Xu Ke looked at the IOU, her heart aching. She had spent two years carefully nurturing their relationship, hoping for a harmonious family. But no matter how much she compromised, it couldn’t withstand the slightest bit of discord or self-interest, and now everything was lost. Exhausted both physically and mentally, she felt dizzy from the sudden anger. Leaning on the cabinet, she weakly entered her bedroom and closed the door. Closing her eyes, she hoped it was just a nightmare. How could they continue being a family with such conflict and such a relationship? For the first time, she felt lost, disappointed, and powerless. When she was young, there were only two in her family, cold and lonely. She had always hoped for a lively and warm home. When Shao Yiping married Shen Xiaoshan, she was overjoyed, thinking she had gained a brother and a father, only to find that the fleeting happiness was ultimately just another source of pain. The gentle and elegant demeanor of Lin Ge, flowing like a fine stream, touched her heart once again, rekindling her great hope for a warm and happy home. However, everything was so hard. Being kind to others does not guarantee kindness in return; instead, they might see you as naive, easy to bully or deceive. Trust in others often becomes the weapon that hurts you. The pain was beyond description, truly exhausting, tasting of despair.
Lin Ge quietly approached. He sat silently on a bench by the door. After a while, he whispered, “Xiao Ke, when I was little, we didn’t live in the county town; we lived in the mountains. My dad was a miner, and he died when I was nine, and Lin Yao was six.”
“The mine gave us a thousand yuan as compensation. My mom cried for a whole day and night. The next day, she buried my dad, took me and Lin Yao, and with that thousand yuan, we went to Beijing. That was my first time on a train, my first visit to Beijing. My mom didn’t go anywhere else; she took us straight to Peking University. Standing at the university gate, she told us, ‘You must study hard, go to college, and leave the mountains. Otherwise, your life is worth only a thousand yuan.'”
