The years bring no promises. In the end, it was Bian Liang’s solitary courage that let her seize the chance at happiness.
From the very beginning, Pang said, “If all you want is a child, I’ll stop doing anything starting today. I’ll lie here every day and wait to have a child with you, but once the child is born, you have to let me go.
“If you want a wife to spend your life with, then you have to come with me and learn a lot of things. You have to let me live the good life I want. As long as you come with me, I promise I won’t leave you until you find the woman you want.
“If you just want to keep me trapped here, having children and cooking, I’ll strangle every child I give birth to. Then I’ll run, and keep running until I die. I absolutely mean what I say.
“I can’t live this kind of miserable, predictable life without hope or freedom.”
Only later did Bian Liang understand: “To get what one seeks is happiness.”
