructing Mom's actions that day . ] If I had rushed home regardless of everything that day , what would have been waiting for me ? || From what the neighbors told me , on the morning of my last SAT exam , right after I left for the test center , people came to our house . A group of relatives from Dad's hometown crowded in the hallway , loudly plotting to drag me back to their village- The moment I walked through the front door , they would have gagged me and shoved me into a car waiting downstairs . ] Once back in that little mountain village , I would have been married off to some mentally disabled man and locked in a pig pen to bear children . ] ] That day . Mom had walked me to the test center . On her way back , she received a phone call from one of Dad's hometown aunts . This aunt owed Mom a favor and tipped her off about the plan . [ ] I was still taking my exam - she couldn't reach me and didn't dare send me messages . She was even more afraid I wouldn't listen and would insist on running home . ] In those brief 20 minutes of travel time , she first went to the bank to transfer money to me , then started posting those seemingly absurd " Three House Rules " in the group chat , timing her harsh words perfectly ! ] She knew I was prideful and hated being looked down upon more than anything . She understood me as well as she understood herself . Sure enough , the moment I finished my exam and picked up my phone , I saw those malicious " Three House Rules . " [ ] After Mom returned home , Grandpa and Grandma quickly restricted her movements . [ ] She was locked in the master bedroom , and her phone was confiscated . [ ] Fortunately , while going upstairs , she had already coordinated with the elderly couple downstairs who collected recyclables . ] Soon after , the old man came with his cart to collect scrap . Mom quickly gathered a pile of unwanted clothes and miscellaneous items , mixing my suitcase in among them , and handed everything to the old man . After going downstairs , he called a delivery runner to pick up the items and got my suitcase to me . Everything was completed within one hour . [ ] During this entire period , no one suspected Mom's performance . She had fooled everyone , including me . ]