North Family Letters

Huge sums of retirement money embezzled; sophistry cannot conceal selfish motives.

My father is a veteran who fought in the war to defend the country. He survived a hail of bullets and was left with a lot of injuries and illnesses. Because of his outstanding war achievements, his retirement pension, wartime allowance, and military pension are all combined and amount to a very considerable amount each month, far exceeding the retirement pension of ordinary elderly people. This substantial amount of retirement money is a preferential treatment given to veterans by the country and a guarantee for my father's livelihood in his later years.

Ever since her father moved to her third sister's house to recuperate, she has kept a tight grip on his salary card, wartime subsidy account, and old-age allowance savings account, citing reasons such as "convenience in taking care of him and easy access to funds," effectively becoming the sole controller of his finances. Her father is physically disabled and occasionally confused, making him completely incapable of managing money. The sisters, thinking that their father would be living with her, entrusted these matters to her, only instructing her to use all the money for their father's sake and to keep a record of all expenses so that they could have an account for it later.

But the third sister didn't take these words to heart at all. This large sum of retirement money became a tempting target in her eyes. She never kept a single penny. Every month when her high pension and subsidies arrived, she would immediately take most of it, leaving only a small amount to cover her father's daily expenses. Most of her father's medications were fully reimbursed by medical insurance, and his daily meals were nothing more than simple fare. She would say she was trying to improve her father's health, but she never bought him any nutritional supplements. Instead, she used her father's hard-earned money to buy herself gold jewelry, subsidize her son's house purchase, and buy home appliances, squandering her father's allowance on herself.

She never mentioned to outsiders how high her father's pension was, and continued to complain about being poor every day, saying that taking care of her father had drained the family's savings. But behind the scenes, she had already amassed a large sum of embezzled money, and felt at ease embezzling the pensions given to veterans by the state and squeezing her own father's retirement money without the slightest guilt.

Fourth Sister and Xiaoman had already learned the exact amount of their father's monthly pension from the community and the veterans' service station. After calculating, they realized that, apart from their father's very few out-of-pocket expenses, Third Sister had embezzled a huge sum of money over the years. Unable to contain their anger any longer, they confronted her face to face.

"Dad is a veteran who fought in the war. His monthly pension and subsidies are so high. Over the years, you've taken all the money that was saved. This is blatant embezzlement!" Fourth Sister said, clutching the subsidy details printed from the veterans' service station. Her voice trembled with anger.

The third sister, her sore spot touched, blushed instantly, but still stubbornly continued her tantrum, showing no remorse whatsoever for the huge sum of money. Instead, she argued arrogantly, her voice louder than anyone else's: "What embezzlement? I think you're just jealous of my success! His salary may be high, but it can't keep up with his expenses! Father needs medication and checkups all year round, and there are all sorts of miscellaneous expenses for taking care of him. I stay by his side day and night, cleaning up after him, and I've gotten sick from all the stress. This little bit of money isn't even enough for me. What's wrong with me taking a little?"

"Not enough? Almost all of Dad's medicine is reimbursed, and we take turns giving Dad pocket money every month. The money you spend on Dad is less than a fraction of what he spends. You pocketed the rest. That's money the country gives to veterans, Dad's retirement and life-saving money. How dare you embezzle it!" Xiaoman shouted with red eyes.

The third sister ignored her completely, continuing to argue and insisting that she hadn't embezzled the money. Instead, she accused her sisters of being jealous: "That money is just sitting there anyway. I served him, so this money should be mine! No matter how much it is, it's not enough for my hard work. I didn't embezzle it; it's just not enough. None of you can take it!" Her greed and abandonment of her children showed extreme cold-bloodedness.

My father was a veteran who fought in the war to defend the country. Thanks to his outstanding military achievements, his monthly pension, veteran's allowance, and military pension totaled a substantial amount. This money was the state's compensation for veterans and the foundation for his comfortable retirement. However, ever since my father moved to my third sister's house, this thick sum of retirement money has become my third sister's private property. She holds onto it tightly and pockets every penny.

She tightly controlled all of her father's salary cards and subsidy accounts. Every month, as soon as the large sums of money arrived, she would immediately withdraw most of it, either depositing it into her own account or using it to subsidize her children and grandchildren, buy gold and silver jewelry, and purchase household items. She was extremely generous. But towards her own father, she was extremely stingy and perfunctory.

She constantly claimed to be taking care of him around the clock and working incredibly hard, but behind his back, she didn't care about her seriously ill father at all. Her father suffered from coronary heart disease, had difficulty walking, couldn't get out of bed, and even had trouble drinking and eating. Yet, she often found excuses to go out, either to play cards or visit neighbors, or to go shopping. She would be out all day, sometimes not returning home for most of the day, leaving her seriously ill father locked in the house alone, completely neglecting him.

She never prepared enough water and food for her father. When he was thirsty or hungry, he could only lie in bed and suffer. He couldn't even turn over or go to the toilet without anyone to help him. Sometimes, when her father had a heart attack, he would feel chest tightness and shortness of breath. He couldn't even reach for his nitroglycerin pills and could only endure it. Only after she had finished playing and shopping would she leisurely come home, give her father a perfunctory meal and a pill, and then complain that her father was too fussy and was taking up her time.

The sisters were worried and would occasionally visit him. Eight out of ten times, they found their father lying alone in bed, the room cold and empty, without even a sip of hot water. He would look at them with eyes full of grievance, but afraid of causing trouble for his daughters, he dared not utter a single complaint. The third sister, on the other hand, would either leave early and disappear, or return lying that she had only been out for a short while, saying that their father was perfectly fine and there was no need to worry.

It wasn't until the sisters figured out the details of their father's high pension, calculated the huge sum of money she had embezzled, and saw their father growing increasingly haggard and neglected, that their pent-up anger finally exploded, and they exposed her true colors to her face.

"You took such a high pension from Dad for his service in the war, embezzled so much money, yet you didn't even take care of him, leaving him, a sick old man, alone at home. How can you live with yourself?" Fourth Sister pointed at her, trembling with anger. On the table were the details of Dad's preferential treatment pension payments, every single item clearly recorded. The amount she embezzled was shocking.

The third sister, having been exposed for her greed and abandonment of her child, blushed and paled in turns, but remained stubbornly defiant. Instead of showing any remorse, she slammed her fist on the table, throwing a tantrum and blaming others: "How can my conscience not bother me? His salary may seem high, but after calculating all the miscellaneous expenses, it's not even enough for me! I go out and work hard for this family; I can't just sit around and do nothing all day, can I?"

"Not enough? Dad's medicine is all reimbursed by the government, and we even pool our money to buy him nutritional supplements every month. You spend less than one percent of that on him, and you pocket the rest! You leave him alone at home for long periods of time, hungry and uncared for. Is this what you call taking care of him?" Xiaoman asked, her voice choked with sobs, as she looked at her father silently weeping on the hospital bed.

The third sister, with her neck stiff and a domineering expression, didn't think she had done anything wrong. Instead, she argued righteously, "I just went out for a while. How could I neglect him for an extended period? He's an old man; he can just lie at home doing nothing! That little bit of pension isn't enough to cover his expenses. I take such good care of him; it's only right that I receive this money. I haven't embezzled anything, nor have I mistreated him. Stop making baseless accusations!"

She insisted that her father's pension was not enough, never mentioning the fact that she had embezzled a huge sum of money and abandoned her father. She packaged her selfishness, cold-heartedness, and insatiable greed as a matter of course to give, completely disregarding her father's illness and heartache, and ignoring the blood ties between her sisters. In her eyes and heart, there was only the money she held in her hands, and she had no filial piety whatsoever.

She brazenly took the embezzlement of a huge sum of retirement money as a matter of course, regarding her father's war merits and old-age security as her due reward. Her greedy and selfish face was exposed. She completely forgot her old father lying on the hospital bed, listening to all this and silently shedding tears, forgot the blood ties between them, and forgot the weight of this money.