1 Life was Truly Miserable

When she thought things were going on the right tracks, the accident happened. Her mother was hospitalized because her old illness. Lately, it was quite frequent.

She had just saved some amount of money, not much, only a month of her less-than-municipal-minimum salary. The money she thought would be in her bank account for sometimes was inevitably drawn as she had to contributed for her mother medical expense. It was painful for her, but she had to.

It wasn't because she was a calculative, money-loving person. It was because she had paid too much for her family.

She worked for more than ten years yet she could only buy a pair of cheap shoes, two jeans and a blouse. She didn't even have her own make up necessities. She would just dab her face with the make-up she bought from the inconvenience store near her office when it was on sale along with the mass-produced perfume in plastic bottles.

She was the eldest out of six siblings. Her family was not rich but it was definitely sufficient for them to fulfill their basic needs as well as for some entertainment.

But her father past hobbies like gambling and drinking alcohol had made her house financial condition bad, even worse. More than two third of his salary was spent to indulge himself while for the rest, it was used by her mother to feed the siblings.

To feed all of them, such small amount of money was far from enough. Her mother would actually limit their foods as they had to think about them. Sometimes, her mother would not eat for the whole day to provide her children with meals.

Their meals were far from sufficient. Sometimes, they had to share an egg for all of them. If they didn't have side dish, they would just eat plain rice with soy sauce or salt.

Her mother was short tempered. She would hit her children when she was under the stressed. It was unavoidable. She had to face her irresponsible husband while thinking about how to feed her children.

As the eldest daughter of the family, this burden was surely fallen on her.

She had to sell the fruits she took from her neighbor's orchard near the provincial road when she was seven years old. When the fruits weren't in season, she would help the neighbors doing random things like repairing cleaning up their house. She would also work in the tofu factory near her house. The factory owner would refuse her. But, after she repeatedly came, the owner finally relented.

He didn't want to let her work in the factory as she was too young. He couldn't bear seeing her little hands lifting baskets. He knew about her family condition. He even gave her some money so she should come work and let him know if it was not enough, she should come to him. The answer he got was unexpected. As he saw the little girl blinking her eyes in confusion, he heard, "I will not receive money if I don't earn it myself."

He repeatedly stuffed her hands with money but she also refused him repeatedly. As he couldn't bear it, he let her work in his factory to help.

From that day onward, after school, she would go to the factory, lifting the baskets with her tiny hands that she would stop once in a while because it was too heavy for her. The owner who saw this would give her extra money. Because he was afraid the girl would reject, he lied to her that other aunties would get too.

The girl brought the money to her mother for daily necessity but her mother always refused. She actually persuaded her daughter not to work anymore. The children of her age should study well so she would not end up like her mother, a boorish woman with lack of education. But the little girl was stubborn. She said to her mother that she studied well and would make her mother rich. Her mother laughed. It wasn't that she didn't believe her daughter. It was just because the reality hit her too hard, making it impossible to dream such dream. Nonetheless, she could only pray and support her daughter with her limited ability.

After she gave her mother money, she would go to her bedroom, taking her pencil, eraser and writing book. Her pencil was already short-about the length of her fingers. The book was also the cheapest. She didn't go to kindergarten because it was too expensive for her. So, her mother would teach her to read and write.

When she wrote, she would write everything on the paper until it packed to the brim. If her book was out of the paper, she would erase the words she wrote earlier.

When she was in the elementary school, she wore the uniform given by the neighbor as it was too expensive to purchase the new one. Her mother did everything for her, from registering the application until the end. Her mother also came to the school office to ask the principal to reduce her daughter's educational fees.

As for her father? That jerk was truly useless. Not only he was irresponsible, he would also hit the mother and the siblings and took the money his daughter hard-earned money.

At that time, their life was truly miserable.