My mom called my dad to the bedside before she passed away, and asked him if he had ever hated her in his life.

My dad said, twice.
The first time was the year you gave birth to our son, when I had a heavy bleeding, and I signed to save the baby.
You woke up and scolded me, asking why I didn’t save the child.
I said the child can be born again, but you don’t have a second.
You scolded me for three years, and I responded each time, thinking that even if you scolded me for thirty more years, I would accept it.
The second time was when you lent all the money you had saved for eight years to your brother.
He used it for gambling and lost it all.
I said one word to him, and you had a cold war with me for two months.
That year, the rice jar was almost empty, and I went to lay bricks at night, eating leftover boxed lunches at the construction site during the day.
My mom closed her eyes, and the corner of her mouth moved slightly.
She said, “Then I’ll tell you something too.
When I signed back then, I was sober.
I scolded you not because I was saved, but because I knew you cried all night in the corridor after signing.
And that money for my brother wasn’t lost in gambling.
He used it to save a brother at his construction site.
Later, he saved enough and secretly paid it back, with an extra ten thousand in interest.
I didn’t tell you, afraid you’d think you carried that burden for nothing for two months.
I didn’t spend that money; I hid it under the rice jar.
I was planning to take it out when you couldn’t walk anymore, to buy you a wheelchair.
Now that it’s no longer needed, I’ll leave it for our son.
Tell him, his father’s biggest regret in life isn’t being scolded for three years or starving for two months.
It’s marrying a woman who kept her words until the end of her life.”
My dad knelt by the bed, silent.
Later, he took out that money, bought a wheelchair, and placed it in front of my mom’s grave.
He said, “Your mom never sat in a wheelchair pushed by me in her life.
This one is empty, just as if she’s still sitting on it.”