Just after I gave birth to my second child, my parents rushed over from our hometown and transferred me a huge red envelope of $88,000. My husband smiled and said, "Mom and Dad are so generous to their maternal grandson." My parents and I exchanged glances, all of us stunned. "Liam, what do you mean? Didn't we agree that the second child would take my last name? Why 'maternal grandson'?" My face immediately darkened. Before my husband could open his mouth, my mother-in-law standing nearby immediately stepped forward. "That won't do! The little treasure is a boy! He definitely has to carry on our Sterling family line, how could he take your last name!" My parents' faces instantly darkened. Their good upbringing and manners made them suppress their emotions and not lash out. But I couldn't hold it in! "Liam! Is this your idea, or your mother's?" My husband looked at me, hemming and hawing. "Well, how about we change Chloe's last name to yours instead?" As soon as he said this, the room instantly went quiet. I immediately laughed out of pure anger. "Fine!" "Then let our daughter take my last name!" ... Hearing this, my mother-in-law's eyes instantly widened. "What? Take your last name? Liam, is your brain broken? Letting your daughter take someone else's last name! Your dad will beat you to death!" My mother-in-law was still yelling about the rules passed down from our ancestors, how children must definitely take their father's last name. My mom took a deep breath, trying her best to remain peaceful. "Mrs. Sterling, times are different now, it's very common for children to take their mother's last name. Maya is our only daughter, we just want to have a namesake to carry on." My mother-in-law sneered, looking my mom up and down from the corner of her eye: "Oh, a namesake? Sounds nice! Isn't it just because you couldn't give birth to a son yourself, so you want to come and steal our Sterling family's grandson to provide for you in your old age? Let me tell you, no way!" "You! How can you speak like that!" My mom trembled with anger. My dad quickly supported her, his face livid. Anger flared in my heart. I looked at Liam shrinking to the side and roared: "We agreed from the start that the second child would take my last name, what does your mother mean by this now?" Liam's eyes darted around, hemming and hawing for a long time, "Well, how about we ask Chloe what she thinks?" I simply couldn't believe my ears! He actually wanted a child to bear the weight of such a decision? My dad, heartbroken for his granddaughter, but still holding onto a sliver of hope, nodded in agreement: "Alright, asking Chloe is fine too." But who could have imagined that as soon as Chloe heard this, she immediately burst into loud wails, throwing herself into her grandmother's arms: "Waaah, I don't want to take Mom's last name! Then Dad and I wouldn't be a family anymore! The other kids will mock me for being a wild child!" The air instantly froze. My daughter is only 7 years old, she absolutely wouldn't say things like this on her own. Unless someone had deliberately taught her. Thinking of this, my parents' faces instantly became even uglier. They didn't expect the granddaughter they loved so dearly to reject them so strongly. My mom, afraid that my emotional agitation would cause a clogged milk duct, suppressed her emotions, "Enough, we'll talk about this later. Maya, you focus on your postpartum recovery first." Seeing this, Liam visibly breathed a sigh of relief, "Yes, yes, Mom is right, anyway, no matter whose last name they take, they are both my and Maya's children!" Hearing this, my parents didn't say another word. In the afternoon, my parents went back early, using business at their factory as an excuse. As soon as they left, my mother-in-law started making passive-aggressive remarks. "Hmph! Ran away fast enough! As soon as they heard their grandson wasn't changing his last name and there was no advantage to be gained, they left immediately!" My husband smiled awkwardly, offering a token word of advice, "Mom! Don't say that, Maya's parents really are busy at their factory!" I couldn't hold it in anymore and shot right back: "They really are busy! After all, everything our whole family eats, uses, and lives in now is paid for by my parents' money!" My mother-in-law, hit where it hurt, instantly turned red in the face and thick in the neck. Just as she was about to lash out, the maternity nurse came over to remind me it was time to breastfeed. I just turned over and lay down, saying coldly: "I can't feed him, I'm too full of anger, my milk ducts are clogged!" My mother-in-law was so angry she wanted to charge over and argue, but was pulled out by Liam. 2 Liam and I dated freely. Back then, when my friends found out that I, an only child from a wealthy East Coast family, was going to marry into a rural Midwestern family, their eyes almost popped out of their heads. They took turns advising me, saying even if I had to get married, the man should marry into our family. But Liam simply couldn't stand the idea of 'marrying into' my family. "Maya, I'm the only son in my family, my parents depend on me, I can't leave them!" At that time, my brain clouded by love, I ignored my parents' tears and my friends' advice, and went back with him. But reality gave me a resounding slap in the face. After marriage, the farm he and his parents contracted lost money year after year, relying entirely on my parents for financial support. When we were dating, he solemnly promised "have two kids, one takes your last name, one takes mine." It turns out, from the very beginning, it was an out-and-out scam. His family had made up their minds long ago to leech off our family. Thinking of this, I only felt a knot of pent-up anger blocking my chest, painfully stifling. I don't know how long passed, but the bedroom door was gently pushed open. Liam came in carrying my favorite soup dumplings. "Honey, still angry? I just coaxed Chloe to sleep, she cried very sadly, saying no matter what she wouldn't change her name." I sneered inwardly. "True! Changing a name is indeed troublesome, you have to go through a lot of paperwork all over again." Hearing me say this, his face instantly lit up with joy. "Exactly, exactly! Honey, you finally figured it out, I knew you were the most reasonable..." "So," I coldly interrupted him, "it's just more convenient to change the baby's name directly, just as we agreed before, he'll be called Ethan Vance." Liam's smile instantly froze on his face. He stood up abruptly, his voice rising sharply in anger. "How can we do that?!" Seeing me staring coldly at him without speaking, he suppressed his anger, putting on an earnest and well-meaning tone. "Maya, be reasonable, our family has had a single male heir for three generations! If the baby takes your last name, won't this family line be broken? How are my parents supposed to hold their heads up in front of relatives and friends in the future?!" I took a deep breath, "So, your promise to my parents back then, to have two kids and each takes one last name, was all bullshit?" Faced with my accusation, Liam's face turned the color of pig liver. "Maya Vance! Why are you so aggressive? Is this the same thing? Besides, if you were capable, you would have had a son the first time, and we wouldn't have all this trouble now!" The blood in my entire body instantly froze. "Liam, do you have any common sense? Whether it's a boy or a girl is determined by the man's chromosomes!" Liam was choked by my words and couldn't speak. He fiercely kicked the chair next to him, making a huge noise, scaring the sleeping baby into loud wails. Watching him leave in a huff, my heart sank to the bottom. I had actually given birth to two children for a man like this. 3 Because of my insistence, Liam finally agreed to change our daughter's name. Not feeling reassured, I asked my best friend, Sarah, to accompany him and complete all the procedures. "Don't worry, I watched him do it step-by-step. See, it's changed, from Chloe Sterling to Chloe Vance." In the afternoon, Sarah returned with the brand new documents. I nodded in satisfaction, the pent-up frustration of many days finally dissipating a little. "Sarah, thanks for your hard work, stay for dinner tonight, I'll have the nanny make a few extra dishes." Sarah's eyes flickered, however, and she smiled and declined, "No, no, I have a date tonight." Seeing her coy expression, I couldn't help but tease her. "It's a man, right? Tell me, did you find yourself a boyfriend?" "Oh stop, it's nothing official yet, I'll tell you first when we make it official." Her tone was coy, and she subconsciously moved the bag in her hand behind her back. It was a newly released luxury brand handbag, definitely not her usual level of spending. A subtle feeling brushed across my heart, but it was diluted by the joy of my daughter successfully changing her name. "Alright, then hurry up and go. Liam," I turned to my silent husband standing to the side, "drive Sarah, she helped us a lot." Liam agreed, his face still gloomy, "Let's go." Early the next morning, I woke up early because my breasts were engorged, only to hear a slight noise outside the door. I threw on some clothes and got up, just in time to see Liam opening the door and coming in from outside. I felt suspicious, but kept my face neutral: "So early? Did you go out, or did you just get back?" He was clearly startled, then forced a tired smile: "The boss called for sudden overtime last night, tossed and turned all night, I just made do on the sofa at the office. See, I thought you'd like these, so I went early to buy some soup dumplings." I nodded and didn't ask further. That piece of farmland in his hometown lost money year after year. After my repeated suggestions, he reluctantly found a job. But his abilities were average, and his ambitions were higher than his skills, so his work wasn't going smoothly. "Honey, I have something else I want to discuss with you." Liam suddenly spoke, and I had a premonition it wasn't anything good. "Go ahead." "Look, the baby is about to be one month old, here's what I'm thinking, we should celebrate it properly, make it lively!" I immediately frowned: "He's just a baby, a simple gesture is enough, besides, when Chloe was one month old, we didn't celebrate it, did we?" Liam blurted out almost instantly: "How can that be the same!" As soon as the words left his mouth, seeing my face darken, he immediately and hastily explained: "Just because Chloe didn't have one, that's why we absolutely must have one for the baby! Besides, over all these years, how much money have my parents given out as gifts for other people's events? It's time to use this opportunity to recoup it!" Looking at his calculating face, I sneered inwardly: "Fine, if you want to host it, go ahead." A hint of joy had just appeared on Liam's face when he immediately replaced it with a troubled expression: "Honey, you know my parents don't have any savings. Look, could your parents help us out with fifty thousand first?" "Fifty thousand?" I jerked my head up, "Liam, are you crazy? A one-month celebration costs fifty thousand?" Liam couldn't help but frown: "This is our Sterling family's first grandson! Can the event look shabby?" "My parents' money is hard-earned! It's not for you to show off and fill your family's bottomless pit!" I suppressed my anger, my voice icy. "I agree to the celebration, but you figure out the money for this yourself, I can't bring myself to ask." Liam's face instantly turned extremely ugly. He glared at me fixedly, and after a long while, finally squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "Fine! Maya Vance, you're ruthless!" 4 Liam took it upon himself to book the baby's one-month celebration at the best hotel in the city. That day, he and his mother were at home counting the invitations. I happened to walk by and glanced over, only to discover that my parents' names weren't even on them. "Liam! The baby's one-month celebration, and you didn't invite my parents?!" Liam panicked instantly, quickly gathering the scattered invitations on the table. "That's not true, I'm just checking who I missed, I was going to add them right away." I frowned at him, my intuition telling me his words were untrustworthy. Still feeling uneasy, I found a time to call my mom. "Mom, you know the baby's one-month celebration is this Saturday, right?" My mom smiled and nodded, "Of course, I already have the red envelope ready, to celebrate my eldest grandson turning one month old!" "Eldest grandson?" I was full of doubts, "What do you mean?" My dad took the phone and said, "Liam told us he's going to let the baby take your last name, he'll change it right after the celebration." I was just about to tell them that Chloe's name had already been changed, but before I could finish, the call was hung up. Afterwards, my mom sent a text message saying she had something to do and we'd talk when we met on Saturday. In the evening, Liam came back, and I sat in the living room waiting for him. "My parents said you agreed to let the baby take my last name?" Liam smiled and nodded, "Yeah, didn't Mom and Dad want the baby to take your last name." I frowned, repeatedly reminding him, "But hasn't Chloe already..." He suddenly bent down, kissed my forehead, and looked at me with deep affection. "It's okay honey, I've thought it through. If we let both kids take your last name, I wouldn't mind." Hearing this, I was even more confused. How did he suddenly become a completely different person. Moreover, even if he really agreed, what about my mother-in-law, would she agree? At night, I tested the waters with my mother-in-law. To my surprise, she actually agreed too. "Yes, Liam told me. Your parents are getting older, it's normal for them to want a grandson of their own bloodline." Seeing her say this, I didn't dwell on it anymore. After all, having both kids change to my last name would only mean my parents would contribute more. The next day, I dressed the baby early in his outfit for the celebration. My mother-in-law suddenly said. "Maya, you see there will be a lot of people at the banquet later, why don't you and the baby just stay home, don't go join the crowd. What if there are too many people and it scares the baby..." I was full of confusion, "Today is to celebrate the baby turning one month old, is it appropriate for him not to go?" My mother-in-law smiled and explained, "It's just an excuse. The baby is so small, it's inconvenient for him to go. Your dad's relatives all love to smoke, we don't want them smoking out the baby." I agreed with this point. The first year of our marriage, Liam and I went back to his hometown to host a banquet. Those relatives smoked so much the whole room reeked, you couldn't stay in there at all. "Alright then." Seeing this, my mother-in-law said again, "Hey, your parents definitely want to see the baby, tell them not to go to the hotel either, just come straight to the house to keep your dad company?" I had originally thought of this too, and seeing my mother-in-law offer, I didn't refuse. But because the baby suddenly had diarrhea, I was busy changing his diaper and forgot to message my parents. By the time I remembered, it was already noon, so I called them immediately. "Hello, Mom and Dad, have you arrived at the hotel? You don't need to go, just come straight to the house to see me and the baby." But my mom said, "You and the baby are at home? Then who is the baby I saw Liam and his mother holding?" Hearing this, I was instantly dumbfounded. I looked down at the baby in my arms. The baby was at home with me, so whose baby was Liam holding? Right at this moment, my daughter's teacher suddenly tagged me in the group chat, saying my daughter was the only one left who hadn't signed up for the school summer camp, and asked me to take a picture of my daughter's household registration information to apply for her. I hurriedly looked for the documents, but when I flipped to my daughter's section, I was dumbfounded. The name, which should have been changed to Chloe Vance, still glaringly displayed Chloe Sterling, with no new section added for "former name." Which means, Liam never changed our daughter's name?! Thinking of this, my whole body trembled uncontrollably, and I immediately called my best friend, Sarah. But her phone rang for a long time before being answered. Before I could speak, a familiar voice came from the other end of the line. "Sarah, come quick, your dad is calling you to take the baby around to toast everyone." That was... my mother-in-law's voice!! The next second, the call was cut off.
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