With the New Year approaching, my boyfriend of many years and I were preparing to meet each other’s parents. We went to his family’s place first. During dinner, his mother warmly took my hand and said, “Mingming, I could tell the moment I first saw you that you were a sensible girl. Good girls these days don’t ask for a bride price. You wouldn’t ask for one either, right?”
I froze. I remembered a post I’d seen a couple of days earlier, with a mother-in-law almost exactly like mine. Without a second thought, I repeated word for word the comeback someone had posted in reply:
“Good girls don’t ask for a bride price, but good mothers-in-law offer one of their own accord.”
