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Shopping for gold with my mother-in-law.
She picked up a gold bracelet, flipped it over to look at the price tag, then put it down. I said, Mom, try it on. She said, No need, we have one at home.
That evening when we got home, she sent a message to my husband: Your wife insisted on shopping for gold today. I didn’t buy it, but she kept asking to try it.
My husband turned to look at me: Why did you ask Mom to try the bracelet? She’s not unable to buy it herself.
I said, I didn’t—
He said, Mom said you want to buy that bracelet, so she tried it first, then she’ll buy it for you.
I st

The partitioned room I rented had such poor soundproofing that I could hear the neighbor's alarm clock.
Every morning, the neighbor set six alarms, ringing from 6:30 to 7:00, but none of them woke him up.
It was me who woke up instead.
Later, I developed a habit.
Every time the alarm rang the first time, I would knock on the wall.
Three knocks, and the neighbor would shout, "Got it." Then the world would be quiet for ten minutes.
One day, he moved out.
The next morning at 6:30, the alarm didn't go off.
I woke up, lying in bed, hearing my own heartbeat.
It was too quiet, so qu

Lately I've been a bit indulgent, and now it's burning hot and stabbing, and it feels like the tendons in my back are also being pulled. I have no choice but to grit my teeth and see a doctor.
Me: (nervously lowering my voice) Doctor, I... got infected? Is it that kind of disease?
Doctor: (calmly) It's not a sexually transmitted disease, relax. This season is very common, it's happened to several batches already.
Me: (full of question marks, muttering in my heart: Huh? Does this thing have a seasonal aspect? Could it be a spring limited edition? So I’m not the only one who overindulged?)

As a midwife, when it was my turn to give birth and raise my child, all my decisions were made through hands-on experience in the delivery room—
First, I absolutely would not choose painless labor for my first birth. It’s not that I don’t trust it; I’ve seen too many cases where labor was prolonged after receiving pain relief, and in the end, a cesarean was still necessary. I want to feel the labor process with my own body.
Second, the place of delivery must be somewhere that can save both my life and my baby’s. Whether the food is good or the environment is beautiful doesn’t matter—I just wan

My colleague's mother suddenly received a call last year.
She said she was scammed. Someone impersonated her to deceive her.
The scammer called her, immediately calling her "Mom."
His voice sounded like hers, the tone was similar, even her catchphrases.
He said he was on a business trip, his wallet was lost, and he urgently needed 20,000 yuan.
He provided an account number.
She transferred the money.
After the transfer, she checked her phone.
She found her son's message.
She sent a voice message: "Did you receive the money?"
Her son replied: "What money?"
She said: "Didn'

My cousin is 37 years old and divorced. She initiated it herself. No infidelity, no domestic violence, no conflicts with her mother-in-law.
One day, she was sitting on the sofa, and her husband was on the opposite side scrolling through his phone.
Suddenly, she couldn’t remember the last time they looked at each other directly.
She said, "Let's get a divorce." He looked up at her.
He said, "Okay." Then he lowered his head and kept scrolling.
She waited for him all afternoon.
He didn’t say anything again.
The next day, they went to the civil affairs bureau.
While taking photos,

There is a noodle shop downstairs from my house.
It has been open for fifteen years.
In the past, the menu was posted on the wall,
Beef noodles were eighteen, fried sauce noodles fifteen, scallion noodles eight yuan.
At noon, there was a long line, all from nearby construction sites.
Last year, the owner changed.
The new owner tore down the menu,
Replaced it with a leather, gold-embossed menu.
Beef noodles ninety-eight, truffle fried sauce noodles one hundred twenty, scallion noodles gone.
Replaced with scallion oil mixed noodles, eighty-eight.
Hanged on the wall was a call

The fruit shop downstairs, watermelons are three yuan per jin.
My mom said it's expensive.
She grabbed a box on the grocery app. Nine yuan ninety-nine cents. Three are rotten. The good two, cut and put in the fridge. Waiting for me to come back and eat.

The class group chat exploded: someone insisted on bringing their kid, and I directly called them out.
"My daughter is very well-behaved."
"That's what you said last time. And she ended up doodling all over my new bag."
"That was an accident..."
"You say that every year, it's an accident."
"This time I promise..."
"Forget it. You promised last time, and your son spilled hotpot broth on my white shirt."
"Kids just don't know better."
"Then you shouldn't know better either. Don't come."
"Why can't I bring her? Everyone in the group agrees."
"They didn't agree; they’re just to

The day my dad retired, he brought back a cardboard box. An enamel mug, a fountain pen, a contact book, a photo at the entrance of his unit. He placed the box on the balcony and never opened it again.
In the first year, he sat on the sofa every day watching TV, from morning till night. My mom said, "Go out for a walk." He asked, "Where to?" My mom said, "Anywhere is fine." He didn't move.
In the second year, he started growing flowers. The balcony was filled with them, all green, no blooms. I asked, "Why not grow flowering plants?" He said, "They're hard to take care of."
In the third ye

Every time I go home, my mom always fills my suitcase.
Cured meat. Sausages. Pickled vegetables. Apples. Her homemade chili sauce. Bottled mineral water, wrapped in three layers of plastic bags.
I say, You can buy these in the city.
She says, They’re not the same at home.
Last year during May Day. When I was leaving, she packed as usual. I pushed as usual.
Pushing and pushing. She stopped.
“Do you think it’s troublesome?”
I say, No.
“If you think it’s troublesome, I won’t pack anymore.”
She takes out the items one by one. Puts them back in the fridge. Moves slowly.
I stand at the door. The sui

Last week I went to my sister's house. Her son is five years old. From the moment we entered until dinner, he didn't say a word to me.
His eyes never left the iPad.
My sister said he calls him "uncle." He didn't even lift his head: "Uncle." His hands didn't stop.
During dinner. The iPad was propped in front of the bowl. He ate while watching and scrolling.
My sister took away the iPad. He started screaming. Not crying, but screaming.
Put it back. He calmed down.
I asked, when did it start?
She said, at three years old. At that time, she was starting her business, busy until midni

My grandma. Eighty-six. Every fall, she sends a box of apples.
The wooden box is nailed together by herself. The apples come from the tree in the yard. Not big, with wormholes. She wraps each one in newspaper. Stuffed full.
The shipping cost is more expensive than the apples.
I said, Grandma, don't send them anymore, you can buy everything in the city.
She said, The ones in the city aren't sweet.
Every year she sends them. Every year we can't finish eating them. Half go rotten.
Last year she fell. Her hand trembled. Still, she sent them.
The wooden box was crookedly nailed. There

My classmate. After graduation, he returned to the county town.
Took the civil service exam. Got married and had children.
All his Moments are full of pictures of his kids.
He didn't come to the reunion last year. In the group chat, he said he was doing okay, no need to worry.
I was passing by on a business trip. Asked him to have a meal.
He rode his electric bike over. Half of his hair was gone.
At a roadside barbecue stall. Two bottles of beer down. He said a sentence.
“You guys are talking about changing jobs, fundraising, buying a house. I can't join the conversation.”
“But

My mom learned to use Pinduoduo last month.
First order, nine yuan nine mop.
Second order, six yuan eight dishcloth.
Third order, a box of apples, fifteen yuan.
On the day it arrived, she was as happy as a child.
Last weekend I went home. The balcony was piled up.
Three mops. Twenty dishcloths.
Two boxes of apples, half of which were rotten.
I helped her clean up.
I turned over a delivery slip.
Recipient: Son.
The address was my rental from three years ago.
She didn’t ask me for the new address. She didn’t send it out either.
Just left it on the balcony, stacked with

I work at a bakery. Every day, I taste test the leftover scraps, totaling at least ten loaves of bread.
My coworkers all gained weight. I didn't.
It's not my physique.
Last week, a girl came in. She stood at the counter for five minutes.
Whole wheat toast. Jam. Caramel latte.
I asked: Breakfast?
She nodded.
I said, eating like that, you'll gain three jin (about 3.3 pounds) in a month.
Her hand paused in mid-air.
"Toast is fine. Jam is sugar. Latte is also sugar. Sugar plus sugar, blood sugar goes straight on a roller coaster. Hungry by ten o'clock. When hungry, eat cookies. C

Having dinner with HR sisters. She has been in recruitment for ten years.
I asked, how quickly can you see through someone in an interview.
She put down her chopsticks.
"Thirty seconds."
"No need to ask. Just look at their hands."
How you wipe the table when you come in. Whether your phone is face up or face down. Who you pour water for first. What you say when the waiter serves the dishes.
These things, resumes don’t write. Interviewers don’t ask.
But in thirty seconds, all of it is missed.
She said she interviewed a student from a prestigious university last week. When they e

My best friend. Every summer, she argues with her boyfriend three times. The reason is always the same: the air conditioner temperature.
She’s afraid of heat—twenty degrees. He’s afraid of cold—twenty-six degrees.
They fight over the remote control. In the end, one sleeps on one side. She pulls the blanket over herself and lets the fan blow; he wears long sleeves and wraps himself in a blanket.
This year, they split up.
He moved in with me. On the first night, she set the air conditioner, lay down, then sat back up again.
“He’s never said why he’s afraid of the cold.”
She heard it

I sat at my cousin's house for ten minutes.
The TV was on. The iPad was lit up. Toys, water guns, and broken Lego on the floor.
Her son darted from one to another, each for no more than twenty seconds.
My cousin picked up and scolded, but the kids couldn't hear.
She said: I clean up eight hundred times a day, but he just can't sit still.
I didn't say anything.
Then went to a friend's house.
Half of a puzzle on the coffee table. A dinosaur encyclopedia open on the sofa, halfway through. A few colored pens on the floor.
Her son was lying there coloring. Forty minutes. Never looke