pte

mother refus

o her room, she struck him

, was enraged and immediately stopped giv

apped in bandages, hi

uld be trouble, but I didn't e

it weren't for her father's weal

e city women so delicate? You can't even hit or scold th

ve

ily is? If we succeed, we'll have

such an amount of money and

hand, reassuring he

now, but wasn't Rena

orn, didn't she

ps curling in disdain, but sh

e righ

woman is, she'll calm down

ging the fabric of m

around my neck rested on my c

y mother's tea

name was Lillian, a b

e, she often reci

der the frost, the cold water and mo

e us from tonight, dreams of depa

iked he

ed it, saying "Lillian" sounded like "bite" in Chi

om, and soon, I would hear the

door, under a thin blanket,

bout what M

people would be r

e was

days, the new st

ndma, she lay on the bed, he

e paused, tears wel

l like broken pearls, lar

pitiful a

once perfectly shaped wai

kened with des

give me some

d begging, "I surrender. As long as you give

y, I can't ta

d looked at Grandma. "See,

ndure hardship. It only took a f

face, Grandma's disdainful

ght she was as tou

e. She held out for almost a month, fainting fr

mother's fac

re you bringing up a dea

best for her. It saves

ma and me out of the room,

at and spoke with f

get to business and con

wo, ge

itation, grinning from ear

's satisfied sigh from the room, and

e wait a b

easts from the huma