Chapter 263: In the End, We Were Too Naive
"They say even the most vicious tiger won’t eat its own cubs, but some people’s hearts are truly more fearsome than any wolf or leopard."
Arabella Donovan shot her a cool glance, her eyes betraying a hint of admiration.
’This auntie is my spokesperson. She’s spot on! Some people simply don’t deserve to be called parents. She’s completely reaped what she sowed, ending up in a state where she’s loathed by all.’
Mrs. Kohl saw the shifting expressions on everyone’s faces and couldn’t stand their stares any longer. She exploded in a fit of shame and anger, "What’s the use of a girl getting so much education? Marrying young, having children, and taking care of the home is the proper path."
"If she gets married, the family saves the expense of raising her, and we can use the eighty-thousand-yuan bride price to send her brother to college. In the future, when her brother is successful with a good career, she’ll have someone to lean on, right? It was a plan with multiple benefits, so I did nothing wrong!"
As the Donovan family had two daughters themselves, hearing Mrs. Kohl’s words made them feel utterly disgusted, and their expressions turned foul.
The auntie in yellow pursed her lips and muttered, "So your eldest son is successful? Then how come we never saw him lift a finger to help when his brother was in trouble?"
"Who says he didn’t help?" Mrs. Kohl retorted reflexively, stunning the onlookers.
Just as everyone thought they had misjudged the man, that this eldest son might have some shred of conscience after all, Arabella Donovan casually shattered their fantasy.
"That’s right, he did help out with money, but as a loan. Oh, and he charged interest."
Everyone was speechless. ’So we were the naive ones after all!’
"So... so what? He still put up cold, hard cash, unlike some people who talk a big game but wouldn’t spare a single cent."
Hearing this, Eloise Donovan gave her a complicated look and offered a reminder. "Perhaps you’ve heard of something called a student loan?"
"What?" Mrs. Kohl’s brow furrowed, her tone turning nasty.
Eloise Donovan wasn’t bothered. "What I mean is, since you had to borrow money one way or another, it would have been better to apply for a student loan directly from the school. You’d still be in debt, but at least you wouldn’t have to pay interest for a few years. That’s much better than this ’clear accounting between brothers’ situation."
Everyone was speechless. ’Is that how you’re supposed to use the phrase "keeping clear accounts between brothers"?’
Mrs. Kohl’s face was livid, but she still refused to admit her mistake. Instead, she shifted the blame to the daughter she so deeply resented and despised.
"If it weren’t for that ungrateful little slut, why would her brothers have fallen out like this? That cripple may be old, but older men know how to cherish a woman. And his elders are all dead, so if she married him, she wouldn’t have any in-laws to boss her around. She would have had a life of ease ahead of her, but she was too blind to see her own good fortune..."
At first, no one realized who she was cursing. Then it dawned on them that she was talking about her own daughter.
For a mother to be calling her own daughter a slut so casually was a real eye-opener for everyone present.
Seeing how utterly unrepentant she was, Arabella Donovan finally felt a surge of real anger. She sneered, "Since he’s so wonderful, why don’t you marry him yourself? You’re a widow, he’s a bachelor—a match made in heaven."
"That’s right! When your third son was about to start college, your daughter was just a little girl! A man in his late thirties could be her father. He’s a much better match for a mother like you!"
"Shut up! Shut up! All of you, shut up! What do you know? You don’t know anything..."
"I admit I don’t understand how people like you think, but I do know a few things. For instance, that ’cripple’ is a degenerate old lecher. He’s lazy, a glutton, and a monster who drinks, gambles, whores around, and beats women. He had a child bride at home once, but he tormented her to death before she was even old enough for a proper wedding."
"After that, preying on the fact that outsiders didn’t know his true nature, he tricked a vulnerable young woman into coming home with him. He treated her like a servant, and what’s more, he would beat and curse her at the slightest provocation, leaving her covered in bruises."
Arabella Donovan paused. "And do you know how he ended up with that limp? The girl may have been naive and easily fooled, but her family was not to be messed with. That leg of his? Her family broke it when they came to rescue her."
"And as for your point about ’no in-laws to boss her around’—that’s even funnier. He literally angered both of his parents to death."
The moment Arabella Donovan finished speaking, the crowd let out a collective gasp. What kind of good match was this? The man was utter scum!
"I know all this. The question is, did you?" Arabella Donovan stared directly into Mrs. Kohl’s panicked, darting eyes and chuckled. "It looks like you did. And even knowing all that, you still thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your daughter."
The auntie in yellow had already backed far away from Mrs. Kohl, even secretly spitting on the ground in her direction to show her condemnation and disgust.
"So what happened to her daughter? They didn’t get their way, did they?"
Although Arabella had mentioned that the eldest son ended up paying the third son’s tuition—as a loan—the auntie still felt uneasy and couldn’t help but seek confirmation from Arabella Donovan.
"With the help of the second son, the daughter managed to escape before the wedding. She cut off all contact with her family afterward and only reconnected with her second brother a few years ago. By now, she’s married to her high school sweetheart, who’s also a teacher. They have a daughter, and she has a successful career, a wonderful marriage, and a happy family life." She had completely broken free from the influence of her toxic family.
"Oh, that’s wonderful. That’s so wonderful." The auntie patted her chest, her face filled with relief.
A perfect stranger could feel such concern for a poor girl she’d never met, yet the very person who brought her into this world couldn’t wait to push her into a pit of fire. Sometimes, the world could be just that absurdly cruel.
Arabella Donovan glanced at the auntie, then turned her gaze back to Mrs. Kohl in the distance.
Mrs. Kohl’s face showed not a flicker of joy at hearing news of her daughter. There was only the bitter indignation and resentment of having her facade torn away.
"Your eldest son lived up to all your high hopes. He had excellent grades and outstanding abilities. Right after graduation, he joined a major corporation and became a senior executive. Within a year, he’d accomplished so much that he caught the attention of the company’s owner, who then married his own daughter to him."
"But you’d long since spoiled him into a selfish, self-centered man who took everything you did for him for granted. And the heiress he married is even more arrogant and willful; she has absolutely no respect for you as her mother-in-law. You’re nothing more than a maid in their house. You don’t even have your own room—you’re forced to live in the storage closet under the stairs."
No one had expected such a dramatic turn of events. They all turned to look at Mrs. Kohl in unison once more, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction, as if they were watching karma unfold—the wicked being tormented by the even more wicked.
"And her ’dutiful’ son just stands by and watches? He doesn’t do a thing and lets his wife bully his own mother?"
The auntie was asking out of pure curiosity, with no intention of sticking up for the woman.
Arabella Donovan naturally saw this and said with a faint smile, "His father-in-law isn’t just his father-in-law—he’s also his direct supervisor, the owner of the company. Life isn’t so easy when you’re working under someone’s thumb, is it?"