One Cent a Day: My Mom's Anti‑Degenerate Plan

I stared at Mr. Whitclaw in disbelief.

I couldn't understand why Mom would lie, especially since she gave Dad the cold shoulder for quite a long while back then because of that bracelet. How could she say it didn't exist?

"I knew she was scamming us! It's quite scary what extreme poverty can drive someone to do!"

"Even her mom can't stand her actions."

"Can we leave now, Mr. Whitclaw?"

He nodded in agreement. As he got up to leave, I fell to my knees before him.

"I have proof!"

Nobody believed me, but none of them moved either.

Connecting my phone to the classroom's projector, I opened my photo album and displayed a photo on the screen.

In it, a young me was standing by Dad's coffin, and the silver bracelet was obvious for everyone to see. It was the only photo I had of me and my dad together.

Forcing my tears back, I gazed pleadingly at Mr. Whitclaw. "Please, just check the surveillance footage."

The way Mr. Whitclaw looked at me was noticeably more sympathetic than before, and the classmates who had wanted to leave earlier also spoke up.

"Poor Charlotte. Her father died when she was still so young."

"She couldn't have been more than four or five then and barely even understood the world. Since that bracelet is all she has left to remind her of her father, we should probably check the surveillance footage."

When Mr. Whitclaw agreed, the guy who kept suspecting me of lying earlier started to panic. He stepped forward and stopped him. "I took it."

The students who had agreed with his opinion just now instantly widened their eyes in shock.

Mr. Whitclaw's expression turned cold as he asked, "Where is it?"

The thief scratched his head. "I thought it was worthless, so I tossed it into the trash can outside Class 3."

Upon hearing that, I swiftly ran outside.

Thankfully, the trash cans were usually emptied around six in the evening, so the janitor hadn't yet cleaned it out. I immediately spotted my bracelet among the trash.

My classmates had followed me, and together, they managed to get the bracelet out. Another girl thoughtfully came over with a hose connected to a nearby tap. Then, after rinsing the bracelet clean, she handed it to me.

With that done, they all left.

I was immensely grateful to them, especially since no one seemed angry about the matter anymore.

"Why did you do it?" Mr. Whitclaw asked the culprit.

As it turned out, Mom had been the one to approach him and task him with stealing my bracelet. As a reward, she transferred him 300 dollars.

My vision swam when I heard that.

After Dad passed away, my tuition fees and living expenses were paid by both sets of grandparents, as Mom had never once held a job.

She was always telling me that I had to be good and obedient, that it hadn't been easy for her to raise me alone. Hence, starting from when I was seven, she delegated the cooking and cleaning of the house to me.

All these, I could still accept.

However, what I couldn't believe was that Mom would destroy the thing I held most dear just to teach me a lesson.

This incident had truly scared me, so I decided to give myself one last day. Once I woke up tomorrow, I would return to being the obedient daughter again.

That night, I dreamed of Dad. He was working in the afterlife, yet the moment he spotted me, he set down the bricks he had been moving and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh, my poor daughter, you've really had it rough. It took me working hard in the afterlife for 15 years to finally get a chance to see you and your mother. I'm utterly heartbroken to see how much you've suffered."

His voice sounded like it was coming through a thick layer of mist, as I had long since devolved into a blubbering mess in his arms.

In the end, what truly comforted me was what he said at the end. He told me that he had set up a channel to create an account, and if I checked in with that account like how I did with Mom, I would be able to earn some allowance.

Feeling at ease, I finally fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I lamented how I must have gone crazy from missing Dad so much that I would have such a strange dream about him.

Like usual, I checked in with Mom by wishing her good morning.

However, upon exiting that chat window, I noticed I had a new contact on my messaging app.

The profile photo was of Dad.