Adopting a Firecracker

"She only burned a tiny spot on her hand that's not even as big as my fingernail! But look at Mom's leg! Her whole leg is red! You can't see that? What are your eyes for, decoration?" I shouted.

I was so furious that my chest rose and fell, and I pointed straight at the blinking surveillance camera on the ceiling.

"You're twisting the truth and can't tell right from wrong! Even if your brain isn't working, the camera up there is recording! Check the footage! Do you dare to check who pushed whom and who spilled soup on whom?" I retorted defiantly.

"Enough!" Xander snapped. I had openly challenged him, and his face had turned an ugly shade of red due to his rage.

"This isn't a place where you can accuse others! Shut your mouth!" he yelled.

"So, telling the truth counts as being disrespectful? And you siding with that wicked woman counts as discipline?" I retorted stubbornly, refusing to back down.

"Why should my mom apologize? That lady is the one who should apologize!" I pointed fiercely at Serena, who was pretending to cry.

The dining room instantly descended into chaos. Unfortunately, the final result was no surprise—Mom and I were locked up in confinement, without even dinner to eat.

Before Xander took Serena to the hospital, she deliberately whispered in Mom's ear, "Jessica, do you know what your dear husband was doing the night you lost your child? He was massaging my feet.

"While you were lying on that cold operating table, listening to the doctor say your child couldn't be saved… All I did was make one call and tell Xander that my ankle felt a little sore, and he immediately abandoned you and your dying daughter and rushed toward me without hesitation.

"Hah! Even now, he still stands firmly by my side. Between us, who do you think you are?"

After she left, Mom's face turned deathly pale, and her whole being seemed to sink into icy despair. The comments instantly came pouring in.

"Holy shit! So that was the truth?"

"Xander, are you even human? At the critical life-and-death moment of your wife and child, you were with your mistress? You damned scumbag! Go to hell!"

"My god! How desperate the female lead must have felt… Losing her child, losing her womb, and her husband was with another woman… This is the peak of the win-your-wife-back plot. It's so inhumane!"

I hugged Mom's cold, stiff body tightly. Upon sensing her despair and impending breakdown, my eyes widened in panic.

"Mom! Mom! Don't listen to that wicked woman's nonsense! She's a terrible person, so everything she says is crap! Don't listen! Just treat her like gum beneath your shoe—annoying but harmless!

"Mom, you still have me! I'm your super warm and comforting snuggle bug! We don't need that bad man! He's blind and has a rotten heart. We'll stay far away from him!"

I clumsily patted her back, like I was coaxing a child.

"Mom, why should we stay in this rotten place and take this humiliation? Why don't we leave? The world is huge, and we can live anywhere. Let's find us somewhere you can cook, and I'll stoke the fire for ya! Wouldn't that be a hoot?"

Mom fell silent, as if she was thinking about this for the first time.

"Leave… can I really leave?" she asked.

I blinked. "Why not?"

Mom smiled bitterly. "But he and I are in a family-arranged marriage, and our relationship isn't that simple. My parents hoped I could be of some use…"

I became anxious hearing that. "Mom! Why'd you have to live for others? I don't have family, but I know this—being family means wishing you happiness, not sacrificing yours. You gotta live for yourself!"

After a long time, she finally said in an extremely serious tone, "If I leave this palace, there won't be a big house and no fancy clothes… would you still want a mom like that?"

"Mom! Ain't ya silly? What'd I need that stuff for?" My eyes sparkled with anticipation.

I continued, "Just tell me! If you have money in the future, would you be willing to make me some stew? Ribs and corn? Pulled pork? Mac and cheese?"