Mrs. Xu turned toward the camera and began recording.
“I hereby declare that, while fully conscious and of my own free will, I am donating my property in Pushi to the state without compensation.
“In addition, after I pass away, I will donate all the cash assets I leave behind to the Yunqi Senior Care Center under the Yu Group.
“If Dean Yu Zhining and his younger siblings hadn’t arrived in time yesterday, this money would have been stolen by scammers. Since they helped protect it, I might as well donate it to them.”
Her pension and medical insurance now fully covered the cost of staying at the senior care center, so she no longer had to worry about medical expenses.
When that day eventually came, she would surely still have several hundred thousand yuan in savings. That needed to be arranged as well.
“This twelve-gram gold ring is to be given to Chen Jiaxin, a property management employee at Kangle Garden. She worked so hard today, accompanying me everywhere.
“This fifteen-gram gold necklace is to be given to Nurse Zhang Aihua at the Yunqi Senior Care Center. She has always taken especially good care of me. There was a time when I fell in the garden, and for several days afterward, she carried me upstairs on her back.”
“…”
The long section that followed was Mrs. Xu assigning her valuable jewelry, piece by piece.
Every item went to someone who had treated her well.
She clearly stated each recipient’s identity.
After all, once her son and daughter-in-law’s family found out, they would certainly go after the people who had received her property and cause trouble for them.
With the notarized documents in place, however, the authorities would step in if they made a scene.
Mrs. Xu had always been timid. What she feared most when doing anything was conflict and leaving trouble behind.
So she also had to make sure that the people who had been kind to her would not be burdened by any trouble.
At the very end, she left something for her son as well.
“My little peony-patterned quilt is for my son.
“That was decades ago. Our family had just been transferred to Pushi for work. We weren’t living in a spacious home like the one we have now, but in a tiny attic that was only a few square meters.
“My son was seven or eight at the time and still hadn’t gotten used to the new bed. He couldn’t fall asleep and cried every night.
“So his father and I put him inside the little quilt. Each of us held one end and rocked it back and forth like a tiny cradle. He would fall asleep before long.
“After that, his father and I kept up the little cradle routine every night. At one point, the quilt couldn’t bear his weight anymore and tore, and he fell out onto the bed. Instead of crying, he laughed and giggled happily…
“I sewed the quilt back up and continued rocking him. We kept it up for more than a year…”
Mrs. Xu paused, her throat painfully tight.
She remembered how exhausted she and the child’s father had been from work back then.
Yet when it came to their son, they had still done it night after night, again and again, without ever growing tired of it.
But now that she was old, she had become nothing more than a burden.
Her son would never again treat her with that same endless patience.
Fortunately, compared with many elderly people, she was still lucky. She had a pension and savings, which meant she could go to a reputable senior care center and use money to secure responsible care.
Once the video evidence had been recorded, her assets had all been distributed.
A staff member reminded her, “You can also explain why you’re doing this, so that your descendants won’t misunderstand later or suspect that you were coerced.”
This was not the first time they had encountered an elderly person who did not want to leave their property to their children.
There had also been children who came in to notarize their assets and draw up wills, explicitly stating that after their deaths, their property was not to go to their parents or siblings.
Handling such matters always led to disputes and lawsuits.
A few years earlier, they had encountered a young man who said he wanted to leave everything to his girlfriend and absolutely nothing to his blood relatives.
After he died, his family used public opinion to attack his girlfriend, calling her a gold digger and claiming that she had brainwashed him and tricked him into handing over his property.
The public took the family’s side. His girlfriend was harassed and attacked online until she had no choice but to surrender all the property to his family.
As for what the young man himself had wanted? Because he had not left behind sufficient evidence before his death, there was no way to verify it.
That was why it was essential to leave behind as much evidence as possible, to prevent disputes in the future.
Mrs. Xu understood what they meant.
But what could she say?
She had not lost all hope because of what happened today alone.
It was the result of eight years spent living with her in-laws, during which every minor conflict left her with no one to stand behind her… It was the accumulation of one disappointment after another.
If she truly started talking about it, she could go on for days and nights without finishing.
She sighed and looked toward the camera.
“Having lived to my age, I understand now that any relationship that lasts is made up of people with good consciences, coming together and repaying one another’s kindness again and again.
“When I was young, after I finished school, the state assigned me a job.
“My husband was someone I met through a matchmaking arrangement at our workplace. He was steady, devoted to his family, and loved me.
“Later, I was transferred to Pushi because I happened to live through a time when the country’s need for cultural and artistic work was growing rapidly.
“Now that I’m old and retired, the state gives me a pension every month, and my medical insurance covers much of the cost of my treatment.
“I’m able to grow old with such dignity not because I’m especially capable, but because I was born in an era that has gradually grown better, with an increasingly powerful country behind me.
“So I have decided to repay the country’s kindness!
“I willingly donate the most significant piece of property in my name to the state!”
She spoke with such force and conviction that the staff at the notary office asked no further questions.
They stamped all the documents.
The resentment lodged in Mrs. Xu’s chest finally dissipated.
She would never argue, make a scene, or throw tantrums.
But she had still brought the matter to an end in her own way.
From now on, they could make as much trouble as they wanted. They could take it up with the state.
—
After leaving the notary center, Mrs. Xu returned to the Yunqi Senior Care Center to renew her contract, with Chen Jiaxin carrying her luggage once again.
They signed the paperwork again, paid the additional fees, confirmed her room, confirmed her level of care, and reviewed her medical records and daily care arrangements…
Mrs. Xu once again felt grateful to the country. Her pension was more than enough to let her live the most comfortable life possible.
She prepaid for ten years at once.
If a resident at the center had not left a will, any remaining funds after the resident’s death would be returned to their children or other legal heirs. If the resident had left clear instructions in advance, the money would be handled according to their wishes.
After renewing the contract, Chen Jiaxin helped Mrs. Xu carry her luggage back to her original room.
She quickly bent down and began making the bed.
Mrs. Xu started tidying up as well. Seeing how deftly Chen Jiaxin worked, she praised her. “This is the first time I’ve met a young woman who works as efficiently as you do.”
Chen Jiaxin replied casually, “I was raised by my grandmother. She had a hunched back—her waist had been bent at a ninety-degree angle for as long as I can remember—and she couldn’t do any work. So I did everything. I’m just used to it.”
Mrs. Xu could hardly imagine it. Her heart ached as she asked, “How did you have such a difficult childhood?”
Chen Jiaxin smiled. “It wasn’t difficult at all! Everyone I’ve met in my life has been a good person!”
Mrs. Xu smiled too and began chatting with her. “Really? What good people have you met?”
