After my rich wife only gave me five dollars a day, I was starving to death, and she changed her male partner every day.

I was employed by a wealthy family as a scapegoat, under the pretense of a life-saving favor, to marry into the family.

My wife, however, despises me for disrupting her plans to marry Phoebe. Despite her immense wealth, she gives me only five dollars a day for living expenses.

I’m so hungry I’ve become gaunt, while she changes boyfriends frequently.

Once, to amuse her young boyfriend, she drove drunk, crashing into the hospital’s power supply, causing my mother’s tragic death.

Afterward, she casually handed me a Black Card:

“You actually left your mom in that rundown hospital? Well, someone as greedy as you would do anything.”

“Use this card to move Auntie to a VIP Ward, but don’t think about siphoning off any money. I’ll be checking your bills.”

I silently discarded the Black Card and arranged my mother’s funeral.

She doesn’t know that it was Phoebe who left her at the altar, and I was just hired by her family to console her. Now that my mother is gone, my debt is repaid. It’s time to leave.

“Lydia, the ceremony has started. Where are you?” At my mother’s funeral, Lydia’s mother, Vera, used my phone to call my wife, Lydia. But a man’s voice answered:

“Auntie, Lydia went to bed late yesterday and hasn’t woken up yet. I’ll let her know when she does.”

“How can she miss her mother-in-law’s funeral?” Vera yelled angrily and hung up the phone.

“Jude, I’m sorry. I spoiled her.”

She hates me deeply, and I never expected her to come, nor was I heartbroken over it. I handed the scapegoat contract I signed years ago to Vera and said calmly:

“Mrs. Song, the seven-year term is up, and the marriage certificate with Lydia is fake. I want to…”

Vera anticipated what I was going to say and interrupted, wiping away tears:

“When Lydia found a Heart Match for your mom, I thought she would finally recover.”

“I never expected that your mom wouldn’t make it…”

“Jude, Lydia made mistakes, but the coroner determined that your mom’s death wasn’t due to a power outage. It was suicide.”

“Can’t you give her another chance for finding a match for your mom?”

Suicide? My mother wouldn’t leave without seeing me start a family. I knew it was just an excuse to absolve Lydia, and I didn’t bother to argue:

“Thank you for your help back then, but now, Lydia doesn’t need me anymore. Can I leave?”

Vera sighed and slipped a gold-embossed card into my hand:

“Since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t stop you.”

“But it’s just seven days short of the original agreement. Give her some time to adjust.”

Having endured seven years, seven days doesn’t matter. I pushed the card back:

“You’ve given me enough. I can’t take this money.”

Vera forced the card into my pocket, patting my hand earnestly:

“If it weren’t for you taking the fall, Lydia and I would have been estranged long ago. This billion is just a token of my gratitude.”

“Jude, Auntie asks you to keep our secret.”

This was hush money. Knowing she’d be uneasy if I didn’t take it, I reluctantly accepted with a bitter smile.

Back then, Lydia defied her family, threatening to die if she couldn’t marry Phoebe. But just before the wedding, Phoebe eloped with a wealthy woman overseas.

Afraid of the blow Lydia would suffer, Vera hired me to play a role. She tampered with Lydia’s car, allowing me to marry in under the guise of a life-saving favor.

At first, Lydia didn’t blame me. She even wrote a farewell letter to Phoebe and married me. When she learned I injured my hand saving her and could no longer hold a scalpel, she searched everywhere for renowned doctors and remedies. When all efforts failed, she cried in my arms, promising to give me children and a family.

Those were happy days for a while. Until Phoebe’s cousin, Asher, appeared with evidence accusing me of orchestrating the car accident years ago. Lydia slammed the abortion papers in my face, speaking harsh words for the first time:

“Jude, someone as unscrupulous as you doesn’t deserve to be my child’s father or have a family!”

I clutched the papers, my heart aching as tears streamed down my face.

That day, Lydia ended our child’s life with her own hands, and any bond between us was severed.

All of this was orchestrated by Vera, but with my mother’s life in her hands, I couldn’t say a word.

“Stop pretending! If you love acting, keep it up!” She was unmoved by my tears and knocked over the gourmet food on the table:

“From now on, your food allowance is reduced to five dollars a day.”

“Jude, you love money and aspire to rise above others, but I won’t let you have your way.”

She walked away without looking back, hand in hand with Asher, who resembled Phoebe. Around her were people who only flattered her and belittled me.

Once Lydia spoke, they disrupted all my work outside. Even when a beggar took pity on me and bought me a bun, they trampled it mercilessly.

“This meat bun costs two dollars and fifty cents, half your daily allowance. You’re really extravagant.”

They kicked a dog bowl towards me:

“Here, leftovers from our dog. It’s cheap for you.”

I once thought that life would just drift by until the agreement was lifted. But not long ago, Lydia told me they found a heart donor matching my mom:

“I can give your mom the heart, but Asher said his cousin is plagued with bad luck and needs a sincere person to kneel three thousand steps for blessings.”

Heart matches are extremely hard to find. She must have worked hard to get one. I thought the three thousand steps were just punishment for lying, that she still cared for me. But after I finished, she glared at me:

“Jude, your heart isn’t sincere. He didn’t get good luck and instead got heart disease.”

“This heart is his now. Kneel again and pray properly!”

She only wanted to mock and retaliate against me. How ridiculous. I actually thought she had a bit of love for me.

I stumbled to my feet, ready to kneel again. But a passerby couldn’t bear it and stopped me:

“Your legs are so injured. If you kneel again, you’ll die!”

Only then did Lydia see my knees, raw and bloody. She turned away, snorting coldly:

“Forget it. Insincere hearts only have bad effects. Just eat vegetarian for a month and pray for him properly.”

Vegetarian meals were much better than dog food.

I even gained some weight after the punishment ended. As soon as I got down the mountain, I rushed to the hospital, intending to ask about the heart transplant, only to find out my mother had been moved to a small hospital. Before I could ask her why, I learned she had passed away.

I wiped my mother’s photo over and over, my eyes empty, tears long dried. Lydia was right; I didn’t deserve a family, and now I truly had none.

After I finished my work, Lydia’s call finally came, albeit late.

“This child, only calling after it’s over.”

“But at least she knows to apologize.”

Vera mumbled, answered the call, and put it on speaker. Lydia’s cold voice followed:

“It’s Asher’s mom’s birthday soon. Handle it.”

Embarrassed by this slap in the face, Vera flew into a rage:

“Lydia, he’s your husband, not your servant!”

“His mom just passed. How can you make him handle someone else’s birthday party?”

Lydia was confused:

“Isn’t Auntie seriously ill? Where did she go?”

I didn’t want any trouble with only a few days left before I could leave.

“She went back home.”

I vaguely changed the subject and took on the birthday party task. She didn’t ask further, satisfied with my compliance:

“Smart choice.”

“Once Auntie’s health improves, I’ll throw her a birthday party, let her have her moment.”

She didn’t know my mom was already dead. In seven days, I’d be gone, and there would be no future between us.