Chapter 1:

I found a box of contraceptives in my widow mother-in-law's room.

I switched the contraceptives with regular stomach meds, the reason was simple, if she has always wanted a grandchild, why not have one herself?

Later, Aunt Baker next door approached my mother-in-law and threw a bank card at her: "This is your payment for having a child for our family."

1

I installed a tiny camera in the bedroom.

After coming home from work, I often found the bed I had tidied in the morning ruffled, and the alarm clock or glass on the nightstand subtly moved.

But at home, it's just me, my husband Caleb Grant, and my recently moved-in mother-in-law.

Since my father-in-law passed away two years ago, my mother-in-law has been living alone.

Caleb and I had agreed to live just the two of us before marriage, yet two months into the marriage, he brought his mom to live with us using self-pity as an excuse.

He swore, "My mom is just a small woman, she definitely won't impact our life together."

Didn't expect the second morning after she moved in, knocking on our door at six in the morning.

"Ivy, why haven't you made breakfast for Mom yet?"

With no response to knocking, she switched to banging the door.

I dragged my heavy body to open the door, "Mom, isn't there a maid at home to make breakfast?"

"That's expensive! Making breakfast isn't a big deal, why waste money on that?"

Her head barely reached my nose, yet she was very imposing, staring at me with bright eyes.

Caleb was still sleeping like a dead pig, I sympathized with him working overtime last night, so I didn't wake him, resigned to go to the kitchen to heat bread, then fry eggs and ham to make a sandwich.

The mother-in-law pushed the sandwich aside, "Breakfast is just this? You're fooling me?"

"Usually Caleb and I eat this for breakfast, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm not demanding, there must be congee in the morning, and it should not repeat every week. Any side dish will do, but youtiao and dumplings filled with soup must be included, right? Meat filling is nutritious, but not greasy, just the taste of Mason Grant's soup dumplings will do."

Her endless saliva sprayed on my face, I wiped my face, took the keys, and went downstairs to buy breakfast for her.

She continued, "I asked you to make it, not buy it. Bought ones are unhealthy, who knows what oil and meat they use? Hey girl, how can you walk away without listening to me…"

In the ensuing days, she became more aggressive, after driving away the maid, all housework fell on me, clothes were not allowed to be put in the washing machine, claiming hand-washing was the only clean method; she cut off the power to the dishwasher, saying it wasted electricity and water; barged into our bedroom at night to turn off the air conditioning, claiming she was afraid we would catch a cold...

I was full of resentment.

It exploded completely when I saw the surveillance footage.

Two days after installing the camera, after finishing a plan, I sat at the desk and played the past two days' footage at triple speed.

Unexpectedly, I saw Uncle Baker kissing my mother-in-law into my bedroom, then they rolled onto my bed together.

Uncle Baker lives next door to us, with a happy family.

Who would have thought he would cheat with my mother-in-law?

Looking at the entangled figures in the video, I felt nauseous and ran into the bathroom and vomited all my lunch.

The two were adept, seasoned offenders at a glance.

I suppressed my trembling hands, planning to reveal everything to Caleb Grant tonight, then confront my mother-in-law together about this matter.

2

After dinner, I fiddled with the thumb drive in my hand, which contained the video. I was planning how to bring it up.

Caleb Grant came out of the bathroom, freshly showered with only a towel wrapped around him, embracing me with his steamy body and rubbing his stubble on my face.

He picked up the thumb drive, "What's inside?"

I took a deep breath, "Why don't you watch it first?"

He curiously opened the computer and inserted the thumb drive, just as he was about to click it open, I stopped him.

Because I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, something I had never experienced, my calves trembled slightly.

I knelt on the ground, curled up, and clutched my stomach.

He panicked, helping me to rub my abdomen.

"I can't... go to the hospital..."

He quickly threw on some clothes, carried me, and rushed to the car, driving straight to the hospital.

After blood tests and examinations at the hospital, I had already used up all my strength, my forehead covered in cold sweat.

Before long, I developed a high fever.

The results showed acute liver damage, the cause temporarily unknown.

An entire night of vomiting and diarrhea, relentless fever, I even started talking nonsense, calling for my parents.

Caleb Grant took care of me all night, and I felt somewhat better the next day.

The doctor told us it might have been caused by irregular medication use.

Caleb and I exchanged bewildered looks, I hadn't taken any medicine recently, and my diet was quite regular.

The only difference was the soup my mother-in-law voluntarily cooked that night, saying it was to boost my health, made solely for me.

Under Caleb Grant's pressing, my mother-in-law finally admitted the soup was actually medicine from a master she consulted.

"What medicine?"

"Childbearing Soup."

I was exhausted in body and spirit, physically frail since childhood, doctors advised against having children. Moreover, I personally had the idea of being child-free, which I fully communicated with Caleb Grant before marriage, he firmly told me he supported my decision.

For this, out of a certain sense of compensation, my family bought the marital home for us paid in full.

I said nothing when my mother-in-law moved in, she repeatedly tried to give me all sorts of bizarre medicines, every time I refused with various excuses.

I had complained to Caleb Grant, he said it was typical of the older generation, told me not to dwell on it.

Now she went and did something like this, if it were any more severe, I could certainly charge her with attempted murder!

3

After recuperating in the hospital for quite some time, the matter had a hasty conclusion.

Caleb Grant sternly warned my mother-in-law not to give me any more mystery medications, she reluctantly agreed.

On the day of my discharge, Caleb Grant came to pick me up, he was handling the paperwork.

In the hospital corridor, I unexpectedly heard my mother-in-law's voice at a corner.

"Caleb, I asked the doctor about it. He said, Ivy most likely can't have children."

Caleb Grant already knew, and just humored her with a few words.

I heard my mother-in-law lower her voice:

"I've found you a good girl outside."

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"I promise I'll stop giving Ivy the medicine, but you have to let me hold a grandson. That girl has wide hips and strong bones, she's sure to give birth to a big, healthy son. She fancies you, and if Ivy's willing to accept it once you have a child, all the better. If not, you can divorce her!"

I felt like my sickness was about to flare up again, overwhelmed with anger and dizziness.

Not only is my mother-in-law being The Mistress to Uncle Baker, but she's also encouraging another girl to be a mistress to her son.

Truly, rotten to the core.

I barely stood in place, leaning against the wall, just to hear Caleb Grant's response.

"I can't divorce Ivy."

Hearing this, I breathed a little easier, but then he said:

"I need to extract more money from their family. Once she's of no use anymore, I'll divorce her. Mom, let me see a picture of that girl."

I don't know how I walked back to the hospital room, then went home as if nothing happened after being discharged.

But my heart turned cold, and a flame of revenge almost consumed me.

I destroyed the files on the USB drive, then walked straight to my mother-in-law's room to replace the birth control pills I discovered earlier with regular stomach medicine.

The Grant Family, I won't let you off easily.

Back in school, Caleb Grant started pursuing me, saying, "With you, I won't glance at another woman."

I thought I married for love.

But now it seems, if any woman truly believes a man's sweet talk, she's nothing but a fool.

Just like I once was.

Don't expect anything from marriage, it's just two people teaming up to live. If you treat him as true love, you're destined for disappointment. Better to see him as an ordinary roommate, only then can you find a dirty wildflower amid the ugly reality.

However, I won't easily divorce Caleb Grant.

Because the show is about to start.

4

My mother-in-law's appetite is growing.

As she served her third bowl of rice at the dinner table, Caleb Grant put down his chopsticks, "Mom, why have you been eating so much lately?"

She also put down her bowl and chopsticks, "What, you think your mom eats too much? Spending your money?"

Caleb Grant shook his head helplessly.

She looked at me.

"I'm old but eating more than Ivy, shows that I'm healthier than her. She? Hmph, can't even bear a single pup."

I'm not a sow, why should I bear pups?

Every time my mother-in-law targets me, Caleb Grant pretends to be busy and doesn't engage.

If it were the old me, I'd put down my chopsticks and argue with her.

But now, I shamefully smiled and admitted my fault to her.

"You're right, your health is better, clearly you still could have kids."

I feigned humility.

"Eh?—What are you saying?"

"Ivy, how can you talk to our mom like that?"

The two of them spoke simultaneously, the way they puffed and glared was identical.

I was amused inside, but I wore a look of shock on my face.

Suddenly, my mother-in-law shoved the chair back and rushed to the toilet.

Then there was a horrifying sound of vomiting, as if she wanted to expel all her insides.

I took a deep breath and suggested to Caleb Grant that we should take her to the hospital for a check-up, he nodded in agreement.

The car ride to the hospital was a bit silent.

I suddenly spoke up, "Mom, you have symptoms like pregnancy."

She looked pale and hummed coldly.

"Mom, in our hometown, there's a legend that a Serpent Lord's egg was picked up and eaten by a woodcutter, and the Serpent Lord, bearing a grudge, cursed the woodcutter's mother to have endless pregnancies, giving birth one after another until she wasted away."

Caleb Grant was driving, and in the rear-view mirror, he looked at me coldly.

"Ivy, you have a master's degree, why talk about such things?"

I straightened my dress and smiled slightly, saying I just spoke casually.

She leaned on the car seat with her eyes closed.

I started again, "It's said that ever since then, women in our hometown who have affairs meet the same fate. My grandmother told me, wherever our people go, this curse follows!"

Caleb Grant was angry, honking the horn to signal me to shut up.

I looked at my mother-in-law, her eyelids slightly trembled, and her hands were clasped with a hint of blue, a sign of nervousness.

The purpose achieved, I held my tongue.

The rest of the drive to the hospital was silent.

Throughout waiting for results, my mother-in-law visibly grew anxious.

When her number was called, she wanted to go in alone, but Caleb Grant, with an expression of disbelief, went in first.

The two of us followed behind.

The doctor adjusted his glasses, "As an older pregnant woman, we do not recommend childbirth."

Caleb Grant leaned back with a laugh, "You must be joking with us. My mom is fifty, my dad's been dead for two years. Pregnant with what?"

"We never joke."

"Then you must have the wrong report."

Seeing the doctor's serious expression, Caleb Grant also stopped laughing.

5

"Whose? Whose is it!!!"