Chapter 4

My mother-in-law's appetite seemed insatiable, growing more ravenous with each passing day. As she reached for a third serving of mashed potatoes at dinner, Jeremy's gaze turned sharp. He put down his fork, his voice laced with a hint of irritation.

“Mom, why are you eating so much lately?”

She set her fork down as well. “What, are you saying your mother eats too much? Are you upset that I’m spending your money?”

Jeremy shook his head helplessly.

She then turned her gaze toward me, her eyes gleaming with a chilling triumph. “I’m eating more than Fennie, which proves that I’m healthier than she is,” she declared, her voice dripping with disdain. “Her? Hmph, she can’t even give us a grandchild.”

I’m not a broodmare, why should I produce offspring?

Whenever my mother-in-law targeted me, Jeremy would pretend to be busy and avoid getting involved.

In the past, I might have put down my fork and argued with her. But now, I gave her a sheepish smile and admitted my fault.

“You’re right, you’re much healthier. You still look like you could have more kids,” I said, forcing a tone of mock humility, the words slipping through my lips with a strained courtesy.

Her eyes narrowed, suspicion and confusion mingling in her gaze. “Wait. What are you saying?”

“Fennie, how can you speak to our mom like that?” they both erupted in unison, their voices rising in a simultaneous crescendo of outrage.

I was laughing on the inside, but on the outside, I showed a terrified expression.

Suddenly, my mother-in-law hurled her chair back and bolted for the bathroom. A moment later, the room was pierced by a horrifying retching sound, as if she was expelling her very soul in a fit of violent sickness.

I gasped in shock, my heart racing as the unsettling noise echoed through the house. With a voice trembling with concern, I suggested to Jeremy that we take her to the hospital for a thorough checkup. His eyes, wide with alarm, met mine, and he nodded in agreement.

The car ride to the hospital was silent.

Out of nowhere, I said, "Mom, your symptoms are a bit like pregnancy."

Her face turned ashen, and she coldly snorted.

“Mom, there’s an old legend from our hometown,” I began, my voice deliberately calm despite the tension crackling around us. “They say that long ago, a hunter stumbled upon the egg of a serpent god and, in his greed, ate it. In retribution, the serpent god cursed the hunter’s mother. She was doomed to conceive child after child, her body relentlessly bearing the burden until she perished from sheer exhaustion.”

Jeremy was driving, glaring at me through the rearview mirror. “Fennie, you have a master’s degree. Why are you spouting such nonsense?”

I smoothed my skirt with a practiced grace, forcing a slight smile as I said, “Oh, it’s just an old tale I heard.”

My mother-in-law, her face now a mask of unease, leaned back and closed her eyes.

I pressed on, my voice cold and deliberate. “They say that ever since, any woman who has an affair in our hometown meets that same fate. My grandmother always said that people from our hometown carry that curse with them wherever they go.”

Jeremy’s face darkened with fury, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the steering wheel.

I looked at my mother-in-law, noticing her eyelids twitching slightly, and her hands turning pale from tension.

Satisfied, I fell silent.

We arrived at the hospital without her babbling.

My mother-in-law’s anxiety was palpable as we waited for the test results, her hands twisting in her lap and her eyes darting nervously around the waiting room. When her name was finally called, she tried to insist on going in alone, but Jeremy, his expression a mix of disbelief and determination, firmly took the lead.We followed closely behind

The doctor adjusted his glasses, his face a mask of clinical detachment. “At her age,” he said, his voice heavy with professional gravity, “pregnancy isn’t recommended.”

Jeremy leaned back, a harsh, unsettling laugh erupting from him. “You must be joking,” he said, his voice laced with disbelief. “My mom is fifty, and my dad’s been dead for two years. How can she be pregnant?”

"We don’t joke about these things."

"Then you must have the wrong report."

Seeing the seriousness on the doctor’s face, Jeremy stopped laughing.

“Whose is it? Whose baby is it?!” Jeremy’s voice reverberated through the sterile hospital hallway.

His mother sat on the bench, her shoulders hunched in defeat, her eyes swollen and red from crying. She fumbled with a handkerchief, her stammering words barely coherent. “The… the serpent god’s…”

“Serpent god, my foot!!!”

Jeremy was livid.