Thirty Years Single, Unwanted; Family Historian Reveals Dirt

I'm the family historian, and I hold dirt on countless relatives.

Yet just because I didn't offer to cut the pie for my cousin at Thanksgiving, the whole clan ganged up to mock me.

Kathy's about to marry up into a billionaire family, and what about you? Thirty years old, single, and nobody wants you!

"A master's degree, and you can't even measure up to a cousin who only finished vocational school. What a disgrace!"

Their faces were full of contempt as they sneered and did everything they could to belittle me.

I looked quietly at this crowd of hypocritical, snobbish relatives, then pulled a yellowed notebook straight out of my coat.

Since you all insist on humiliating me, don't blame me for showing no mercy.

...

At the Thanksgiving family gathering, just because I didn't offer to cut the pie for my cousin, the family's darling, I earned dirty looks from every relative in the room.

"Crystal, how is it you've been single for thirty years and nobody wants you?"

"Your cousin Kathy is about to marry up to a rich, handsome billionaire's heir!"

This crowd of gossiping busybodies looked at me with scorn, but spoke of my cousin Kathy in fawning tones.

I frowned slightly, and before I could get a word in, I heard Kathy speak.

"Who says my cousin's been single for thirty years? The day I graduated from college, I saw with my own eyes how she dragged the guy she was crushing on up to the rooftop to confess."

"Too bad he wasn't interested."

When she was done, Kathy flashed me a kind smile.

On the surface she was rescuing me, but really she was airing my dirty laundry.

The moment she said it, the relatives doubled over laughing, not sparing a thought for my feelings.

Aunt Fiona chimed in even more smugly, "So what if you knocked yourself out getting a master's degree? You still got shown up by my daughter, who only went to vocational school."

"For a woman, marrying well beats doing well."

My parents couldn't stand to hear it, and were about to blow up, but I held them back.

Facing the ill-intentioned stares of my relatives, I calmly pulled a little yellowed notebook out of my bag.

What they didn't know was that I'm the family historian.

In that notebook, I'd recorded the humiliating moments of every relative, from every era.

Pick any single entry, and it would be enough to ruin their good name in old age.

Seeing that the crowd still wouldn't let up, still staring at me in mockery, I let out a cold laugh.

"Are you all finished? Because if you are, it's my turn to talk."

The moment I said it, everyone in the room traded uneasy glances.

Grandma, leaning on her cane, was the first to step up.

"Crystal, what's with that attitude?"

"Your elders were only pointing out your faults. You should accept it humbly and work to fix them. Talking like that shows no manners at all!"

I gave a sweet, obedient smile, then turned straight to face Grandma.

"So when faults get pointed out, we're supposed to work to fix them, right?"

I held up the notebook and read aloud.

"Grandma, my notebook says that when Aunt Betty was in postpartum recovery, you cooked her instant noodles every single day just to put her in her place."

"And you even walked out on my cousin, not even a month old, to go play mahjong, which left her with a chronic illness. She gets headaches and fevers every time the weather turns windy or rainy."

Hearing this, Aunt Betty recalled that unpleasant old chapter and shot Grandma a deeply resentful look.

"Grandma, you said when we do wrong we should humbly correct it, so shouldn't you apologize to Aunt Betty?"

Grandma was so choked with rage she nearly rolled her eyes back and fainted.

Uncle Frank slammed his fist on the table in fury, stood up, pointed at me, and cursed.

"You disrespectful little monster, how dare you write down your elders' embarrassing moments? You want to die!"

I gave him a cool glance.

"It's Uncle Frank, right?"

"Don't be in such a hurry. You're next."

I picked up the notebook, flipped back a few pages, found Uncle Frank's name, and kept reading aloud.

"When Kathy was five, she came down with a high fever. But you, Uncle Frank, were out on the street racing a motorcycle with somebody, and you smashed into a railing and earned yourself seven days in lockup."

The moment I said it, the whole room of relatives broke into an uproar.

Uncle Frank was so shocked his mouth fell open, and he started to stammer.

"You... you're talking nonsense!"

I waved the notebook in my hand, raised an eyebrow, and spoke.

"This notebook clearly records the time, the place, and the people involved in each incident. I'm not making anything up."

Kathy finally couldn't hold back and stepped up to defend her father.

"Crissy, everyone's only saying these things because they care about you. Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't mean you can air everyone's dirty laundry in public."

So they did know that what they were doing was airing dirty laundry.

As the saying goes, when you strike someone, you don't strike the face.

On a day when the whole family gathers to celebrate together, they all insist on ganging up on me alone. So it's perfectly reasonable for me to fight back a little, isn't it?

I looked at Kathy and let out a cold laugh.

"Don't be in such a hurry. Now it's your turn."

Then I said loudly, "On the day I graduated from college, Kathy came to hang out with me, but she used the chance to get my crush drunk and took him off to a hotel, where he vanished for three days and three nights."

Aunt Betty was stunned for a moment, her face full of astonishment.

"So... it was actually Kathy who stole Crystal's boyfriend? That's not very decent..."

Kathy turned bright red with rage. She dropped the sweet, innocent act entirely and screamed at me at the top of her lungs.

"Shut up!"

"You shut your mouth!"

Uncle Frank, unable to take it any longer, pointed at me and spoke to my parents in a trembling voice.

"Crystal is acting like this and you two aren't going to do anything about it?"

Startled, Mom and Dad took a step back, waving their hands over and over.

"Don't start."

"That notebook in her hand records every embarrassing thing about each one of usover six thousand entries."

"We don't dare provoke her."

The moment they finished, a sharp gasp came from somewhere in the living room.

Maybe my parents' words carried too much weight, because for the rest of the meal everyone was unbelievably quiet.

Even when reaching for food, they deliberately steered clear of me, terrified of somehow crossing me and having their own embarrassing stories exposed.

But Kathy still looked defiant, forever thinking of some way to win a round back from me.

So, during the meal, she deliberately showed off the Cartier bracelet on her wrist, and it instantly drew everyone's eyes.

Aunt Diane heaped on the praise: "Oh my, is that a Cartier bracelet? The diamonds are so sparklythat must have cost a fortune, right?"

Kathy smiled smugly: "It's not that expensive. Only a little over forty thousand."

Aunt Diane's eyes practically went red with envy: "Your fianc is so good to you, handing over things worth tens of thousands without a second thought. Why isn't my daughter that lucky?"

Kathy waved a hand: "Oh, this is nothing. After all, he's got a billionaire fortune. He's always giving me Herms handbags and Chanel suits. It's honestly too much."

The other relatives looked on with envy and told their own kids to be more like Kathy.

Kathy grew even smugger. She glanced deliberately in my direction, hoping to see envy or jealousy on my face.

But I was too busy gnawing on the lobster in my bowl to even lift my eyes, and I didn't want to give her the time of day.

After a few seconds of this, my can't-be-bothered attitude finally got under Kathy's skin.

That was when Aunt Betty said, "Kathy, now that you've got some pull, if any good jobs come up, remember to look out for your cousin."

"He graduated ages ago and he's still lying around at home."

Kathy agreed right away. "Don't worry, Aunt Betty. I'll call my fianc right now and have him line up a job for him immediately."

The moment they heard a billionaire heartthrob was on his way over, the relatives got all excited, and the room came alive again.

Grandma Harding even leaned on her cane and started ordering everyone around.

"Hurry up and finish eating, clean this place up. We have to make a good impression."

Uncle Frank and Aunt Fiona were riding higher than ever, faces glowing with pride.

"If you're going to have a daughter, you have to raise one like our Kathy to really make something of herself."

"Find a good man and you're set for life!"

Hearing that Kathy's billionaire fianc was coming, I set down my chopsticks too and watched with real interest.

After all, one glance had told me Kathy's Cartier bracelet and her Herms bag were all fakes.

And right now I was genuinely curious just who this fianc of hers really was.

Half an hour later, a Porsche pulled up downstairs.

A man in a couture suit and sunglasses walked into Grandma Harding's home.

Those haughty elders all rose to greet him, faces wreathed in smiles, terrified of offending this golden catch of a son-in-law.

I looked at the man in front of me and frowned slightly. He felt so familiar, as if I'd seen him somewhere before.

Seeing me studying him so closely, Kathy gave a cold snort, then trotted over to his side, hooked her arm through his, and introduced him.

"This is my fianc. His name is"

At that moment, the man took off his sunglasses, and when I saw his face clearly, I blurted out in shock.

"Sean Simmons?"

Sean Simmons froze, and when he turned to meet my eyes, his face went pale and his body went rigid, as if he'd seen a ghost.

Kathy sensed something was off. She looked at Sean, then at me, and demanded an answer.

"How do you know my fianc?"

I raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing.

My subtle reaction puzzled all the elders in the living room. Their expressions turned uncertain as they murmured among themselves.

"This Sean, he wasn't Crystal's boyfriend before, was he?"

"It couldn't be that much of a coincidence..."

Kathy looked panicked and turned to ask Sean, "Sean, how do you know my cousin? What exactly is your relationship with her?"

Sean stole a cautious glance at me but didn't dare say a word.

His reaction only strengthened Kathy's conviction.

She suddenly whipped her head around, glaring at me viciously, and screamed at the top of her lungs like a madwoman.

"Crystal, did you deliberately seduce my fianc just to get revenge on me?"

"Sean is mine, and don't you dare try to take him from me!"

The moment she said it, the other elders started laying into me too.

"Crystal, this is going too far! Kathy is your cousinhow could you steal her fianc?"

"I know you've worked hard all these years and you're still just a low-level employee, but that doesn't mean you throw yourself at any rich man you see."

My mother tried her best to defend me.

"Don't say such nonsense. Our Crystal isn't that kind of person."

She'd barely finished when Kathy, as if she'd gone insane, suddenly started shrieking.

"How is she not that kind of person?"

"Crystal, you seduced my fianc, you shameless slut! I'm going to post you online and expose you!"

She had just pulled out her phone when Sean, standing beside her, couldn't take it anymore and quickly stopped her.

"Enough, shut up!"

Sean looked exhausted, and through gritted teeth he said, "I have nothing to do with Ms. Harding, so quit talking nonsense!"

The sudden outburst left Kathy frozen where she stood, feeling deeply wronged.

"Even now you're still making excuses for her?"

Seeing that the mood had built up just right, I lifted my chin toward Sean.

"It's come to this, and you still don't plan to tell them clearlywhat exactly is your relationship with me?"