Part 3Grandma, Get the Stick!

"Lana, don't blame us for being heartless. My brother is dead, and you two never legally married. You have no right to live in his house."

I turned to my in-laws:

"Mom, Dad, what do you mean? You're kicking me out too?"

They looked away guiltily but sided with their second son. After all, they relied on him for their old age.

"Lana, just go peacefully. Take the two girls with you."

"No. I gave birth to three. If I go, they all go!"

"You can't take the boy! He's the eldest grandson!" My in-laws exploded.

"Screw that! Who said he's yours? I named him Qi Xin!"

Right after my confinement month, I was kicked out with my bags.

Before leaving, I extorted a good sum of money from them. I threatened to roll on the ground and scream if they didn't pay.

"Neighbors! Come look! I gave them a grandson, and now they want us dead!"

Second Grandpa wanted to settle things quietly and paid up.

Besides, he had his own son and didn't want to raise his brother's kids. So he let me take all three.

I walked out, holding my four-year-old eldest daughter's hand on the left, my two-year-old second daughter's hand on the right, and carrying my not-yet-one-month-old dad on my back.

We marched toward the county town.

On the way, we hitched rides on donkey carts or walked.

By the time we reached the town, we weren't hungry, and we actually had more food than we started with.

Kind villagers along the way stuffed food into my arms.

"Lana, you've had it hard!"

"Not hard. My good days are ahead!"

Leaving the crazy Qi family, my good life was just beginning.