My mother-in-law, Emerald Jones, had always loved to exaggerate.
My wife’s wedding gift for me was worth 8,800 dollars, but my mother-in-law told everyone it was worth 880,000 dollars.
We only looked at cars at a luxurious car dealership. But she went around saying she spent over 200,000 dollars to buy me one.
I figured that I was going to spend my life with my wife, Emilia, so I put up with her.
On the eve of our wedding, I had a small argument with my wife. She blurted out, “My family has to pay over a million dollars for me to marry you. What more do you want?
“My wedding gift alone is 880,000 dollars. Anyone who doesn’t know better will think you’re living off a woman!”
I was utterly disappointed.
She was not directly involved in the discussion on the wedding gift. However, it was something both families had agreed on together.
My wife actually believed her mother’s ridiculous remarks and assumed I had received an outrageously expensive wedding gift.
After my mother-in-law transferred 1,000 dollars to me for the wedding banquet, she told everyone she had given me 100,000 dollars instead.
So, I swapped the luxury wedding feast for instant noodles on the day of the banquet. In addition, I showed a looped display of her stingy transfer of money to my bank account for everyone to see.
The guests were stunned when the attendants served them instant noodles.
Finding it odd, they exchanged glances and whispered among themselves. Their eyes were filled with disdain.
Emerald’s face turned pale.
I, on the other hand, pretended as if nothing was wrong. I picked up the microphone and invited everyone to start eating.
“What are you waiting for? Dig in. Do none of you like this flavor?”
Emerald’s expression kept changing. In the end, she could no longer hold back and questioned me in a high-pitched voice, “Jonathan, you’ve got to be kidding me! You’re serving instant noodles at a wedding banquet?!”
I let out a cold laugh and shot back, “What exactly were you expecting if not instant noodles?”
The guests instantly turned to us with sharp and piercing eyes.
Emerald’s face was flushed due to embarrassment. She looked like she wanted to disappear into the ground.
“Most wedding banquets serve a proper feast. How humiliating is it to serve our friends and relatives this kind of food?!”
The guests could not help but started to discuss the issue fervently.
“Come on, even the poorest families serve a better feast than this. No one would serve instant noodles at a wedding banquet.”
“Besides, they aren’t poor. This has to be some kind of joke to liven things up, right?”
“That’s right. No matter how tight the budget is, people will still put on a decent banquet spread for the sake of their dignity.”
At my wedding banquet, I only served them cheap cups of instant noodles.
I did not even add sausages or eggs for them.
I smiled and said to everyone, “You’re overthinking it. This is the menu for today.”
Meanwhile, Amelia finally snapped out of her daze. She slapped me across the face without hesitation.
“Jonathan, how could you be this wicked?! How could you do something so despicable after receiving 100,000 dollars from my mom?”
A flicker of guilt crossed Emerald’s face. Nonetheless, she did not back down and turned the tables.
“Everyone, please judge for yourselves. We’ve been treating Jonathan generously.
“His wedding gift alone is worth 880,000 dollars. Although the car was expensive, we still bit the bullet and forked out over 200,000 dollars to buy one for him.
“Why would you still pocket the money for the banquet and humiliate us in front of our relatives and friends?”
Staring with disgust, the guests pointed at me and said, “He’s been horrible as a son-in-law. If we didn’t know the story, we’d think Emerald and her family did this on purpose to humiliate us.”
Hearing that someone actually believed her nonsense, Emerald’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
“Jonathan, hurry up and contact the hotel staff. Ask them to bring out the food we originally ordered. Have them serve all the good food they have.
“We won’t hold this against you. After all, Amelia loves you.”
The muscle in my cheek twitched, although I forced a smile.
“Does she even deserve to enjoy all that good food?” I thought.
“Sure. As long as you pay the bill, you can eat whatever you want.”
Amelia dug her nails into my arm, and her face was filled with fury.
“Jonathan, have you lost your conscience?”
I smirked and pried her hand off.
“I think you’re one who’s lost yours!”
“Your mom only gave me 1,000 dollars for the banquet, yet she told everyone it was 100,000 dollars.
“Why should I pay out of pocket just to protect your family’s dignity?”
When Emerald saw me blurting out everything, she panicked and shouted at me, “What nonsense are you spouting, you jerk?! I really did give you 100,000 dollars. Don’t even think about denying it!”
Amelia looked at me with disappointment.
“This is my wedding, and my mom isn’t my enemy. Why would she give you only 1,000 dollars for the banquet to embarrass me?”
The guests thought she made a good point.
A proper feast for a family of four or five already cost around 1,000 dollars. How could anyone host a wedding banquet with that amount?
The guests criticized me again, “People get married to build a life together. You got married just to scheme against your mother-in-law, didn’t you?”
“If everyone could get a million dollars just by getting married, why bother working? They might as well get money by taking a wife.”
Their gazes were as sharp as blades that could kill.
“A man as wicked and cunning as you would’ve been beaten to death back in the old days.”
I did not bother arguing with them anymore. Instead, I walked over and turned on the giant screen in the banquet hall.
Everyone could see the record of Emerald’s transfer to my bank account as well as our chat history.
It was a fact that she had given me only 1,000 dollars for the wedding banquet.
Emerald was the kind of person who wanted to spend the least but earn the most praise.
The very first time I met her, she had deliberately given me 101 dollars.
However, she went around telling people she had given me 10,001 dollars as a show of respect for me.
At that time, Amelia comforted me and told me that her mother was short of cash. She did not want others to think that they did not take me seriously.
Later, she made up the difference, so I let it go.
However, when it came time to discuss marriage, Emerald’s behavior only worsened.
Whenever money was involved, she would quickly transfer money to my bank account.
When I bought my wedding suit, she only transferred 100 dollars, but she told everyone that she had spent over 10,000 dollars on it for me.
After that, she exaggerated the money spent for my wedding gift and car. She made everything up.
I complained about it a few times, but she said matter-of-factly, “I’m just making you look good. If they hear that your wedding gift’s worth 880,000 dollars, they’ll be so jealous.
“Our relatives will also see that we respect you, and they won’t look down on you.”
I told Amelia about it, and she promised she would talk things through with Emerald.
However, she ended up believing her mother’s lies instead.
The guests exchanged looks in shock.
“Mrs. Jones, it clearly shows a transfer of 1,000 dollars to his bank account. That’s very dishonest of you.”
Amelia frowned, while Emerald panicked.
“I-I must have transferred the wrong amount of money to his bank account. Yes, that’s it! I sent the wrong amount to him.”
Then, she put the blame on me. “I clearly transferred 100,000 dollars to your bank account at that time. How could it be just 1,000 dollars?
“I’m old. It’s only normal that I can’t see things clearly at this age. Why didn’t you say anything at that time? Why did you have to wait and bring it up at the wedding? Why do you have to embarrass me at a time like this?”
I was about to show another chat record when Amelia shot me a look of disgust.
“Jonathan, are you doing this on purpose to embarrass us?
“We’ve given you a wedding gift that’s worth 880,000 dollars. Why are you making such a big fuss simply because my mother made a mistake transferring the money?”
Looking at Amelia, she felt like a complete stranger to me.
I knew her as a gentle and considerate woman. At this moment, she blindly sided with her mother.
I stared at the duo and said in a mocking tone, “So, it’s a mistake, huh? Actually, the hotel staff already prepared the food worth 100,000 dollars, which we had agreed upon earlier.
“If you settle the bill now, everyone can still enjoy a feast.”
Honestly, I doubted if Amelia had been fooled simply because she trusted her mother too much.
She knew her family’s financial situation better than anyone.
If they could not even come up with 100,000 dollars, how could they possibly afford a wedding gift that was worth 880,000 dollars for me?
Sure enough, when Emerald heard my words, she froze.
Amelia was still as foolish as ever and unhappy with me.
“You’ve embarrassed my mother and haven’t apologized to her yet. How can you still expect her to pay the bill?
“Apologize to my mother now. Also, you’re paying for the banquet. Otherwise, don’t even think about going through with the wedding!
“As for that 880,000-dollar wedding gift, return it to me. A man like you doesn’t deserve a single penny from us!”
At her last sentence, Emerald quickly grabbed her arm.
“Don’t do that! Amelia, I don’t mind suffering a little grievance as long as you can be with the man you love.”
Amelia’s heart hurt for Emerald as she patted the back of her hand. She firmly said, “No way! You’re my mother. I wouldn’t be a worthy daughter if I allowed you to suffer such grievances!
“I have to make him pay for this!”
The guests were Emerald’s relatives, so they naturally spoke up for her. “Mrs. Jones, you’re too kind. You’ll be taken advantage of again in the future.”
“That’s right. Amelia’s doing this for your sake. You shouldn’t stop her.”
“No one would spend 880,000 dollars on a wedding gift and marry a man only to cause her mother pain.”
As the farce escalated and everyone harped on the wedding gift, Emerald appeared to be at a loss.
Her voice trembled as she tearfully tugged at Amelia. “Amelia, this is a happy occasion. Let’s get through the wedding first. We can talk about this privately later, okay?”
After that, she looked like she was fighting back her embarrassment while saying to the guests, “I’m sorry for making a scene. As an apology, we’ll return everyone’s gifts.
“I just hope that you’ll still stick around and witness Amelia’s wedding.”
Emerald avoided mentioning paying for the feast or having the food served.
Meanwhile, Amelia was frustrated that her mother would not stand up for herself. She grabbed Emerald’s hand.
“Mom, you don’t need to be so humble!
“You raised me all these years. I’d be an ungrateful daughter if I allowed an outsider to offend you!
“Between getting married and doing what’s right, which one do you think is more important to me?”
Emerald’s heart skipped a beat, but she could not force a smile.
