Mother Comes Back from the Past to Catch My Pretending–to–be- poor Father
Chapter 1
Mom said she’d time–traveled from twenty
years ago.
Everyone thought she was crazy.
Looking at our dilapidated house, Mom
turned to Dad.
“John, didn’t our family get a lot of land
during the land reform back then? I even
brought my family’s land over, why are we
worse off now than we were twenty years
ago?”
Dad remained silent.
After dinner, Mom felt something was wrong,
so she took me to follow Dad.
We followed Dad to an auction, where we
saw our supposedly impoverished father go
all out for a necklace.
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“Mr. Wang, your wife will surely love this
Heart of the Ocean.”
We thought it was a gift for Mom.
But after the auction, the necklace was on
another woman.
Turns out, Dad had been faking poverty all
these years.
Mom cried on my shoulder.
I was stunned.
The man at the auction with Dad? My own
construction worker husband, Mark.
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Seeing Dad leaving the auction with Mark and
another woman, Mom wanted to confront
them.
But a waiter stopped her.
“Who are you, some clueless janitor? Don’t
you know this is Mr. Wang, from Jianning
Group?”
Mom looked confused.
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“What a country bumpkin, doesn’t even know
Jianning Group.”
“It’s the biggest real estate company in the
city. Chairman Wang started from nothing
and built this business empire.”
“Even more touching is his love story with his
wife, Grace. Twenty years of unwavering
devotion, truly enviable.”
“To win Grace a smile, Mr. Wang once bought
a piece of prime land downtown and built a
Ferris wheel named after her.”
The waiter gushed about their love story.
With each sentence, Mom’s face grew darker.
Especially when he mentioned the Ferris
wheel, she was furious.
“John, all these years, you’re still with that
bitch, Grace?!”
Seeing Mom’s rage, and her cursing at John
and Grace, the waiter, fearing repercussions,
called security to throw us out.
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I looked at the large screen across the street,
my hand frozen on Mom’s arm.
My blood felt like it was turning to ice.
The screen showed breaking news.
Jianning Group’s CEO and rising starlet, Lily,
were seen frequently entering and leaving
clubs together, looking very intimate.
The face on the screen was all too familiar. It
was Mark, my husband, the man who
supposedly worked construction.
Not only was my dad faking poverty, so was
my husband of many years.
If I hadn’t seen Mark and my father at the
auction, buying a multi–million dollar
necklace, I never would have guessed that the
man who worried about saving three bucks on
the bus and biked to work two hours early
was actually the CEO of Jianning Group.
Mom told me Grace was Dad’s first love.
Grace dumped Dad because he was poor and
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broke, marrying a rich businessman instead.
Then Dad met Mom. Mom saw his potential,
his ambition, and believed he was destined
for great things.
She defied her family and married Dad,
bringing her land with her.
Then, Mom accidentally time–traveled to the
present.
She expected a better life twenty years later,
thanks to the land.
But this was the reality.
A jarring ringtone snapped us back to reality.
“Susan, it’s time for your checkup today. Why
aren’t you here yet?”
The man’s voice on the phone baffled both
Mom and me.
A checkup? Mom’s kidney disease was cured
by a transplant, wasn’t it?
Could it be…?
I couldn’t bear to think and burried Mom to
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the hospital.
“Susan, your kidney disease is severe! If you
don’t get a transplant immediately, you won’t
live a week.”
The doctor’s words hit me hard.
Mom looked serious too.
Mom hadn’t had a transplant. She’d been
lying to us.
That year, both Mom and Dad needed
transplants, but the family could only afford.
one.
Mom lied, saying she’d gotten the transplant,
pretending to be scared of letting Dad go into
surgery with her.
But Dad was the one who received the
transplant.
Mom was silent for a long time.
Then, she gave a bitter laugh.
“John, if you knew I gave you my transplant
opportunity, and I’m now on the brink of
death, what would you do?”