Second Chance: Marrying into Wealth Chapter 98

Lawrence's usually indifferent face finally showed signs of tension and worry.

His eyes were slightly red, filled with a pleading look. "Melinda... for the sake of our marriage, and considering my mom was kind to you before, can you please not be so harsh on her?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "When you all treated me like that, did you ever think about not being harsh? And you have the nerve to say you were good to me? That was only because you had an agenda. So, sorry, I can't do it."

Lawrence's expression changed. He looked agitated, especially seeing the mocking smile on my face. 

He tightened his grip on the iron bars and suddenly started crying, without any warning. "Melinda, I'm a jerk, I'm guilty. It's my fault, it has little to do with my mom. She's just a simple woman from the countryside, what could she understand? In her eyes, I was everything to her, she did everything because of me."

"So, blame me, hate me, I accept it. I will naturally be punished for my sins. But you're different. You were born into a loving family, you had everything good, and you're kind-hearted. Even if it's just to accumulate good karma for yourself, can you let my mom go? She's been dragged down by me."

Indeed, Missy held a significant place in his heart. But so what? Logically, the more painful something was for him, the more I should do it. Maybe that would ease some of the resentment in my heart.

However, he wasn't wrong. I was kind, so I wouldn't become as selfish and cold-blooded as he was. I didn't specifically target Missy; I just followed the law. She should be punished, and I didn't kick her when she was down. Lawrence should be grateful for that.

But my indifferent expression made Lawrence panic. His eyes turned bloodshot, like a demon crawling out of hell. "Melinda, you're always like this. Why do you get to enjoy all the good things from birth? You have no idea how much I had to struggle to get out of the countryside and achieve what I wanted, step by step."

"Even for a city woman, raising four daughters and a son is tough. Imagine my mom, an uneducated widow in a feudal and isolated village. Her life was incredibly hard. When we were at our poorest, she almost starved to death saving food for us. When we finally had food, she nearly choked to death from eating too quickly because she was so hungry."

"At that time, you were probably enjoying your parents' love, having meat at every meal, maybe even being picky. But my mom was still struggling every day just to get a few ears of corn. You always despised my mom for being crude and unreasonable, like a shrew. You have no idea how hard it was for my family to survive. If she wasn't tough, we would have been devoured by others."

Lawrence's agitation grew, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He wasn't wrong. I never experienced hardship growing up; my life was smooth sailing. Just hearing his story made me feel suffocated.

I sympathize with everyone who went through such experiences. But that didn't justify transferring his hatred onto an innocent person like me.

Lawrence's resentment and unwillingness when talking about those who bullied Missy were part of what shaped his current personality.

I didn't interrupt him.

Lawrence seemed to be looking for an outlet for his long-suppressed emotions. "Do you know? In the countryside, there's a strong preference for boys over girls. My mom had four daughters before having me, and she wasn't young anymore. I was born small and weak, and soon after, my father died."

"So my grandparents kicked us out, saying I couldn't survive. I was weak because my grandparents didn't feed my mom well when she was pregnant with me. After my father died, people said my mom or I had caused his death. They said she wasn't meant to have a son."

"My mom had no milk because she was malnourished. To feed me, she stole milk from the village cows and goats. She was caught once and almost beaten to death, but she survived."

Lawrence looked at me bitterly, as if mocking himself and those of us who had better lives.

"You can't imagine how hard those days were. In the dead of winter, we wore thin, patched clothes, and our shoes had holes. My mom's hands were covered in frostbite every winter, but she worked like several men to raise us."

"She sold everything to send me to school. She borrowed money from everyone, even knelt and begged for my sake, her knees almost breaking. I finally got to study, and I worked hard to make her proud. I thought good grades would earn respect."

"But no, because I wore patched clothes, everyone looked down on me. They bullied me, making me do things for them and eat their leftovers. Those leftovers were better than my family's food, but they spat in it."

"To save money, my mom begged the school for financial aid. But the school made us poor students go on stage to receive it, so everyone knew how poor we were, and the bullying got worse."

"You have no idea how they looked at me, like I was an insect. They called me a poor hick, made me lick their shoes, saying it was a favor because I wasn't even worthy of that."

"I finally snapped. My mom came, and her first concern was if I was hurt. Then she begged the parents of those who bullied me to forgive me, and gave them all the money she had, wrapped in layers of cloth. She begged the school to let me stay, willing to do anything. I felt so wronged then, and I swore to learn to endure."