I was treating my in-laws to dinner when my wife’s male assistant showed up at checkout. He saw my mother-in-law packing up the leftover fish soup and slapped the bag out of her hands. The soup splashed all over her. “If you can’t afford it, don’t eat here! How can a poor old hag like you be CEO Chan’s mother-in-law? Stop embarrassing her!” I asked the restaurant to prepare a fresh portion of the soup for us to take home. The assistant punched me to the ground. “This is a members-only restaurant. You’re using CEO Chan’s card, aren’t you? Can’t you earn your own money? You have to use her money to support your hick parents?” The stress sent my father-in-law to the hospital. I called my wife, Valerie, to come and sign the surgical consent forms. She just laughed. “Adrian told me everything. Your father gets sick and you try to trick me into paying for it? Has your whole family gone crazy for money?” “If he’s going to die, tell him to die quickly. And keep him away from me. It’s bad luck.” 1 “Valerie, your father is in the emergency room. You need to get to the hospital, now!” Her voice was casual, unconcerned. “Oh? What a coincidence. The moment I get to Adrian’s place, my dad suddenly has a problem? Thomas, next time you make up an excuse, can you curse yourself? Stop cursing my parents.” My father-in-law was downstairs in the ER, and my mother-in-law had fainted from the shock. I was by her bedside, completely overwhelmed. The doctor had already issued a critical condition notice for my father-in-law. Clinging to the last shred of our connection, I wanted Valerie to see her father one last time. I swallowed my anger and tried again. “I’m not lying. You can ask Adrian if you don’t believe me. I took your parents to dinner, and he was the one who kept provoking them until your father collapsed. Dad’s been declared critical. You need to come and sign the papers. If you wait any longer, you might not get to see him…” Valerie cut me off with a roar of fury. I heard her phone clatter to the floor, her shouts coming in broken waves. “Thomas, are you ever going to quit?! Adrian told me everything! Your hick parents came to town, and you used my money to treat them to a fancy dinner. I let that slide. Now the old man is sick, and you want me to come over? You just want me to be there to swipe my card, don't you? You think I don’t know your little schemes?” “I told you before, Thomas! You only married me for my money, didn’t you? Well, you’ll never see a single cent of it, not even when you die!” I could hear Adrian murmuring comforts to her in the background. Then, his voice came on the line, sharp and mocking. “Thomas, I saw it with my own eyes. The old country woman is fine. Why don’t you put her on the phone? Don’t you think CEO Chan would recognize her own mother’s voice?” I fell silent. My mother-in-law had just fallen asleep in her hospital bed, an oxygen mask over her face. Waking her up now, just to prove to her own daughter that her husband was dying in the ER… I couldn’t imagine the pain it would cause her. After a long pause, I sighed. “Your mother just fell asleep. I don’t want to disturb her.” There was no response. I could hear the rustle of clothes, followed by the soft moans of two people lost in a passionate kiss. A long moment passed before Valerie’s voice, husky and intimate, came back on the line. “If you can’t provide any proof, then stop bothering me. Or would you rather listen to us get down to business?” Adrian laughed. “If you’re into that, Valerie, I don’t mind. But it does kind of kill the mood. Why don’t we just turn off the phone? Then no one can interrupt us.” “Okay~ Whatever you say.” The line went dead. The world returned to a suffocating silence. A lump of acid formed in my throat. My fingers clenched into a fist. My in-laws were good people. Even though my marriage to Valerie was a hollow shell, I still wished them health and longevity. But now, my father-in-law was fighting for his life, and his own daughter would rather fool around with her assistant than be by his side. They were educated, cultured people, too dignified to argue with Adrian in public. But their restraint had only emboldened him, letting him spew his venom until he’d literally pushed my father-in-law to the brink of death. 2 Two hours earlier, I was having dinner with my in-laws at The Lunar Court. The Lunar Court used to be my family’s restaurant. It was also their favorite, and Valerie’s. As we were leaving, my mother-in-law carefully packed up the leftover fish soup. “Valerie said she’s coming home for dinner tonight. She’s loved the fish soup here since she was a little girl. I’ll take it home and make her some noodles. A little taste of her childhood.” She was smiling, telling me stories about Valerie as a child, when a figure suddenly rushed forward and slapped the container out of her hands. The hot soup splashed all over her, getting in her eyes. My father-in-law and I forgot about everything else, scrambling to help her. But the man wasn’t finished. “Thomas, do you know where you are? This is The Lunar Court! Where did this poor trash come from, packing up leftover soup? You have the nerve to eat here?” He was decked out in designer clothes, clothes Valerie had bought him. He looked my in-laws up and down with disdain. “What are these old geezers wearing? If your parents are this poor, they should stick to street stalls. What are they doing at The Lunar Court? Valerie was right. You really are just after her money! Shameless!” My father-in-law understood. Adrian thought my in-laws were my parents and was mocking them for being poor. A man of dignity, he chose not to correct him, but to defend my parents instead. “Young man, how can you speak like that? It’s not your place to decide who is worthy of eating at The Lunar Court. Besides, we are your elders, and Thomas is older than you. You should not be so disrespectful. Please, apologize.” But Adrian didn’t apologize. He lifted his foot and aimed a vicious kick at my father-in-law. If I hadn’t pulled him back, he would have crashed to the floor. “Apologize?” Adrian sneered. “Do you know who I am? I’m the boyfriend of the CEO of the Chan Corporation! All I have to do is ask, and she’d give me this whole restaurant. What are you?” “You probably don’t know, but your useless son has already been kicked out of the family! He didn’t get a penny! And you’re here, enjoying a feast, expecting CEO Chan to foot the bill? Dream on!” As he spoke, a line of uniformed security guards from the restaurant appeared behind him. The staff had all been replaced since I last managed the place. My in-laws were always low-key, so no one recognized us. The guards bowed respectfully to Adrian, then, without a word, they forced the three of us to the ground. “How dare you poor filth eat at The Lunar Court! Do you know who you’ve offended? This is CEO Chan’s favorite. You’ve upset him. Let’s see how she deals with you!” My father-in-law already had bad legs. His knee hit the ground hard, and he couldn’t get back up. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. “Stop!” I yelled. “I am Thomas Qin, Valerie Chan’s husband! And these are her parents! Open your eyes and look! Get Mr. Chan to a hospital now! If anything happens to him, you will be held responsible!” The manager sneered and slapped me hard across the face. “I’ve seen this pathetic dine-and-dash trick a million times! People claim to be CEO Chan’s boyfriend every day to get a free meal. Funny how we’ve never seen her bring you here. So far, the only person she’s ever personally brought to dine here is Mr. Pitt. We only listen to Mr. Pitt.” Adrian beamed, his smile wide and predatory. “These people probably can’t pay. Take them to the kitchen. They can wash dishes to work off their bill.” The manager and his men ignored our protests. They confiscated our phones and threw us into the kitchen, forcing us to wash dishes and scrub floors under their watchful eyes. Any hesitation was met with a blow. It wasn't until my father-in-law, locked in the sweltering garbage room, collapsed from lack of air that the manager realized he might have a death on his hands. They quickly threw us out the back door. As I was getting into the ambulance, my eyes met Adrian’s. He was standing at the restaurant entrance, his expression dark and menacing. “Thomas,” he said, his voice a low threat, “this was just a little lesson. This is what happens when you cross me.”
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