Chapter 4
Mary stared at Daniel in disbelief, her face filled with terror and shock.
She gripped Daniel’s shoulders tightly, shaking him desperately. “Daniel, wake up!”
But Daniel was truly dead, completely without breath, his head hanging limply with no response.
Mary continued shaking him almost frantically, pressing his philtrum and lifting his eyelids, as if the delayed grief finally surged into her heart.
Her movements became increasingly frantic. Suddenly she threw herself at Derek, grabbing his clothes and sobbing loudly. “Dr. Nelson, please look at my son, please look at him. What’s wrong with him?”
Derek frowned and said, “You wouldn’t let us take him to the hospital earlier, and now that he’s stopped breathing, what’s there to save? Look at his constricted pupils – these are symptoms of pesticide poisoning.”
Mary shot up, her face flushed red. “Impossible! How could my son have pesticide poisoning!”
The neighbors looked at her strangely, and someone spoke up: “Everyone saw Daniel drink an entire bottle of pesticide. What
1/4
07:00
Chapter 4
else could it be but pesticide poisoning?”
20 min left
Mary’s face instantly turned pale. Only then did she remember the pesticide bottle that had been thrown in the corner earlier.
She rushed over to pick up the bottle and smelled it, only to discover that it didn’t contain water at all, but real pesticide!
She finally realized there had been a fatal flaw in the plan. Daniel was supposed to fake his death, but had mistakenly drunk real pesticide.
All the previous symptoms had been real, and the blood he coughed up wasn’t acting.
Daniel had been poisoned to death by a bottle of pesticide, missing the optimal time for rescue.
Mary was filled with regret. She had firmly believed Daniel hadn’t actually drunk pesticide, so she had done everything possible to prevent him from being taken to the hospital.
But now, Daniel was completely dead.
Looking at the cold corpse on the ground, I felt a surge of satisfaction.
Just then, Mary rushed over and slapped me hard across the face, pointing at me and cursing: “Bitch! Was it you? You gave Daniel the pesticide to drink. You’re so cruel – Daniel was your
2/4
Chapter 4
husband, and you actually poisoned him to death!”
Her eyes were bloodshot, filled with hatred.
20 min left
The slap knocked my head to the side, my cheek burning with pain. I immediately cried out in grievance: “Mary, what are you talking about? Daniel clearly drank that pesticide himself, and he even said ‘death cancels all debts‘ – wasn’t that suicidal thinking? I couldn’t stop him and only wanted to get him to the hospital to save him. You were the one who kept blocking me, saying I was conspiring with outsiders to bully you.”
Tears fell like a broken dam as I choked up, barely able to speak.
Recounting everything piece by piece, Mary now appeared to be the unreasonable madwoman.
The neighbors had come with good intentions to help, but Mary had treated them with cold words and sarcasm. They were already angry, and now their words were full of mockery.
“Mary, are you getting senile? First you said Daniel couldn’t be saved, then you wanted to save him. After Daniel died, you blamed Fiona.”
“She’s acting crazy – something must be wrong with her brain.”
“I think she’s deliberately targeting Fiona, trying to pin the blame on her.”
3/4
Chapter 4
“Bah, her son died because she brought it on herself!”
One after another, everyone berated Mary mercilessly.
20 min left
And I, with the red mark from that slap still on my face, was just a pitiful person who had lost Daniel.
Mary was so angry her eyes rolled back, her chest heaving violently. “What do you know? My son was living just fine!”
Everyone assumed she had lost her mind from the grief of losing her son. Derek sighed. “Although there’s no need for treatment now, we should arrange for cremation quickly, or the body will start to decompose in this summer heat.”
At these words, Mary began to stammer again, unable to give a clear response for a long time.
Suddenly a voice came from the crowd: “He can’t be cremated – Daniel said he wanted to be buried!”
4/4
