My wife's family ran on the old logic: sons mattered, daughters were a tax. They called my five-year-old daughter "the cash drain" to her face.

On New Year's Day, my wife told me my daughter was donating a kidney to her cousin.

I was about to lose it on every adult in that room when something appeared in the air in front of me, a column of text only I could see:

[Is this woman seriously the mother? She says it's a kidney transplant, but she actually wants the kid's heart.]

[If I had a mom like that I'd have cut her off years ago.]

I stared at the words floating in front of my face. The heat at the back of my neck climbed to my scalp.

A person has two kidneys. You can donate one and live. A person has one heart–trade your heart and you die.

She wanted my daughter dead.

I did not know yet whether the floating text was real or a hallucination. It did not matter. I was not letting my daughter take a scratch.

I slammed my palm down on the table and stood up.

"My daughter is not donating anything."

My wife had not been ready for the volume. She softened her voice. "Honey, calm down. I checked. People have two kidneys. She'll be fine. Worst case, when they grow up, Ace can take care of Lily."

My brother-in-law cracked. He was a six-foot man, and he was crying.

"Levi, Ace is my only child. I'm begging you. Save him."

My brother-in-law had divorced before my wife and I had married. He had moved into my mother-in-law's house with Ace. Ace had been sick on and off as long as I had known him.

I'm a father. The instinct kicked in. I pulled a stack of bills out of my bag.

"I'll do anything that's reasonable. Vera and I will pay for everything you need. The kidney is not on the table."

Before I could finish, my wife had hold of our daughter's wrist. She crouched in front of her and spoke softly.

"Sweetheart, you love your cousin Ace. He's sick. Will you help him get better?"

I had Lily off her hand and in my arms before she could nod.

My wife's face tightened. She called me selfish. My brother-in-law looked at me with resentment.

Lily shifted uneasily in my arms. The chat updated.

[Levi doesn't even realize his daughter is scared.]

[I'd be scared too if I got hit this many times. But that's how these trashy web dramas go–they bully a weak little girl just to get viewers to pay.]

The words made my heart jolt.

Hit? By who? Where?

I pulled off Lily's heavy coat and rolled up her sleeve.

There it was–bruises, dark and light, old and new.

Vera tried to stop me, but I was too fast.

"Who did this?"

My voice was cold. My eyes swept across the room.

For the past few years, I had been on the road at least three hundred days a year, working myself to the bone just to give my daughter a better future.

Vera had promised she would take good care of her.

This was her idea of care?

The chat updated again.

[Vera is disgusting. She made those bruises herself–pinching her–and she's been telling Lily for years that she's a burden, that she only gets to eat if she keeps Ace happy.]

[Poor Lily is only five. She's skin and bones–and still not getting enough to eat.]

I immediately carried Lily into the bedroom and locked the door.

I looked at her and asked softly, "Did Mommy do this?"

The tears came up out of her like a dam breaking.

I held her until she could talk. Then she told me–things I had not heard, things I had not been around to hear.

"Daddy, they said I'm a cash drain. Grandma wouldn't give me food.

"I was so hungry… so I ate what cousin Ace left on his plate. They said that was all I deserved.

"Uncle said everything I had was Ace's. He made me wash Ace's underwear. He made me serve Ace at dinner. He said if I didn't, they'd throw me out…"

The pain in my chest doubled with every line.

I had wired so much money home. My daughter had not been allowed to sit at the table. She had been a five-year-old housekeeper for a six-year-old.

When Ace fell, the punishment landed on Lily.

I wanted to walk into that kitchen, pick up the cleaver, and end every adult in this house at once.

Vera was banging on the bedroom door.

"Levi! Open the door! Why are you locking it? We're family!

"This is what happens when you spoil her! She doesn't think of anyone but herself! Ace is her own family! It's just one kidney–why is she being like this?!"

Lily started shaking against my chest.

The fury cleared the rest of my head. I opened the door–my hand came down hard across Vera's face.

She held her cheek, eyes wide, disbelief and anger flashing.

"Levi Jordan! Have you lost your mind?! You hit me?!"

My brother-in-law looked at me with disapproval, going on about how I had no sense of family, no right to call myself her husband.

I stopped listening. I went back to the room, packed our things, picked Lily up, and dragged the suitcase to the door.

If I stayed one more minute, I knew I would walk into the kitchen… and not walk out a free man.

My mother-in-law was at the front gate.

"Mom! Stop him!" my brother-in-law shouted from behind. "He won't let Lily donate!"

She grabbed my arm without thinking–but when she met my eyes, her grip loosened.

I stepped past her.

She suddenly dropped to her knees in front of me, wailing.

"My son-in-law has lost his mind!

"I came all the way from the village to help raise his child, and now he wants to take my granddaughter and run away!

"If you want to leave, you'll have to step over my dead body!"

The moment I thought about what they wanted to do to my daughter, the anger surged.

I kicked the old woman in the stomach.

Then I picked up my suitcase, held my daughter tight, and walked away.

I thought that would be the end of it.

I was wrong.

Vera went live on a streaming platform.

She cried to the camera, accusing me of being violent. She said I only came home once a year, and that I had led our usually obedient daughter astray.

She even played footage–her mother kneeling in front of me, and me kicking her without hesitation.

It was the holiday season. Everyone had time.

Her stream exploded.

Within hours, people were digging up my information, flooding me with insults. Some even edited black-and-white memorial photos of me and posted them on New Year's Day.

Worse, Vera called the police.

They tracked me down at a hotel.

She showed up holding her phone, livestream still running.

In front of everyone, my mother-in-law dropped to her knees again.

"Levi, I'm sorry. I forgot you don't like black sesame dumplings. I should have made peanut filling.

"It's my fault… I didn't make your holiday comfortable. You can hit me, you can scold me–but please, don't take my granddaughter away from home…"

Vera held the phone steady, her voice softer than ever.

"Honey… don't be angry. It's all my fault."

"It's New Year's Day. Come home with me."

They had twisted everything, turning me into a violent freeloader who married into his wife's family.

The chat confirmed it. Strangers were cursing at me. Even the police, caught up in the holiday spirit, tried to persuade me–saying families should stay harmonious during the New Year, that I should think about Lily.

It was absurd.

With the crowd backing her, Vera used brute force to pry Lily out of my arms.

Only the chat–those who knew the truth–were on my side, cursing Vera nonstop.

[Can this vicious woman just die?!]

[I can't take it anymore. How can someone be this disgusting? She already applied for an operating room. She's made up her mind, she's going to take Lily's heart!]

I was frantic, but to outsiders it looked like Vera was holding me in a close embrace.

Only I knew that where no one could see, she was pressing hard over my mouth, stopping me from making a sound.

My mother-in-law saw Lily alone and quickly got up, grabbed her, tucked her under her arm, and ran.

The crowd burst into cheers, but no one noticed how tightly she was gripping Lily's wrist–so hard it left a bloody mark.

I struggled desperately, trying to call for help, but no one paid attention.

Applause broke out around me. They thought they had 'saved a family.'

However, no one cared how my daughter felt.

Vera was a surgeon. If she wanted to operate, she could do it anytime.

The fact that she chose New Year's Day meant Ace's condition had already reached a critical point.

I did not dare imagine what would happen to Lily after she was taken away.

After the crowd dispersed, I bit Vera hard and demanded hysterically,

"Why?! Lily is your biological daughter! Why are you choosing him over her?!"

Vera only glanced at me coldly and locked me in the hotel.

Luckily, it was only the second floor. I jumped down and escaped.

When I reached her hospital, I searched room after room.

Not here.

Not here either.

Just when I was about to lose hope, I finally saw my daughter.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her small face pale as she lay quietly on the bed.

I did not think, I immediately yanked the IV needle from the back of her hand.

Just as I picked her up and turned to leave, Vera suddenly appeared, blocking my path.

Her voice carried a threat. "Levi, what are you doing? I only brought her here for a check-up."

The chat flashed again.

[This shameless woman already had Lily tested for compatibility. This surgery is for a direct heart transplant.]

I completely broke down and shouted,

"Vera, do you even have a heart?! Lily is your own daughter!"

A trace of hesitation flickered in Vera's eyes–but the next second, her gaze hardened.

"Put Lily down. I'll perform the surgery myself. She won't feel any pain.

"Levi, trust me."

My blood ran cold. At that moment, I was completely done with her.

I grabbed a scalpel from the nearby tray. Holding my daughter in one arm, I waved the blade wildly with the other.

"If you dare touch a single hair on my daughter's head, I'll kill you!"

Vera's expression turned cold and heavy. She hadn't expected such a reaction.

Gritting her teeth, she prepared to force her way forward.

"Levi, you brought this on yourself. You could have just handed her over.

"Why did you have to push things this far?"

She stared at me like a predator, closing in step by step.

Just then, a commotion erupted outside the door.

I shouted at the top of my lungs,

"Help! Someone's trying to kill us!"

The door was slammed open. Police and reporters rushed in.

Vera stared at me in disbelief.

"You actually called the police?!"