On May Day, my cousin had a wedding. I specifically turned down several major clients. I cleared out the top-floor banquet hall of our family's five-star hotel to host her wedding reception for free. Who knew that during the toasting ceremony, her mother-in-law would die from suffocation after suffering an asthma attack without her medication. My cousin's family immediately spread rumors that our hotel's wild mushroom soup contained poisonous mushrooms. They claimed the old lady ate them, had hallucinations, and then fell ill, demanding we pay them a million dollars in compensation. The incident made it to the top of the local trending topics, and the hotel was shut down by the authorities. After my family of three went bankrupt and ended up homeless, we were hit and killed by a car. Those relatives who had been drinking wine worth tens of thousands of dollars per bottle at the wedding banquet even cursed me in the comments, saying I deserved to die. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to one week before May Day. My parents were discussing: "Lily, your cousin suddenly decided to get married on May Day. It's hard to book a venue. Should we reserve a few private rooms for her at our hotel?" I put down the ledger. "No need. Don't even reserve a single table." My parents froze. "But everywhere is fully booked for May Day, and her in-laws are so stingy..." I let out a cold laugh. "What the hell does that have to do with me!"
I touched my frantically beating heart. The excruciating pain of being crushed by that truck in my previous life still lingered in my mind. Looking at my parents standing before me, completely unharmed, my eyes welled up. But I quickly calmed down. The bitter lessons of my previous life taught me that showing kindness to these bloodsucking relatives was asking for death. I grabbed the desk phone and called my assistant in. "Contact Mr. Lee immediately, the one who wanted to book our May Day slot." "Tell him the panoramic banquet hall on the top floor is available for his business association event." "Increase the price by ten percent from the original quote. The deposit must be paid in full today, or no deal." My assistant looked somewhat surprised but moved quickly, immediately going to return the call. In less than half an hour, an urgently printed high-priced contract was placed on my office desk. I stared at the five million dollar deposit that had just arrived in the account and finally relaxed. I filled up all the hotel's available slots during the May Day period. In this life, my cousin could forget about freeloading at our hotel. At two in the afternoon, someone kicked open my office door. My aunt Martha swaggered in with my cousin Shannon. Martha didn't even knock, plopping her butt down on my leather sofa. She grabbed the imported cherries from the fruit plate and shoved them in her mouth. "Lily, your cousin is getting married on May Day. Have someone go change the carpet in the top-floor hall right away." "That color is too dark, not festive enough. Change it to bright red." Shannon, wearing high heels, walked to my desk and rolled her eyes. "Lily, that French menu of yours is too plain. It won't impress anyone." "My in-laws care about appearances. You must add Australian lobster to the menu." "Oh, and wild mushroom soup - that dish looks high-class. Every table must have one." "You can cover the price difference yourself. After all, you run such a big hotel, this small amount won't matter to you." Hearing this entitled tone, I almost laughed from anger. In my previous life, she used these exact words to get a million-dollar wedding banquet for free. I leaned back in my chair, watching this mother-daughter duo perform with cold eyes. Martha spat out a cherry pit and urged impatiently: "I'm talking to you! Are you deaf? Hurry up and call the kitchen to prepare the ingredients!" I pulled open my drawer, took out the newly signed contract, and slapped it hard in their faces. "No need to call." "All the banquet halls have been booked." "During May Day, our hotel is fully booked. We can't even spare a spot in the employee cafeteria." "Find someone else." Shannon froze for a moment, picked up the contract, glanced at the numbers, and her face instantly turned extremely ugly. "Lily, what do you mean? You know I'm getting married!" Martha threw a tantrum on the spot, slapping the desk. Cherries rolled all over the floor. "You're obsessed with money, aren't you!" "For a few stinking dollars, you don't even care about your cousin's lifelong event?" "I'm your aunt! Is this how your family treats relatives?" Shannon's eyes turned red. She squeezed out a few tears and started playing pitiful. "Lily, my life is so hard. My in-laws are poor and can't afford a wedding." "I was counting on hosting a grand wedding at our family hotel to collect more gifts and save face." "If you don't help me, how can I get my investment back?" I stared into her eyes and mercilessly exposed her. "How is your in-laws being broke any of my business?" "Are you going to split the gifts you receive with us?" "If you want a luxury wedding, pay for it yourself. Coming here to freeload - do you think I run a charity?" Shannon's expression changed drastically. Her previously righteous gaze suddenly became flustered and evasive, and even her crying stopped. I keenly caught this detail. In my previous life, I found it strange - why would this family of extreme cheapskates insist on putting up a false front for an extravagant wedding? It seemed there was something going on here that I didn't know about.
Seeing I was unmoved, Martha decided to go all in. She threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming like a toddler having a meltdown. "This is outrageous! Rich people bullying poor relatives!" The commotion drew the attention of employees in the hallway. My parents happened to walk by after inspecting the guest rooms and were shocked by the scene. Seeing my parents, Martha immediately crawled over and grabbed my father's leg. "Richard! You can't forget your roots!" "Thirty years ago when you were dirt poor, I lent you two hundred dollars to buy rice." " I did you a small favor back then, and now you should repay me tenfold.! Now you run a five-star hotel and won't even arrange a wedding venue for Shannon!" "You're trying to kill us mother and daughter!" My father was soft-hearted and couldn't stand hearing about these old debts. He looked troubled, glancing at my mother, then at me. "Lily, how about... we clear out the employee cafeteria on the first floor and set it up simply for Shannon's wedding?" My mother Emily chimed in: "Yeah, they're family after all. It's not good to make things too ugly." The horrifying scene of being crushed to death in my previous life flashed crazily through my mind. I felt a surge of rage shoot straight to the top of my head. I slammed the desk and pointed at the door, roaring. "Absolutely not!" "The banquet halls have all been rented to major clients. The first floor is also an auxiliary exhibition hall for their business association." "The five million dollar deposit is already in the account!" "Breaking a contract with a billionaire client means we can't survive in this industry!" "Whoever dares agree to clear the venue can pay the five million dollar penalty fee themselves!" My parents immediately shut up when they heard "five million dollars." Shannon was so frightened by my murderous aura that she took two steps back. But she still wasn't willing to give up, pointing at my nose and cursing. "Lily, you're a cold-blooded monster!" "You're such a vicious woman, you'll never get married in your life!" I looked at her flustered, exasperated expression and sneered back. "Whether I get married or not is none of your business." "But you, requesting time off for May Day and rushing into a wedding." "Is there something unspeakable in your belly, and you're desperately looking for an honest man to be your cleanup crew?" Shannon jumped up. "Bullshit! How dare you slander me!" She raised her hand and rushed at me to slap me. I was prepared, dodged to the side, and delivered a crisp slap in return. The sharp crack echoed as Shannon was sent staggering and fell to the ground. Half her face instantly swelled up red. Martha shrieked and lunged at me to pull my hair. "You little bitch, how dare you hit my daughter!" I coldly pressed the intercom on my desk. In less than ten seconds, four burly security guards rushed into the office. "Throw these two troublemakers out. If you ever let them into the hotel again, the security captain is fired immediately!" The guards immediately took action, dragging the shrieking mother-daughter duo and throwing them out of the hotel entrance. That evening, I stayed late to check the storage room. While inspecting the fire escape in the back alley of the hotel, I smelled cheap perfume. Then I saw a familiar figure - Shannon. What was she doing at the hotel so late? I lightened my footsteps and pressed against the wall corner. In the dark corner, Shannon was covering her swollen face while making a phone call, her voice trembling. I quietly turned on my phone and started recording. After listening to Shannon's phone call, my whole body trembled. I finally understood the truth behind being scammed to death in my previous life. The poisonous mushroom scam in my previous life wasn't an accident at all. What a vicious scheme. In my previous life, you stepped on my entire family to get ahead. Since that's the case, in this life I'll not only cut off your money path but personally send you to hell.
Early the next morning, my phone was bombarded with messages. The family group chat had exploded. Martha had posted a thousand-word essay in the group, tearfully accusing us. She denounced our family for being heartless after making money, refusing to acknowledge poor relatives. She said I beat my own aunt and cousin black and blue and threw them out the door, ruining my cousin's marriage prospects. Several distant relatives who usually liked to freeload and didn't know the truth immediately jumped out to take sides. George, a distant relative: "So what if you're rich? You've lost all humanity!" Helen, another relative: "Lily has been heartless since she was little. She won't even help relatives. When the hotel goes bankrupt, let's see who goes to eat there!" Some even threatened to unite the whole family to boycott our hotel. Shannon also put on quite a show on social media. She posted: "Maybe I don't deserve a perfect wedding. I've prepared everything, just missing a stage." The accompanying image was an obviously filtered and blurred photo of her wrist with red marks, a fake suicide attempt photo. My father sat on the sofa, looking at the screen full of curses. His blood pressure nearly spiked as his hands trembled. "What... what is all this! We've offended all our relatives!" He anxiously typed on the screen, wanting to apologize and clarify in the group. He even planned to pay out of his own pocket to book a few tables for them at another hotel. I sneered and walked over, pressing down on my father's hand and taking away his phone. "Dad, showing kindness to these bloodsuckers will only make them bite harder." I took out my own phone, opened the financial software, and directly exported a statement. This was a receipt three meters long. I threw it directly into the family group chat. The statement clearly recorded every detail of Martha's family's consumption at our hotel over the past five years. Including but not limited to: eating for free, taking things for free, forcibly taking gifts. Down to the plate of peanuts she took last Thanksgiving, all with surveillance footage to match. The last line was marked in large red letters with the total amount: one hundred twenty-five thousand four hundred dollars. I directly @ Martha in the group. "Since Aunt Martha keeps saying we want to cut ties, then settle this account first." "We're family after all, so I'll round down. One hundred twenty thousand, not a cent less." "As long as you settle this one hundred twenty thousand, I'll immediately pay out of my own pocket to host a wedding for you at the highest standard." The distant relatives like George and Helen, who had just been wildly attacking, all played dead. These relatives had all freeloaded food and drinks at our place to some extent. They were afraid the fire would spread to them. After a minute, Martha sent a furious voice message in the group. "Lily, you're full of shit. You forged the statement. You're crazy for money and extorting your elders." I had anticipated she would deny the debt. Calmly, I opened my photo album. I posted a surveillance video screenshot to the group. In the footage was last month when she brought people to dine and dash. After eating, not only did she not pay, but she also sneaked into the bar. When the cashier went to the bathroom, she directly shoved a box of cigars into her pants and took them. The video was extremely clear, even capturing the greedy expression on her face. I sent a voice message: "Martha, theft of property worth over five thousand dollars is prosecutable." "Do you want me to call the police to arrest you, or will you pay back the money immediately?" Public opinion instantly reversed. Although the relatives didn't dare speak up, soon several younger family members posted screens full of mocking emojis below. Shannon also quietly deleted that wrist-cutting post from social media. The mother-daughter duo became the laughingstock of the entire family. I knew that ever since I overheard Shannon's phone call and learned that secret, given her viciousness, she would never let this go.
As I expected, after Shannon's online narrative backfired, unable to gain relatives' sympathy, she was planning another big move. Three days later at noon, Shannon brought her mother-in-law Edith, who suffered from severe asthma, and swaggered into our hotel lobby, ordering a table of the cheapest dishes. I figured this wasn't just a simple meal, so I quietly sent a message to my friend who was deputy director of the emergency department at a major hospital, asking him to drive over immediately. At the same time, I called the security captain to my office. "Prepare two of the most concealed hidden cameras for me. Follow and film those customers comprehensively with no blind spots. Don't miss a single fly." Sure enough, after they quickly finished eating, they walked straight to the center of the hotel's revolving door. Edith plopped down on the ground and started wailing. "There's no justice. A five-star black-hearted shop bullying honest people." "There were bugs in the food and they won't refund the money, and they even hit an old woman." "They promised to host a wedding banquet here before, now they suddenly broke the contract." " If you don't agree to host my daughter-in-law's wedding today, I'll throw myself against this wall and make sure you get sued and let you lose all your business." It was peak lunch hour, and more and more diners and passersby gathered to watch. Shannon took the opportunity to crouch down next to Edith, pretending to comfort her, while secretly slipping a small white medicine bottle to her mother-in-law. Edith immediately threw one pill into her mouth. At first, the old woman was still throwing a tantrum on the ground, and the onlookers were pointing and watching the excitement. But in less than a minute, after wailing twice, she suddenly convulsed violently all over and collapsed on the ground. Edith's eyes rolled back, clutching her chest tightly. A wheezing sound came from her throat. She looked like she was dying from an acute asthma attack. Martha, who had been hiding outside the crowd, immediately rushed in, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Murder. A black-hearted five-star hotel drove my in-law's mother to death." "Everyone look. This restaurant has poisonous food." This sudden turn of events attracted a large number of internet celebrities who had been camping nearby, all holding up their phones and starting live streams. Shannon, with red-rimmed eyes and the appearance of a wronged, filial daughter-in-law, pointed at my nose and cursed. "Lily. My mother-in-law just ate at your hotel, and now she's dying." "If someone dies today, your hotel is fully responsible. Compensate us. If you don't pay several hundred thousand, this isn't over." I quickly calmed down. I arranged for security to maintain order while having my emergency department friend rush forward with a first aid kit. At the same time, I dialed 911 to report. I led the doctor through the crowd. "Everyone move. This is a deputy director physician from the emergency department. Let her perform first aid." Seeing the doctor arrive, Shannon's eyes instantly panicked, and she reached out to block. "We don't need your fake kindness. Don't touch my mother-in-law." I was quick-eyed and quick-handed, fiercely grabbing Shannon's wrist. With my other hand, I pulled out the white medicine bottle from Edith's pocket. Shannon was shocked and wanted to scream and snatch it. But I had already quickly handed it to security to take to the hospital for drug testing. Just then, the piercing sound of police sirens roared in.
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