My husband and mother-in-law hurried to help him up, asking if he was okay. He groaned in pain, his elbows and knees scraped and bleeding from the concrete floor.

My mother-in-law spoke first, turning to my husband in a panic: “Xiaoyu, take your uncle to the hospital right away!”

My husband nodded frantically. Even though my uncle insisted he was fine, his body betrayed him—he limped along, supported by my husband.

My mother-in-law stood there, muttering to herself when no one was looking: “Going to the hospital will cost a fortune…”

I said nothing. When I lifted the dressing table, the mirror was completely shattered. I carefully propped it up, staring at the broken glass with a heavy heart. “What am I going to do?”

But my mother-in-law, who’d just been complaining about the cost, suddenly raised her voice to scold me: “They’re family! Your uncle got hurt, and you’re worried about a stupid mirror? Don’t be so petty!”

I felt speechless and wronged. That dressing table had been my mom’s carefully chosen gift—now it was ruined beyond repair. Before I could defend myself, my husband’s aunt chimed in to back my mother-in-law: “Exactly! We’re family—we all need favors sometimes. It’s just a mirror. You should learn from your mother-in-law—this is how the world works.”

I lowered my eyes, fighting back tears. I’d lost my dressing table, yet they were all blaming me for being unreasonable.

The hospital was close. Soon, my husband returned with my uncle, his arms wrapped in bandages. My husband’s face looked grim, but when he pulled me and his mom aside to whisper, I heard: “That cost over 200 yuan…”

Yet when others asked, he put on a brave face: “He’s my uncle—he was helping us move. Of course I feel terrible about this.”

Empty words—anyone can say nice things. But the trouble didn’t end there. Someone suggested going for a massage and hot spring.