Chapter 1: Exhausted

“What’s going on?”

Before Wang Li could open her eyes, she felt someone pushing her.

Her head felt dizzy, and as someone helped her sit up, she realized that she had almost fainted while washing dishes earlier. Recently, she had been working long hours washing dishes at a restaurant during the day and still had to do laundry and wash blankets for her son and daughter-in-law at night. Her daughter-in-law insisted on hand-washing the clothes, saying that machine washing would ruin them. Every day was just too busy and exhausting!

Recently, her son had taken her bank card, claiming that it was to keep her from spending too much, and he would save it for her retirement fund. She trusted her son too much and gave him the card for safekeeping.

Now that she was still able to make money and support herself, her son had her doing so many chores.

She was never allowed to eat her fill, always being told it was to prevent weight gain. They claimed that elderly people who gained weight would suffer from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She was always reminded that eating too much wasn’t good for her health!

Now, after a long, tiring day of work, she felt faint from hunger. She was only 53 years old, but today she almost lost her life in the kitchen.

Wang Li took a deep breath and went to ask her supervisor for leave. In the locker room, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin was dry and rough, making her look like she was in her sixties or seventies.

She thought about how she had raised her son, and now that he had grown up, she realized she should take care of herself. After so many years of hard work, getting older was even harder than when she was young. She had come to terms with it—her son wouldn’t take care of her, so she needed to learn to love herself from now on.

Her earlier life had been pretty good. She and her husband had a loving relationship; they never fought. They lived in a second-tier city, and both of her parents were teachers. She was their only child, and after graduation, she was assigned to teach at a primary school.

After getting married, Wang Li not only worked and earned some money but also wrote novels in her spare time to earn a little extra income. Life had been pretty good at first—her husband did the cooking, and Wang Li did the dishes.

When she was thirty, her husband died in a car accident. Wang Li was devastated, heartbroken, and went through a period of depression. Fortunately, her parents were there to comfort her and keep her company, so she slowly pulled herself together.

Together with her parents, she raised her son and even helped him get into graduate school. Throughout his education, he always asked his mother for money and never considered earning any pocket money himself.

It had been tough, but when her son finally got a job and could support himself, her parents had passed away.

After a year of recovery, her son got married…

They wanted to buy a house in Shanghai. Wang Li told her son that house prices in Shanghai were too high, so they should put down a small down payment and pay off the rest through monthly installments. Her son threw a tantrum, and there was no way around it—her savings weren’t enough. Wang Li had no choice but to sell the house she was living in to raise the money. With no place to store their things, they had to move everything to the old house.

Her daughter-in-law demanded a dowry of five hundred thousand. Her son called her every day, saying that if she didn’t give the dowry, the woman wouldn’t marry him, and he would commit suicide if she didn’t give the money.

Wang Li had no choice but to sell her parents’ house to raise the money.

Once she had recovered a bit, her daughter-in-law got pregnant again. Her son called, asking her to come and take care of his wife. At her son’s house, her daughter-in-law constantly made demands—today she needed to buy some supplements, tomorrow it would be something else. Every day, she was asking for money.

After a long wait, it was finally time for the baby to be born, but her son said they still didn’t have enough money. He suggested selling the house they were renting out. After a lot of persuasion, Wang Li agreed to sell the rental property too.

The house they lived in had originally been bought by her parents, with the idea that when she got older, the rental income would help cover household expenses. Now, all their belongings had been moved to the old house. Wang Li couldn’t help but think that her life had been incredibly tough.

The money from selling the house was quickly used up by her son, who had convinced her that he would use it to buy her insurance and take care of her in her old age.

He also promised that life in Shanghai would be of better quality than back home.

After all that persuasion, Wang Li was left feeling that her son was the best in the world, that no other son could compare to hers.

She was so moved that tears streamed down her face, feeling that no one’s son could be more reliable than her own.

Every day, her time was consumed with taking care of the child, cooking, doing laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping, while her son and daughter-in-law did nothing. Sometimes, her daughter-in-law even threw tantrums at her.

After working tirelessly to raise her grandson to five years old and get him into kindergarten, her son said they had a car to pick him up, so she didn’t need to worry about the child anymore. He told her to find a job to help support the family.

At her age, it was hard to find a decent job, so she could only do cleaning or wash dishes. The neighbor’s older sister said that cleaning was not a respectable job.

Washing dishes paid 3,000 a month, but that money was barely enough for her to buy toiletries and was mostly spent on her grandson.

Her grandson had been spoiled by his mother. If he saw something to eat, he wanted it; if he saw clothes, he wanted those too. If he saw toys, he would cry on the ground if he didn’t get them. There was no choice but for Wang Li to quickly buy them to avoid others laughing at her.

It was because of all the exhaustion from her work at the buffet restaurant, where she washed so many dishes, and the long hours standing that she finally collapsed.

In this life, Wang Li had devoted all her money and effort for her son, yet neither her son nor daughter-in-law ever gave her a kind word.

Every Sunday, her daughter-in-law would arrange a bunch of chores for her to do, and once she finished, she was left to eat whatever was left at home while the family went out to have fun for the day. They would only return home after dinner.

But looking back, Wang Li knew she had no one to blame but herself. She had spoiled her son too much and hadn’t taught him properly. As a result, her son didn’t understand that his mother was human, not made of iron. He couldn’t even imagine that his mother would get tired or feel hurt.

Every year, when her son and daughter-in-law celebrated their birthdays, they would go to a restaurant, but her own birthday was always forgotten by her son.

This too, Wang Li thought, was her own fault. She remembered when her son was ten years old, just as her husband had passed away. Her son wanted to celebrate her birthday and bought her a small cake with his pocket money. At that time, she was drowning in grief over losing her husband.

She hadn’t thought much about it and scolded her son for wasting money, telling him to save it for school supplies.

Since then, her son never celebrated her birthday again. Thinking back on it, Wang Li felt that her life had been incredibly hard, and that living felt so unfair.

Now, even though she had returned to her hometown, there was no place to stay in the city. Thankfully, her husband’s village house, though not worth much, hadn’t been sold.

At least she had a place to stay, but for the future, she would need money to support herself in her old age. She would need to take her salary card with her and plant some vegetables in the yard of her old home to get by.

She had come to terms with the fact that she could no longer rely on her son. It seemed that she could only depend on herself now. Her older sister-in-law was honest and had children who were all respectful, and they lived in the same village. Wang Li thought that, at least in the future, there would be someone who could lend a helping hand.

First, she needed to figure out how to get her salary card back, not knowing if there was still any money in it. She used to be able to earn around 30,000 a year. After expenses, she could save more than 20,000 each year, which would mean over 60,000 in three years.

Wang Li thought for a moment and decided to resign first. It was already past two o’clock, and the restaurant manager was probably still there.

She quickly changed her clothes, went out, and found the supervisor. The supervisor said that the manager was out having dinner with someone else and suggested she go to the hospital first.

After leaving, Wang Li still didn’t go to the hospital. She realized it was just exhaustion and hunger that made her faint. A bit of rest would make her feel better. She thought about taking a hot shower first.

She didn’t want to deal with her daughter-in-law’s sour face again. Every time she took a shower, her daughter-in-law would complain and sulk, accusing her of wasting water.

She thought about where she could go for a bath. There was a sauna and bathhouse across from the restaurant she worked at. She decided to go there to relax and order some takeout. She had been in Shanghai for so long and never eaten a proper meal outside the restaurant. One, she didn’t have the money, and two, she felt that the food outside wasn’t clean.

The world was changing, and people were changing. Wang Li felt like she was about to break, but she realized she needed to change too. From now on, she would have to love herself.

She thought about going to get her salary card tonight, resigning the next day, buying a few outfits, and then heading back to her village.

Living at her son’s house had been exhausting and hard. She didn’t have time to go out, and she didn’t have any friends. When she felt down, there was no one to talk to.

After taking a bath, she went home to find her son and daughter-in-law there. As soon as she entered, her daughter-in-law had a sour expression on her face.

She said, “You old hag, why are you so late coming home? Are you trying to starve us?”

Wang Li was furious when she heard this. She was angry, and a heated argument broke out. She had always put up with it, but today, she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I’ve been working like a horse in your house for all these years, serving you both. You should know I’m your mother, but if someone didn’t know better, they’d think I’m just a servant in your house.”

“A servant at least earns some wages. But me? I don’t make a single cent, and I’ve been giving you everything. Don’t you have a conscience? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Since I came here, you haven’t even helped me when things were tough. Everything is on me.”

“Son, stop pulling me! I used to give you money, but I don’t need that anymore. You can have the money you’ve been keeping. Give me back my salary card. I’ll go live in the old house. You don’t have to take care of me anymore.”

“Your aunt in the village can take care of me. I don’t have any money left. I gave you all the money from selling the houses. I don’t have anything left now.”

“Mom, what are you saying? The salary card was just so you wouldn’t waste it. I haven’t touched it. Just give it to me now. It’s not much money anyway.”

The two of them continued to argue without showing any real understanding.

“Son, if you don’t give me the salary card, tomorrow I’ll go to your workplace and ask your boss if a son is supposed to take care of his mother. I’ll ask how much you earn, and have them deposit your salary into my account for my retirement.”

“We’ll see if your boss agrees.”

Her daughter-in-law grabbed her son and slammed the bedroom door. After a long time, she came out and threw the salary card at Wang Li. Her son was visibly unhappy, and when he left, he slammed the door behind him.