Sitting drunk in his chair, Zhang Lei listened to the singing coming from next door, his mind buzzing.

Through this song, he seemed to see his chaotic life all over again.

As a civil servant in a provincial government unit in Shashi, he earns a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan and pays the highest level of social insurance and housing fund contributions.

At this class reunion, Zhang Lei, who is tall, strong, handsome, and still exudes youthful energy, is also a respected and envied figure.

Those girls who had a crush on him during their school days saw him as a role model of a successful man at this drinking party.

However, only Zhang Lei himself knew the truth.

I realize how miserable and chaotic my life has been lately.

In the past two years, he has spent almost all the savings he had accumulated over twenty years of working to pay for his wife's and family's medical treatment.

This includes the down payment he had painstakingly saved, which he originally intended to use to buy a house in Shashi, the provincial capital.

To this day, he and his wife still live in a rented apartment provided by their employer.

Fortunately, thanks to the preferential policies for provincial civil servants, they only need to pay a few hundred yuan in rent each month, so they don't have much pressure regarding housing.

His parents, who worked hard farming in their rural hometown and supported him through college, were already being generous by not expecting him to take care of them, let alone sponge off them or ask them for financial assistance.

Originally, Zhang Lei was not particularly frustrated by this.

After all, he had a beloved and beautiful wife who was also his first love, from high school uniforms to wedding dresses.

For the woman he loves, he would even sell everything he owns to pay for her family's medical treatment.

However, in reality...

Even after emptying the family savings to pay for his wife's and parents' medical treatment, he still couldn't satisfy them.

His wife even demanded that Zhang Lei use his civil servant status to secure another several hundred thousand yuan in bank loans.

They sent their terminally ill mother, who had no medical insurance, to a major hospital in Kyoto and spent a fortune on her treatment.

Exhausted, Zhang Lei refused.

He simply didn't have the strength or the courage to take on such a huge debt and plunge into an abyss.

He also persuaded his wife to pursue conservative treatment for her terminally ill mother.

It is suggested that the money that could have extended the life by a few months be used to fulfill the elderly person's final wishes, allowing them to eat well and go out for a stroll in their last days.

However, his suggestion was seen by his wife as a lack of respect for his family and their feelings.

His angry wife berated him, calling him a "coward," "irresponsible," and "stingy with money," and even threatened to divorce him.

That's not all; it's also for convenience and to make commuting more presentable.

His wife also demanded that Zhang Lei take 100,000 yuan from his meager savings to buy himself a car.

This requirement became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Because they couldn't afford to buy a car or pay for their mother's medical treatment, the wife would often use this as an excuse to deliberately pick fights.

Ultimately, she filed for divorce from Zhang Lei.

Zhang Lei vividly remembers the scene when his partner slammed the divorce papers in front of him, roaring through tears:

“Zhang Lei, I’ve followed you since my student days, only because you’re a good person and ambitious, and look what happened…”

"You have no house, no car, and you don't even have the courage to borrow money for my mother's medical treatment. She is my own mother who loves me the most!"

"Ha, what use is a useless man like you to me? What courage do I have to have children and live a life with you?"

"Are we born to make them repeat this awful life we ​​led when they grow up?!"

After a roar.

Zhang Lei looked up and watched as his wife turned and got into a luxury car that had come to pick her up, then drove off in a cloud of dust.

Holding the divorce papers, his hand trembled involuntarily in the wind.

But now.

After hearing this song coming from outside the neighbor's window, he finally understood...

Even for a couple who are soulmates, everything is meaningless without money!

A man without money is like a spineless mollusk, unable to lift his head or straighten his back.

This is probably the inescapable tragedy of life for ordinary people like myself who have no great abilities or illustrious family background.

A serious illness, a job loss, an unfinished building...

Any one of these things is enough to overwhelm me as I enter middle age, leaving me unable to turn over and suffocating...

"Waaah..."

Thinking of this, Zhang Lei couldn't help but cover his red-rimmed face with his hands, sit sideways on the chair, and lean over to sob.