No More Unconditional Support for My Brother

Every Monday morning, we held the company's regular meeting.

When the department manager was giving a long speech, the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

A woman dressed in rustic clothes and with disheveled hair rushed in.

In everyone's astonished eyes, she stood in front of me.

"Yolanda, I finally found you! You can't abandon your parents. I'm begging you. Please don't break off relations with us. How can you be so cruel? I'm begging you. Our family can't live without you!"

My mother Jenny Moore cried and shouted, begging me.

Her voice was very loud.

Everyone present was surprised.

None of my colleagues had ever seen such a scene.

But I had got used to it.

To force me to pay back the money for my brother Bruce Moore, Jenny had used this trick.

"Even if you die in front of me, I don't want to have any contact with you anymore. I'm not your daughter anymore," I said firmly and ruthlessly.

"How can you do this to your mother?"

"You're too much!"

"Now that you've become rich, you look down on your parents? You're ungrateful!"

"Yes, they are your parents."

"Coldblooded!"

"Selfish!"

"Unfilial!"

I heard my colleagues' whispers.

Mary from the HR department came to persuade me, "Yolanda, how can you treat your mother like this? You should understand your parents' difficulties. Even if they are wrong, you should be tolerant and magnanimous."

After hearing what Mary said, I showed a mocking smile.

I saw a sentence in a book before: [You must stay away from those who advise you to be magnanimous.]

What right did Mary have to ask me to be magnanimous?

Did she know what I had experienced?

It was right that people should be filial to their parents, but the prerequisite was that their parents were kind to them.

My name was Yolanda Moore. I had a brother Bruce Moore, and my parents favored him over me.

My hometown was a small town, and my parents were both workers at a local plant.

My family was not wealthy, but we lived a good life.

Before I went to junior high school, I thought I was just an outsider fostered in this family.

My father Jack Moore told me he was my uncle and Jenny was my aunt.

According to them, my biological parents were their distant cousins.

But not long after I was born, my biological parents died in an accident, and I became an orphan.

My uncle and aunt adopted me.

I had believed this since I was a child because they not only told me this but also told everyone around them this.

Therefore, I was very grateful to my kind uncle and aunt at that time.

They took me in, and they were my benefactors.

So I wanted to repay them.

I started learning how to do laundry, cooking, and various housework in elementary school.

When I saw them only giving delicious food to their own son Bruce but never giving to me, I never felt jealous or complained.

I knew I couldn't be too greedy.

It was lucky for me to have a home.

Therefore, I never compared myself to Bruce.

I knew I was not qualified to compare to Bruce.

I had always been tolerant towards Bruce, who was a naughty kid when he was young and became a problem teenager when he grew up.

When I was in junior high school, I heard from my classmates that I was actually Jenny and Jack's biological daughter. Then I went to the police station to verify it and finally knew my true identity.

It turned out that I was not an orphan adopted by them.

These were all lies!

I was their biological daughter!

Jenny and Jack always wanted a son.

Jenny gave birth to me in her hometown in the countryside.

After finding out that I was a girl, they fabricated a story about my orphan background and lied that I was their niece.

Later, they gave birth to Bruce.

My biological parents lied to me for more than ten years.

To have a son, they watched their daughter live an aggrieved life, but they didn't feel guilty at all.

When I learned the truth, I almost collapsed.

I cried and screamed, but they were indifferent.

"Have we ever treated you badly? Why are you aggrieved? We just like boys more!

"We didn't throw you into the river, and we were very kind to you.

"Why do you complain now? To fake your identity, we spent tens of thousands of dollars. You have to pay us back!"

That was their explanation to me.

That year, I ran away from home for the first time in my life.

I wandered outside for a few months and was finally taken in by an orphanage.

I had a very happy time there.

I realized that being an orphan was not miserable.

Having heartless parents was the greatest tragedy in a child's life.

I would rather be an orphan than be deceived by my biological parents like a fool for so many years.

Unfortunately, a fire broke out in the orphanage.

After the fire, I was sent home.

My father Jack gave me a loud slap in the face.

"Bastard!"

After that matter, I was very depressed for a while.

Later, I saw a sentence: [Knowledge can change one's destiny.]

Suddenly, I was enlightened.

I understood that if I wanted to leave this family, my only way out was to study hard.

When I had the ability to support myself, I could completely break away from this family.

So I studied very hard.

But after graduating from junior high school, my parents didn't want me to continue to high school.

They thought it was useless for girls to study, and it would cost money.

They wanted me to learn some skills like beauty and hairdressing so that I could earn money for the family earlier.

I resisted, but they beat me up.

Later, I met a kind person. She was Elizabeth, the director of the Women's Association.

With the financial support of Elizabeth, I finally finished high school and was admitted to university.

I started working parttime to support myself during my freshman year, and throughout my college years, I didn't ask my family for a penny.

After graduation, I stayed in the city.

Life in the city was very hard.

I slept late and got up earlier every day and worked hard.

I had to listen to my boss and suffer the bullying of the landlord.

I would meet often perverts on the bus.

Now I had been staying in the city for five years since graduating from university.

In the past five years, I changed four companies and moved six times. During this period, I was deceived many times.

I met three blackhearted bosses.

The worst time was when I was cheated out of all my money.

I was kicked out by the landlord in the heavy rain. Carrying my suitcase, I cried until I was out of breath.

No passersby felt sorry for me or looked at me.

My suitcase was broken, and my underwear, socks, and chargers were scattered all over the floor, being crushed by passing cars.

At that moment, I felt like the whole world had abandoned me.

I couldn't hold on anymore.

But I gritted my teeth and endured it, continuing to work hard in the city.

Everyone else had their home as a shelter from the wind.

They had their family to comfort them.

But I had no way out.

I had no home but only shackles.

I had no family but creditors.

Other people's parents didn't care if they were successful but only cared whether they were tired.

My parents never cared whether I lived a good life or not. They just wanted to get my money to support their goodfornothing son.

It was ironic.

When I was a child, I was disliked by my family because I was a girl and I almost dropped out of school.

I was a burden that my family despised.

They always favored Bruce.

But after I started working and earning money, they suddenly thought of me.

I became the biggest source of income for the family, and they tried to get money from me.

They had been asking me for money in various ways over the years.

I didn't want to use my hardearned money to subsidize them, especially Bruce.

He was like a black hole that could never be filled.

He was spoiled since childhood and had poor grades. He didn't even graduate from high school because he missed too many classes.

I thought Bruce was a loser.

He was an overconfident and selfrighteous prodigal.

After he dropped out of school, if he stayed at home, it would be a contribution to my family.

But he kept making trouble.

He wanted to get rich and become a big boss, so he started to do business with friends.

As a result, he was tricked. He lost all my family savings and owed a lot of debt.

At that time, I was working in the city, so I became the one who paid off Bruce's debts.

They tricked me back to my hometown. Together with Bruce's creditors, they locked me in the house and forced me to pay back the debt for Bruce.

Helplessly, I had to pay back 20 thousand dollars in cash and write an IOU for 50 thousand dollars before they let me go.

Later, I paid off the debt, but they still wouldn't let me go.

They forced me to send half of my salary back to them every month.

I refused, so Jenny went to the company where I used to work and made a big fuss, demanding that the company's finance department not transfer my salary to my card, but to her card instead.

As a result, I had no choice but to quit my job and move.

I cut off contact with them and refused to answer any calls from them.

But I didn't expect that they would come to me again.

"Filial? How can I be filial? For the sake of their son, they want to force me to death. Do you want such parents? If you don't want, just shut up!" I yelled hysterically.

Mary and the others stopped talking and started to work, but they looked at me with contempt and disdain.

It seemed that I was a beast that went against human ethics.

"Yolanda, I'll give you half a day off. Deal with your family affairs and don't let this happen again!" The department manager walked away with a cold face.

"Yolanda, if you don't help us, I will die here!"

Seeing my firm attitude, Jenny took out a bottle of pesticide from her bag and was about to commit suicide.

Her behavior surprised other people, and some people were about to call the police.

"Drink it! If you die, I will die with you!"

I still didn't make any concessions.

Committing suicide was Jenny's old trick.

After my identity was exposed, the people in the plant wanted to drive Jenny back home, and she drank pesticide outside the director's office.

In fact, it was not pesticide, but sauce.

But the director was scared by that.

Now Jenny was using the same trick again.

I wouldn't be fooled.

Seeing my strong attitude, Jenny stopped making trouble.

"Let's go out and talk. Don't delay the normal work of the company. If I'm fired, will you support me?" I asked with a cold face.

My words were very convincing, and Jenny didn't dare to make a fuss anymore.

She walked out of the company with me and came to a small garden outside.

It turned out that Jack and Bruce were also there.

They all came here.

My goodfornothing brother Bruce was playing games on his phone the whole time.

He turned a deaf ear to what was happening around him.

He didn't even look at me.

"What are you doing here? Don't say that you miss me. It makes me sick." I said with a cold face.

"You've grown up now. Do you still care about your family?" Jack scolded me with a fierce face.

"Yeah, you are such a cruel girl. You didn't even tell us that you changed work. If Jessica hadn't told us that you work here, we wouldn't have been able to find you. We are so poor that we can't even make ends meet. You need to support Bruce." Jenny complained.

Bruce finally put down his phone. He said, "We are here to ask you for money. Give us the money and we'll leave right away. Do you think I want to come to this shabby place?"

"I have no money!"

"You bastard! We raised you, but now you are ungrateful!" Jenny stopped playing the role of a weak woman and started scolding me like a shrew with her hands on her hips.

"It is your responsibility to raise me. Otherwise, you shouldn't have given birth to me. After I left home, I raised myself. I don't owe you anything! I've given a lot of money to Bruce!" I retorted.

"We spent tens of thousands to fake your identity back then!" Jack yelled.

"I'd rather you threw me away!"

Jack got so angry that he wanted to beat me. I threatened him that I would call the police, and then he didn't do anything.

Seeing that this way didn't work, Jenny started to use another way.

She cried to me, "Yolanda, you are the only one in our family who can earn money. We are old now. You have to support Bruce. We have no other choice!"

I sneered at Bruce who was still playing on his phone. "Does he want to do business again? He has been tricked once. With his IQ, he can do nothing!"

Bruce got angry. "I'm good at playing games!"

I got angry when I heard what he said. Bruce was addicted to games when he was in junior high school. In the third year of junior high school, he stole several thousand dollars from home to buy some gaming equipment.

But my parents didn't stop him. Instead, they bought him a computer to play at home, saying that it was safer to play at home.

It was my parents who spoiled Bruce and made him like this.

"Then go play games. Don't come to me," I said with disdain.

"How can I buy a house without your help?" Bruce said.

Buying a house?

What did he mean?

It turned out that Bruce no longer wanted to pursue his career, but wanted women.

But girls wouldn't even look at him if he didn't have a house.

Bruce made a scene at home every day, wanting to buy a house and get married.

My parents hoped that their son would get married as soon as possible.

So they thought of me, their cash cow again.

They asked for my whereabouts and finally found me here.

I got very angry when I heard that.

Did they want me to buy a house for Bruce?

I rented a house now.

Did they ever care about me?

"I told you that I don't have any money!"

"Stop lying. I heard from Jessica that you now earn more than 10 thousand dollars a month in the city. You are rich." Jenny said.

I admitted. "Yes, I do have savings. I saved more than 200 thousand dollars for a few years, but that is for myself. I don't even have my own house. It's impossible for me to buy Bruce a house!"

"Bastard!"

Jack pointed at my nose and said angrily, "Yolanda, I am your father. You are from the Moore family, and your money belongs to the family. Bruce's marriage is the top priority of our family. You must give us all your money. Otherwise, you're not my daughter!"

Jenny winked at me and tried to be a peacemaker. "Yolanda, you will get married in the future. You don't need a house. Buying a house for your brother is more important. Give your money to me, and don't make your father angry."

"I will never buy a house for Bruce! I warn you not to come to the company again. Otherwise, I will resign. If I don't make money anymore, you will get nothing from me!"

During lunch, Luis Lee took me to a place outside the company.

He wanted to ask me what happened this morning.

Luis was my colleague and also my boyfriend.

The company prohibited office romances, and if we were discovered, one of us must resign.

So we had always been in a secret relationship.

Luis was also from another place and he currently shared a house with his friend.

We planned to save money together and buy a house. Then we would get married and settle down in the city.

Although the company prohibited office romances, there would be no such restriction if one was promoted to middle management or above.

Luis worked very hard. I believed he would get a promotion.

When Jenny came, Luis was not in the company but meeting a client outside.

Before Luis and I found a suitable place to talk, I heard Bruce's annoying voice. "Yolanda is there!"

It turned out that they didn't leave at all.

After Jenny failed to cause trouble in the morning, the three of them waited for me at the gate of the company building.

I thought they wanted to follow me so that they could find my address and continue to harass me.

As a result, they saw me and Luis.

To my surprise, they didn't make a big fuss when they came over. Instead, they seemed very enthusiastic towards Luis.

"Are you Yolanda's boyfriend?"

"What is your position?"

"How much do you make a month?"

"Do you have a house?"

"When will you get married?"

These questions made Luis a little confused.

"You go back first. I'll deal with them." I asked Luis to leave.

But Bruce stopped Luis. "Don't go. We haven't discussed your marriage yet. If you want to marry Yolanda, you need to give us 500 thousand dollars, a house, and a car. Otherwise, you can't get married."

Jenny added, "That's right. The house must be paid in full."

Jack said, "When Bruce gets married, you should take all his expenses."

Luis was dumbfounded.

I wanted to laugh.

Did they think I was a superstar?

How dare they ask for so much!

"Luis, ignore them. They are crazy." I came over to help Luis out.

My family continued to pester Luis, forcing him to buy me with money.

Luis was so frightened that he ran away.

"Hmph! He becomes timid when talking about money. You can't marry him!" Jenny said.

"Ask him if he has any sisters. If he does, you can marry him as long as he gives his sister to me. I want a woman!" Bruce said.

As I looked at Jenny's and Bruce's disgusting faces, I didn't even want to curse them.

"This is my address. Go there and talk to me. I don't want to embarrass myself in public."

After they left, I returned to the company and saw Luis waiting for me on the fire escape.

When he saw me, his face looked very conflicted.