At my age, I’ve been shoved into a wedding car again. I have my two “dutiful” sons to “thank” for all this! To scrape together enough money for their weddings, they actually plotted to marry me off to an old bachelor in the neighboring village.
Their words pierced my heart like icicles:
“Mom,” my eldest son said, avoiding my gaze, though his voice left no room for argument. “You wouldn’t want the two of us to stay bachelors our whole lives, would you? Just help us this one last time, and your sons will remember your kindness forever!”
My younger son stood nearby, lips curled as he muttered just loudly enough for me to hear, “It’ll be better once the old woman’s married off. Then she won’t eat and drink for free at home…”
After escaping those two wretches, Lin Wenxiu thought she could finally catch her breath and that life would gradually get better. She rented a place in the city, where her landlord was a male university lecturer. To her surprise, he was a real city-bred “prince”! He couldn’t lift a finger around the house or tell one grain from another, and his tongue was so sharp it could spit poison:
“Stay away from me, country bumpkin!”
“Your filthy money? I wouldn’t take it even if you gave it to me for free!”
The “friends” who once mocked her and went out of their way to avoid her had caught wind of her fortunes. Now they came crawling back, trying every which way to get close to her.
That night, rain poured down in sheets. Someone pounded urgently on the door. Lin Wenxiu opened it to find the once-arrogant young master drenched and utterly disheveled, blocking the doorway. Rain streamed down his hair and cheeks. His lips were blue with cold, and his voice trembled as he struggled to speak:
“W-wifey…” he pleaded in barely more than a whisper. “The money… I’ll give you all the money… and my life, too… C-can you come home with me now?”
