Now, no one would believe it if spoken: Aoife’s glory and wealth have nothing to do with them.
The family is filled with regret, but others won’t let them off with just a simple sorry.
Rachel tried to reason with them but just as she was about to call the police, someone nearby slapped her old phone out of her hand, shattering it.
Christopher, in the village, was useless, unable to protect his wife. When a group of thugs barged in, he cowered in the corner, frightened.
Rachel, holding her child, dared not confront anyone and could only sit on the ground, sobbing.
The thugs, annoyed by the sight, remembered “respect your elders and be kind to the young.” They didn’t lay a hand on the couple. Now, their son Matthew has returned, tough and suited for a beating. They closed in, ready to vent their anger, throwing punches and kicks while threatening all along.
“I let you come here to steal money! Dare to call the police? Believe me, before the cops arrive, I’ll chop off your hand. Oh, looks like one hand is already chopped off,” the man twisted Matthew’s bloody hand. “How about we chop off the rest?”
Matthew, in pain, gritted his teeth, mentally clouded, not knowing what he was saying, spitting blood, pleading, “I’m sorry, we were wrong, please don’t hit us…”
Matthew dared not call the police. He owed $5 million from gambling, even signed an IOU note, if he called the police, those people might chop off his limbs. He couldn’t afford to provoke city folks, all he wanted now was to return to the countryside to farm.
The thing he never wanted to do had become a luxury at this moment.
Rachel was horrified seeing Matthew’s hand. Even if her son was worthless, he was still her treasure. She had never hit or scolded him, but here, he had his fingers chopped off by someone.
“Stop hitting them,” Rachel pleaded, in tears. “As long as you don’t hit my son, I’m willing to do anything.”
After hearing Rachel’s words, the group stopped and, looking at this useless family, sneered, “Then bring us our money.”
“We really didn’t take your money, how many times do I have to say it?” Rachel’s voice had just fallen when she saw the man pin Matthew to the ground, twisting his right hand back. With just a little force, he could break it.
For the first time, Matthew was beaten so fiercely, crying out for help, but only able to plead with Rachel.
“Mom, please save me, I don’t want to die, it hurts.”
Tears streaming down her face, Rachel hastily said, “We don’t have any money on us right now, but we will work hard to pay you back.”
Only then did the thugs release Matthew. They found something in his pocket, pulling out an IOU note showing $5 million.
“Owed $5 million, still have money to gamble, and you say you didn’t steal our money. Tell me, did you lose the money we left here?” a thug interrogated, pinning Matthew down.
Rachel, shocked, said, “What… $5 million? Matthew, did you lose it? Where did you get so much money? How could you gamble…”
“I was deceived!”
“This IOU is real, who deceived you into borrowing money and gambling? Your hand was chopped off in the casino, right?”
No matter how much was said, the thugs didn’t care. They took Rachel and Christopher away, leaving the child behind. As for Matthew, owing so much money, he was also a trouble.
Rachel and Christopher were dragged to an underground factory, working day and night. Any rest was met with a beating.
They worked hard, without pay, with meager meals of buns and watery porridge, often with bits of meat mixed with grease.
In just a month, the couple became thin. They regretted coming here, thinking they could get money from Aoife. Not only did they not see the money, but their own money was stolen as soon as they got off the train, and now they were kidnapped and brought here.
They didn’t know how their son and grandson were doing now. If only they had known, they wouldn’t have come here. Wouldn’t it have been better to continue living in the countryside?
Rachel still held onto hope that someone would save her, preferably Aoife.
As she waited, illness came instead of rescue, leaving her paralyzed. It seemed futile.
Yet those people didn’t let her be, making Christopher drag Rachel to the streets every day to beg for money.
Today, Christopher was the same, dragging Rachel and holding a cardboard sign, begging at the usual spot.
His eyes lacked any vitality, staring blankly in one direction, occasionally calling out.
“Help, havemercy on us, please.”
Rachel emitted a foul odor, drooling from her twisted mouth, unable to use the toilet due to her paralysis, defecating and urinating in her pants, the stench driving away anyone who intended to give money.
It seemed they wouldn’t receive any money today, and they would surely face another beating when they returned. Christopher frowned in distress. He had thought about escaping, but after witnessing a fellow worker’s attempt and subsequent severe beating and starvation, he didn’t dare.
Christopher lowered his head and, in the corner of his eye, noticed a pair of shoes. Following the shoes upward, his gaze settled on a face, and his pupils dilated, his lips trembling.
It was “Aoife,” their daughter who had become a big star. Was she here to save them?
“Aoife, daughter, you’ve finally come,” Christopher said.
Elisa lowered her eyes, looking down at them coldly, her face expressionless. She made an effort to resemble her former self, without makeup and dressed plainly, trying to show her features.
As Christopher locked eyes with Elisa, he suddenly fell silent. Despite the resemblance, he could see in her eyes that she was no longer their daughter.
“How have you been lately?” Elisa asked.
It was clear to see how they had been. Christopher could sense the disdain and mockery in Elisa’s eyes, though she asked knowingly.
Elisa muttered to herself, “I’m so happy to see you in this state. The wicked will suffer. If you two live too comfortably, wouldn’t it be a waste of money for me to hire someone to handle things?”
Rachel was paralyzed, but her mind was sharp, and her ears could still hear.
Elisa had said everything on this topic. What more could they not understand?
Thinking about everything they had been through in Chiwood, first being robbed, then deceived by a man named Cromwell, being wrongly taken here to do hard labor, paralyzed, begging on the streets – they had endured a lifetime of tears and insults.
And the real culprit, the one who had caused all this suffering, turned out to be their own flesh and blood daughter, “Aoife.”
Rachel glared at her hatefully, her eyes full of murderous intent.
Rachel slurred, “It’s you, you ungrateful wretch. I should have drowned you in the river and sold you to someone as a child bride. You have caused so much harm to your own family. Aoife, you deserve a wretched death, and you will face retribution after you die.” She cursed her own daughter with the most vile words.
Elisa was almost starting to doubt whether Aoife was really their daughter.
From Aoife’s memories, she learned that what Rachel cared about most was her son and grandson.
“Do you want to know how Matthew and your grandson are doing now?”
As soon as “Matthew” was mentioned, Rachel immediately fell silent.
Elisa’s lips curved upwards, her smile warm and generous, like a good person, but her next words were like a knife held to their throats.
“Matthew was bitten by a dog, didn’t get a rabies vaccine, and died of rabies three days ago. I still have photos here. Do you want to see them?” Elisa slowly reached into her bag, took out the photos, and threw them on the ground. Rachel and Christopher stared blankly at the images.
The sight of Matthew dying of rabies was truly pitiful. In the photos, Matthew’s eye sockets were sunken, his face was ashen, his lips were dark, devoid of life.
Rachel couldn’t bear it and cried out, “He’s your brother, why didn’t you save him? Why didn’t you save him?”
“Aoife was also your daughter. When she begged you to spare her, did you spare her? The moment she had some value, you wanted to skin her and drain her of her blood, to squeeze out the only value she had. You ask me why I didn’t save him? Scum like him doesn’t deserve to live and waste air in this society.”
Aoife was dead, she didn’t even have the right to live, pushed into a corner step by step by her own family. If Finn was the executioner, these people were the instigators. When Aoife left home, she was not even eighteen. From the moment Aoife was born, they didn’t think about how to raise her well, but about what value she could provide. For example, doing the rough household chores, washing and cooking from the age of five or six. If she didn’t do well, she would be beaten.
Do you know why they sent Aoife to school? Did they suddenly have a sense of being parents, or did they feel a little guilty as parents?
No, it was because of the poverty assistance issued by the country at the time. Aoife’s education was not only free, but if she did well, she could also get a scholarship. In addition, Rachel thought that with a bit of education, her daughter could later fetch a good price.
After finishing junior high school at the age of fourteen or fifteen, there was no more money. Rachel didn’t let Aoife continue her studies.
At that time, Matthew, at the age of twenty-three, was of marriageable age, and Rachel wanted to use Aoife to get the dowry money to buy a house for Matthew to marry.
Christopher, as a father, did not fulfill his responsibilities. He just watched the family coldly, too weak to contradict Rachel.
Aoife was even discussed as being sold to an abusive man whose wife had died.
As for Matthew.
Elisa delved into Aoife’s memories, a chill creeping into her heart. Even dying was too good for Matthew.
When Aoife was in school, she was in the prime of her youth and beauty. She was famous for her good looks, attracting a lot of attention.
Matthew and a group of people sexually harassed his own sister, touching her for a dollar.
How did Aoife protect herself from contamination in such an environment? Elisa didn’t even dare to think about it. Even if it were her, she couldn’t guarantee that she could survive as resolutely as Aoife did.
In a word, it was better to be dead than to live like this.
But even such a strong-willed Aoife, in the end, could not escape suicide.
You never know how dark this world can be.
Darker than the night is the human heart.
Elisa toyed with two silver coins in her hand and threw them in front of Christopher. “You seem to be in good spirits, so you should be able to live for a long time. Take good care of your precious son. The longer, the better.”
Christopher felt very cold, shivering, while Rachel lay on the ground, struggling weakly, her mind filled with images of Matthew’s death.
“As for your precious grandson Michael, I will help him find a good family and change his name. From now on, you will have no descendants. But looking at you, you don’t need anyone to take care of you. Begging on the streets suits you just fine,” Elisa said, unable to help but chuckle. Now, even the coldness in her eyes was no longer concealed.
She put on a mask and walked away, leaving the couple staring as she got into a luxurious car they had once fantasized about.
…
Anything that can be solved with money is not difficult. Dealing with scum like this naturally requires taking away the one thing they care about the most.
They always looked down on Aoife from childhood to adulthood, didn’t they? She wanted them to remember Aoife’s face in their most desperate moments, to be engraved in their memories for a lifetime, something they couldn’t forget no matter how hard they tried, something that would cause them endless pain and regret.
Elisa had been watching them since they boarded the train to Chiwood, making them appear in the public eye was an insult in itself.
Elisa wanted to deal with them as quickly as possible. She didn’t care if her methods were clean; she just wanted them to be effective.