At thirty-four, I’m the director of the Party and Government Office in a township, and an unmarried woman past the usual marrying age.
I married Lu Kai, a soldier four years younger than me, after a blind date. He adored me.
But on our wedding night, my mother-in-law knocked on our door in her pajamas. “Mom had a nightmare. I need my son to keep me company.”
In the middle of the night, his older sister called in tears. “Brother, don’t you want me anymore?”
My mother-in-law put on a wedding dress to take mother-and-son photos, while his sister lay on my wedding bed and said, “I understand you better than your wife does.”
Only later did I realize...
The biggest rival in this marriage wasn’t another woman. It was my husband’s own mother and sister.
