Perhaps everyone was reminded of their unhappy childhood, and the dinner table fell silent.
"Sigh, my family is similar. My mom is a middle school teacher, and her control over me is terrifying. I started learning calligraphy when I was three years old. During summer vacation in junior high school, they would send me to my uncle's construction site to carry bricks, ostensibly to train me."
They forbid me from buying clothes and shoes costing more than 100 yuan, saying they can't let me develop a spoiled and extravagant personality. It's expected that I get good grades on tests; if I do poorly, they'll attack me with the harshest words.
I have to win an award in calligraphy competitions, otherwise they'll say I'm just a useless piece of trash who only knows how to eat rice.
After finally graduating from university and getting a job, they started criticizing my income and belittling my work. No matter how hard I try, I'm worthless in their eyes.
"Jiang Xin, does your friend's mother require her to get into a prestigious university?"
Jiang Xin shook her head: "No."
Did her mother require her to always be number one?
Did her mother compare her to other children?
Did her mother ask her to buy a big house to make the family proud?
Jiang Xin was struck by a triple blow to her soul, and sat there blankly, mechanically shaking her head.
"So what aspect of her life made her feel depressed? What mother doesn't take care of her children?"
In the eyes of many parents, children are their private property, children have no privacy, and it is their right to treat their children however they want.
Many parents, under the guise of "it's for your own good," relentlessly demand things of their children. If the child fails to meet these expectations, the parents will tell the child, "You don't deserve my kindness; you've let me down."
The oldest colleague gave a heartfelt summary.
"The most tragic thing about us women is that we are not recognized. No matter how excellent we are, in our parents' eyes, we are born to take care of the family, raise children, and do housework."
Why don't they teach boys to do housework? My mother often tells me, "You have to know how to do this and that, otherwise you won't know anything when you go to your husband's family."
So, getting married means I'm just going to be someone else's housekeeper? I should have gone to a domestic service agency for training to ensure I could be a good wife after marriage.
Upon hearing this, many people immediately broke down.
Jiang Xin's heart was in turmoil. These colleagues did not have privileged family backgrounds, and they had all experienced repressed childhoods to varying degrees.
But they have been working hard to become better versions of themselves.
Even though society is unfair to them, they have never stopped moving forward.
They are strong-willed and determined to be independent women of the new era.
At that moment, Jiang Xin saw the shadow of her adoptive mother in them.
That night, Jiang Xin thought about many things. She wondered if she had done something wrong before. Her mother had been kind and considerate to her, and even though she had made mistakes, her mother had never trampled on her self-esteem.
She kept saying bad things about her mother, but her mother never belittled her or took the opportunity to humiliate her.
Jiang Xin covered her face. She didn't know what was wrong with her back then. She had clearly done something wrong, yet she could still speak those words to her mother with such arrogance.
Looking back now, I realize she was such an ungrateful daughter.
Jiang Xin began to plan her future path. She made a career plan for herself, and that night she did not think of Yan Ling.
The next day after work, Jiang Xin went to the fried chicken shop where Yan Ling and she had agreed to meet.
When she arrived, Yanling was already there, sitting in a chair in the store with a furrowed brow and an expression that looked like someone owed him millions and wouldn't pay it back.
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