The Heroine Is Forty

My name is Nie Huilan, and I am forty years old.

I am skilled with blades and weapons, but I never quite learned how to be a good mother, daughter, or wife.

My husband once said he was drawn to my dashing manner.

"Huilan, you look wonderful wielding a sword, but now that we're married, you can't keep going out in public like you used to!"

I said I would never give up the blades in my hands, but my mother said,

"A woman learns how to be a good wife after she gets married."

I believed her.

I spent twenty-four years becoming the person everyone wanted me to be. I smoothed away my rough edges and gave up what I truly loved, but in the end, I still couldn't satisfy everyone.

"Mother, if you hadn't gone against convention and insisted on becoming some kind of heroine, I wouldn't have had to wait until my twenties to get married!"

Looking at my twenty-year-old daughter, I suddenly remembered myself at sixteen.

I came to my senses and looked at her. "Why do women have to get married?"

"E-everyone says so," she replied, dazed.

I wasn't sure she could understand, but I knew that I finally did.

People should live for themselves.

1. The female lead is forty and has a child. Things are very rough for her at first. (Important)

2. The female lead is not reborn and does not transmigrate. This is about a forty-year-old heroine awakening and passing her will on to the next generation.

3. There will be a divorce struggle with her awful husband. To reiterate, the female lead's awakening takes time; it won't happen overnight.

4. This is a short, niche story. If it's not for you, please respect others and simply leave.

5. One last reminder: a supporting character transmigrates, but the story is about the female lead's awakening. Things will be genuinely frustrating at first, and it won't turn into a wish-fulfillment story later. If you can't accept that, please don't click in. It will be better for both of us. (Thank you.)

6. Why I'm entering this competition: It's difficult to make the right choice the first time in life and to know what kind of life suits you best. Mistakes are inevitable. Whatever your age or circumstances, don't be afraid to change.

A no-romance story about women's awakening is also coming soon: a modern woman's awakening -> "My Mother Is a Genius"

My name is Xu Yuanyuan. I'm sixteen, and I study at a music conservatory.

My father is a pianist, and my mother is an ordinary housewife.

They have high hopes for me and want me to win a music competition.

My musician father always says,

"A girl doesn't have to be all that amazing. She just needs to learn enough to have something in common with her future husband."

Strangely, my mother is even more determined than my father to make me a pianist. She devotes all her strength and time to pushing me.

"Yuanyuan, you can't give up. You can definitely become... You will become the greatest pianist."

Even though they tried to spend their entire savings on my music lessons, I just don't have the talent.

I think parents these days are really strange. They can't do something themselves, yet they always want their children to achieve what they couldn't.

I hate my mother. I tried to destroy everything in my life just to get back at her.

But then I suddenly realized that maybe things weren't what they seemed.

My mother doesn't lack musical talent. On the contrary... she's a genius.

My father's celebrated composition, the only piece he ever became famous for... was written by my mother when she was twelve.

I held up the sheet music and asked her,

"Mom, why didn't you become the greatest pianist yourself?"

She was silent for a moment, then asked me in return,

"Yes, why didn't I?"

For the sake of family?

For the sake of her child?

For the sake of her parents?

"Mom, what about you?"

I asked her.

She wanted to ask her twenty-four-year-old self the same thing: why hadn't she entered the music competition, and instead chosen to get married?

I said,

"Mom, it's not too late. Go enter the music competition."

1. Both mother and daughter are protagonists, but the story is told primarily from the daughter's perspective. (Important)

2. The mother will divorce her husband. The daughter and mother will come to understand and respect each other.

3. The mother's awakening takes time, and the daughter needs a catalyst to understand her mother. It won't happen overnight. Things will be genuinely frustrating for both of them at first.

4. This is a short, niche story. Please respect others; if it's not for you, just leave.

5. One last reminder: this is realistic fiction, not a wish-fulfillment story, and there is no romance. Things will be genuinely frustrating at first.

Theme: People should live for themselves