Five years after her son Lin Wei died, 58-year-old retired Chinese teacher Zhao Xiuzhi met Song Nuan, his "fiancee," and Niannian, the "grandchild" Song Nuan claimed was hers.
Song Nuan was hardworking, considerate, and expected nothing in return. She cooked Lin Wei's favorite dishes and taught the child to call Zhao Xiuzhi "Grandma." She never brought up money and even turned down Zhao Xiuzhi's financial help.
Zhao Xiuzhi longed so desperately to feel needed. Though she knew there were holes in the story everywhere, she still handed over her pension card, mortgaged her old house in the county town, and sold her two-bedroom apartment in the provincial capital. The night the 1.5 million yuan from the sale came through, Song Nuan vanished.
Only when she found the place empty did Zhao Xiuzhi discover that the child had been rented, the letters were forged, and even the name "Song Nuan" was fake.
But the real blow came from a diary among her son's belongings: "I don't want to get married in this life. I want to stay with Mom." There was also a voice recorder containing the voice of Zhang Deming, Lin Wei's middle-school counselor: "Lin Wei, do you think your being alive is a burden to your mother?"
Her son's supposed act of "heroism" had been a carefully planned "psychological murder."
Zhao Xiuzhi wiped away her tears and stood before the blackboard, writing her plan for revenge in red. She would use herself as bait, drawing on thirty-five years of teaching experience to hook a much bigger fish than she had ever imagined.
