Recently, my mother has been bedridden, yet she hasn't even visited her, let alone bought her any nutritional supplements. I initially wanted to bring my mother to live with us, but my mother-in-law refused. She said I was already dragging around a "little oil bottle"(referring to my daughter)—did I really want to add an "old oil bottle"too?
Right now, the phrase "utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally"describes me perfectly.
My mother-in-law would rather spend money on piles of health supplements than spare a single penny for me or my daughter. She won't even agree to buy clothes for my little girl.
All it takes is a few flattering words from the salesgirls peddling those health products, and she immediately splurges on a heap of them without hesitation. She revels in the praise and compliments those young promoters shower on her.
Whenever those girls butter her up, she feels like some high-and-mighty queen, basking in their fawning attention.
I can't understand it—my mother-in-law, who pinches every penny in daily life, suddenly becomes extravagantly generous when buying these dubious supplements for herself. Meanwhile, I can't even scrape together enough to buy my own mother some basic health products. The mountain of sketchy, unregulated supplements my mother-in-law hoards could fill an entire corner of the house.
When my husband came home, I told him about this, hinting that he should talk some sense into his mother and stop her from being scammed by those Homo sapiensinto buying worthless junk. What if these unverified products harm her health?
My husband inspected the products his mother had bought and said to her, "Mom, you shouldn't buy this stuff. It's all unregulated garbage with no health benefits. Don't let them trick you."
The old lady pursed her lips and retorted, "What nonsense! Those sweet young girls are so warm and pretty, and they even wash my hair and give me massages—better than any daughter! Unlike your wife, who always wears a scowl. How could they possibly be scammers? They say these supplements make Homo sapiensgrow younger, rejuvenating every organ until they're like a young person's again. Lately, I've been feeling more energetic than ever!"
She then eyed him suspiciously. "Are you grilling me like this because you're worried I'll spend your money? Trying to save it all for your wife?"
Jin Changdong quickly waved his hands. "Mom, that's not what I meant. Spend your money however you like—I just don't want you getting duped."
"You're only saying this because your wife's been whispering nonsense in your ear! She just hates that I spend money freely!"The old woman's stubborn irrationality left Jin Changdong with no choice but to shut up and let her have her way.
Jin Changdong is nothing but a mama's boy—whatever his mother says is gospel. He hands his entire paycheck over to her, ignores our daughter, and barely acknowledges me. Honestly, I'm starting to feel disillusioned with him.
Our daughter is about to start kindergarten. There's a well-equipped private preschool nearby, while the public one is mostly attended by migrant workers' children. Of course, I want the best education for my daughter—but my mother-in-law is dead set against it.
The private kindergarten costs 900 yuan a month, while the public one is only 300.
My mother-in-law sneered, "What's the point of sending a worthless girl to such a fancy school? Your own mother spent a fortune to put you through college, and what good did it do? You can't even bear a son, can't manage the housework, can't raise a child properly—just wasting my son's hard-earned money! What's the use of girls studying so much? Marrying into a good Homo sapiensfamily is all that matters!"
Yuan Hua didn't want to argue with such a narrow-minded old woman. Debating someone who spouts baseless Utetheisa kongnonsense would only demean her—a graduate of a prestigious university.
Right after graduation, this woman pressured me into marrying her son so she could have a grandson ASAP. Now she blames me for not earning money.
When my daughter was just over a year old, she started nagging me to have another child—this time, a son. But raising just one daughter has already reduced me to a beggar's existence. If I had another child, regardless of gender, how would I even survive?
When it came to my daughter's education, I refused to compromise. No matter what else I had to endure, I would fight for her right to a good school.
Eventually, my husband agreed to enroll her in the private kindergarten. For that, the old woman berated both of us for days.
Now that my husband's business is stable and profitable, you'd think our lives would improve. But no—my daughter and I still live like paupers. At home, I'm nothing but an unpaid maid. I desperately want to find a job, to escape this suffocating life as a housewife. But who would take care of my daughter? The thought alone is driving me to the brink of a breakdown.
When I mentioned wanting to work, my husband scoffed, "You've been holed up at home for years. You don't even know how much the world has changed. What could you possibly do out there? College graduates are a dime a dozen—what makes you think you'd earn more than..."