No Worries, Just Prosperity: The Daily Life of Running a Shop

[Reader's guide: No romance. Slice-of-life story.]

She was twenty-one, a sophomore in college, and on winter break. She got a job at a Western restaurant during the New Year holiday. After only five days on the job, she attended the company's annual party, where she was made to drink half a bottle of red wine. Back at her rented room, she checked the post she'd just sent to her social media: a year-end bonus of 400 yuan. The very next second, the manager messaged her to return 350 yuan.

Three days later, her temporary job at the restaurant ended. She went to Guandong to sew stuffed toys over the New Year holiday. She had half a month before classes started again, and she had to scrape together enough money for living expenses.

The boss gave her a 50-yuan first-day bonus. She sewed as fast as she could, but a week later her hand got caught in an air-inflating machine. She spent all her savings, broke a finger, and was hospitalized, still owing 1,500 yuan in medical bills. She didn't dare call her parents. Now she could only wander the streets, cradling her right hand, which had just undergone surgery and was now in a cast.

She used her remaining 50 yuan to buy ten scratch-off lottery tickets.

Luckily, the last one won her 2,000 yuan.

She hesitated, but still went back to her hometown. She didn't pay off the 1,500 yuan in medical bills.

After taxes, she had 1,600 yuan left.

She took a bus back to her hometown. No one was waiting for her there, because her cousin's wedding banquet was being held that day.

Cradling her injured hand, she trudged into the courtyard where her cousin's wedding was taking place.

At the chaotic banquet, her grandaunt glared at her and dragged her off to wash dishes.

"If you come here, you have to work. We're family. You should know better."

No matter how careful she was, dirty water still got into her wound. The next day, it became infected, and she developed a high fever.

A week later, school started again, and she returned to campus, once more an carefree college student.

But she knew money could solve any problem.

Theme: Be self-reliant and change your fate