A Matrilocal Husband's Counterattack

Chapter 1: Humiliation and Despair

In a bustling city hospital corridor, people were coming and going. But Ethan was crouched in a corner, crying inconsolably.

"You mother's stomach tumor has turned malignant. Without a hundred thousand for surgery, she only has one month to live," the doctor's cold words stabbed like needles.

But the exorbitant cost was far beyond what Ethan could afford. His adoptive father, John, had disappeared a year ago while working on a ship. His adoptive mother, Mary, had fainted due to a stomach tumor and was hospitalized. As a recent graduate, Ethan had become the sole breadwinner of the family.

This year, to treat his mother's illness, Ethan had not only exhausted all the family savings and taken out every possible online loan but also became a live-in son-in-law in the Thompson family for a so-called "auspicious wedding."

He had worked like a slave in the Thompson family, losing all his dignity, just to get five hundred thousand. But that money had quickly run out in the hospital. Now Ethan only had a mobile phone and ten dollars left.

"Another hundred thousand, another hundred thousand..." Thinking about the amount the doctor mentioned, Ethan felt a deep despair. At his wits' end, where could he get this hundred thousand? But he couldn't just watch his mother die.

"No, I must borrow a hundred thousand," Ethan wiped his tears, gritted his teeth, and stood up. "I won't let my mother die."

He decided to swallow his pride and borrow money.

Ethan first went to his uncle's house and knocked on the door. His aunt opened the door with a sour face.

Ethan begged pitifully, "Aunt, my mother needs money for surgery..."

"Asking for more money? We gave you two hundred dollars, wasn't it enough?"

"Get out, get out, get out! Don't come here. We don't have such greedy relatives like you." His aunt pushed Ethan out as she spoke and then slammed the security door shut.

Hearing these harsh words, Ethan trembled with anger and punched the wall. He knew people could be cold, but he never expected that his uncle, who had taken his father's ancestral house, wouldn't even offer a tenth of the help.

With no other choice, Ethan shamelessly asked other relatives for a loan, but was met with closed doors everywhere. They even warned him not to harass them again or they would call the police.

Then, the landlord called, saying that if he didn't pay the rent within a week, he would clear out Mary's room. The online loan companies were also making harassing calls non-stop.

Ethan reluctantly called Sophia, who was traveling in the Maldives. As soon as Sophia heard him asking for money, she hung up the phone in disgust.

At the end of his rope, Ethan wandered the streets in the cold wind for a while. After drying his tears, he came to the Zero Degree Bar.

This was a bar opened by his ex-girlfriend, Isabella. Well, it was actually her current boyfriend, Alexander, who lent her five million to fulfill her dream. And because of that five million, Isabella left Ethan and threw herself into Alexander's arms.

With the gimmick of a high-cold campus belle, the bar was very popular and had become a gathering place for many rich second-generation kids in the city. Ethan had become a laughingstock here.

Although Ethan felt humiliated coming here, thinking about his mother's surgery fee, he had no choice but to enter the Zero Degree Bar. He believed Isabella would lend him a hundred thousand for old times' sake.

Inside the bar, someone was playing the guitar and singing. The atmosphere was lively and luxurious. The smell of perfume made Ethan feel inferior.

As Ethan walked into the hall, the whole place instantly quieted down. A dozen well-dressed men and women looked over. Ethan also looked at Alexander and Isabella.

From Alexander's eyes, he saw arrogance and disdain, but not a trace of guilt.

Isabella was wearing a low-cut vest, revealing a patch of her fair abdomen, and a pair of extremely short hot pants on her lower body. Her fair skin, long and shapely legs, and beautiful face were very eye-catching. But her cold and haughty expression made many people 不敢对视.

She looked at Ethan without any emotion, as if she were looking at a stray dog on the street.

Isabella's best friend, Lily, jumped down from the bar stool.

"Ethan, what are you doing here?" Her tone was full of disgust.

Ethan summoned his courage. "I'm here..."

"We don't need a cleaner here," Lily sneered. "You can leave."

She had always looked down on penniless Ethan and was the one who strongly pushed Isabella to be with Alexander.

Ethan quickly waved his hands and explained, "I'm not here to be a cleaner. I'm here..."

"A lemonade is thirty-eight dollars, a cocktail is two hundred and eighty. Can you afford it?" Lily taunted. "Even if you have some pocket money given by the Thompson family, you're not welcome here."

Alexander spat, "Damn it, bad luck! Didn't check the almanac today. Ran into this useless live-in son-in-law."

Everyone in the bar knew that Ethan was a live-in son-in-law for an auspicious wedding.

A dozen people laughed at his words.

"I—" Ethan forced himself to step forward and was about to speak to Isabella when a beautiful girl shouted again.

"Take your dirty hands off the leather sofa." She also waved her hand in front of her nose as if Ethan smelled like a stinking gutter.

Ethan quickly withdrew his hand, his face red with embarrassment. He knew he would be humiliated but didn't expect it to be this cruel.

He gritted his teeth and blurted out, "I'm here to see Isabella."

"Isabella, let's go outside and talk..." Ethan hoped to preserve a little dignity.

Isabella crossed her long legs, her fair toes twinkling in the light. She showed no sarcasm or movement, but this was precisely the greatest sign of her disdain.

Alexander curled his lips with a smirk.

"Isabella is my girlfriend now. You can't just see her whenever you want." He also demonstratively stroked Isabella's leg.

Ethan's cheeks burned. "Isabella, I really have something to talk to you about. Let's go outside."

Isabella looked at Ethan without responding, just with arrogance and coldness, as if looking at an insignificant ant.

"Get out! You make me sick." Lily shouted impatiently. "Don't ruin our mood."

Looking at Isabella, who didn't leave him any shred of dignity, Ethan was deeply disappointed and sad. But he still managed to say, "Isabella, I want to borrow a hundred thousand from you."

Ethan promised, "You don't have to worry. I will pay you back. I can leave my ID card, diploma, and everything here with you."

"A hundred thousand?" Lily exclaimed exaggeratedly.

"Ethan, you want to borrow a hundred thousand? You're not even worth a hundred dollars all over your body, and you dare to ask for a hundred thousand?"

Ethan looked at Isabella and explained, "My mother needs money for surgery..."

"I know this is very abrupt, but I'm really desperate for this money. Please." He also took out his mother's medical records, hoping to move Isabella.

Alexander looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Your father is missing, your ancestral house was taken by your uncle, you're renting a house now, you're a live-in son-in-law, and you don't even have a job. What do you have to borrow a hundred thousand with?"