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Chapter 21

It was that very night when Yu Shu called Ye Ping to ask for some money. She and Meng Xulin had spent all her living expenses celebrating Christmas, and the school was making her pay for textbooks or some other fees that Yu Shu could not quite remember.

Ye Ping received her call asking for money as she walked out of the police station entrance.

Yu Shu suddenly slapped herself, the crisp sound of the slap startling Yu Yang.

"Sis... Are you okay?"

"I\'m fine, I just feel like a terrible person."

"...There\'s no need to be that honest."

Yu Shu rewarded him with a slap: "You\'re no better."

Her slap did not hurt at all. Yu Yang rubbed his cheek aggrievedly and curled up in a corner of the sofa.

So what was the meaning and irreplaceable significance of marriage and childbirth? It means owing a debt that you have to pay back for your entire life, with endless worries.

When your life reaches its end and your body enters the soil, your children will burn paper at your grave, asking you to bless them with safety and prosperity.

"Ahhhhh!" Yu Shu messy up her own hair in frustration, muttering: "To live, what joy? To die, what sorrow? To be or not to be, that is the question..."

"Mom - Sis has lost her mind!" Yu Yang rolled and crawled to knock on the master bedroom door.

Before he could knock a third time, the door opened unexpectedly.

"What are you howling about?!"

Ye Ping\'s hair was messy and she looked sleepy, but her voice was as powerful as ever.

Yu Shu slapped her cheap little brother: "Mommy~ Why don\'t you sleep a little longer?"

Ye Ping rolled her eyes: "What\'s there to sleep? So I can drink northwest wind for dinner?"

Yu Shu\'s nose started running again. Ye Lady had once dreamed of traveling the world with a sword, but was confined to making three meals a day in the kitchen.

Yu Shu sobbed... Ye Lady was so great.

Yu Shu: "I\'ll make dinner tonight!"

Ye Lady did not fight her for it. She sat motionless on the sofa watching TV.

Yu Yang was dragged into the kitchen to help her. The siblings worked for an hour and came up with three dishes and a soup.

The stir-fried greens were too salty. The meat strips in the sour cabbage soup were overcooked. The other two dishes were leftovers from lunch just reheated. The only decent one was the shrimp congee that Yu Shu cooked.

The rice grains were thick and the shrimp sweet. With just a sprinkle of salt and green onions, it really whet people\'s appetites. Ye Ping had three bowls.

"Hehe, tasty right?" Yu Shu shyly fished for compliments.

She couldn\'t cook anything else, but this shrimp congee she made well. Her roommate in City A had taught her, and Yu Shu had never made it for anyone before.

"Barely passable."

Yu Shu pouted. "Not even a word of praise?"

It had always been like this since she was little. Getting praise from Ye Lady was harder than plucking stars from the sky.

Yu Yang lifted his head from the huge bowl. "I\'m used to it. You\'re not."

The congee was not filling. Yu Yang served himself a large bowl of noodles to go with the sour cabbage soup.

After dinner, Yu Yang did the dishes while Yu Shu squeezed some fruit juice to take to the master bedroom and curry favor.

"Mommy~ Mommy~ Doyouwanttobuildasnowman~"

"Can\'t understand you, speak human words!"

Yu Shu switched to another song: "Little bunny, be good and open the door~"

"The door\'s not locked."

"Hehe, why doesn\'t mommy turn on the lights?"

The room was pitch black. Ye Ping was leaning against the headboard playing on her phone.

Without looking up, Ye Ping said: "What do I need lights on for when I\'m playing with my phone? It\'s a waste of electricity."

Yu Shu turned on the bedside lamp. Hesitantly, she sidled up, "You should turn it on. Playing on your phone in the dark is bad for your eyes."

Ye Ping was on a popular Chinese short video app. A travel blogger was recounting her 3 day, 4 night trip to Kyoto.

Ye Ping really enjoyed these. She didn\'t have time for them before when she was busy making a living, and the old crappy phone she used was always freezing and lagging. She didn\'t get to watch many travel videos.

Yu Shu got her the latest big screen phone, and the internet at their new home was fast too. Hobbies are the best medicine.

Yu Shu leaned on her shoulder and watched with her for a bit, then suddenly suggested, "Let\'s go on a spur of the moment trip!"

"There\'s an ice sculpture exhibit up north, and sunny beaches down south." Yu Shu grew more excited as she spoke, "What\'s the point of watching videos? I\'ll book plane tickets. We\'ll leave tomorrow and have an awesome vacation over New Year\'s!"

Ye Ping was tempted, but ultimately shook her head firmly: "Yu Yang has to go back to school on the 4th day of New Year\'s. We wouldn\'t get to enjoy ourselves fully. And it\'s been so many years since we visited relatives over New Year\'s. They\'re all coming over this year... After New Year\'s..."

"After New Year\'s, my dad needs surgery again. Then Yu Yang will be preparing for college entrance exams. After he takes the exam, something else will come up." Yu Shu interrupted her rambling, "Why do you always have to consider so much? Why do you take everything upon yourself?"

Yu Shu started sobbing again: "Why can\'t you think more for yourself and be more selfish?"

"Because I\'m your mother," Ye Ping sat up, her tone laced with inexplicable anger. "If I was selfish, where would you kids end up? If I was selfish, I would\'ve abandoned you long ago."

"I wish you had left!" Yu Shu yelled.

It would\'ve been better if you had left, then you wouldn\'t have suffered so much.

"You wish I had left? That\'s great, just perfect. You are completely ungrateful. You don\'t see how hard your mom suffered all these years! You\'re heartless, an unfilial child!"

"... "

Yu Shu had infinite admiration for Ye Lady\'s knack for missing the point.

Based on past experience, she knew not to talk back right now. She had to seem weak, or else this would spiral into a huge fight.

Yu Shu heaved a long sigh: "I hope that you\'re not only a mother and wife. But also Ye Ping, Ye Lady, yourself."

I hope you have a space that is completely your own.

Whether it\'s dreams, hobbies, things you like and want to do for yourself, not out of necessity for family or livelihood.

Her mom didn\'t get it. She would never understand.

Dejected, Yu Shu bid Ye Lady good night and trudged out slowly.

That night, neither mother nor daughter slept well.