Chapter 1

The first time I met Qi Zheng was when I was seven years old.

With my little backpack on, I sat at the stairwell, watching my mother argue loudly with someone else.

Actually, at first, my mother was very polite.

But in those days, a divorced woman with a child was looked down upon. It meant she could be belittled and humiliated.

Clearly, the mover had that kind of attitude.

He took it for granted that we were easy to bully. When it was time to settle the bill, he suddenly raised the price, demanding thirty yuan more than what we had originally agreed upon.

My mother’s expression changed immediately, and she started arguing fiercely with the mover.

People upstairs poked their heads out of the windows to watch the commotion, but my mother ignored them and continued to reason with the man. Facing someone stronger than herself, a man who made his living by physical labor, she stood her ground and argued back without a hint of fear.

After more than ten minutes, the mover finally gave in.

He took the money and cursed bitterly, “No wonder your husband left you. Who could put up with a shrew like you!”

In response, my mother picked up the kitchen knife at her feet.

The mover ran off in embarrassment, and my mother became famous overnight as the most formidable woman in the neighborhood.

After the argument, my mother squatted down, angrily tidying up the things in the striped plastic sack. Even though she had won the quarrel, how could she not be upset after something like that?

I pulled a little handkerchief from my backpack, walked over, and calmly wiped the sweat from her forehead.

My mother cooperatively lifted her head. When I finished, she touched her forehead to my cheek and couldn’t stop praising me: “Our Yueer is so good, you even know to help Mom wipe her sweat!”

“Mom,” I touched her face and said seriously, “You’re so beautiful, you can’t get angry. If you get angry, you’ll get old.”

My mother was stunned for a moment, then hugged me tightly and kissed me several times.

“Yueer is right.” She was so delighted by my words that she instantly forgot her earlier annoyance. “Why bother with people like that? If I get old from being angry, it’s really not worth it!”

With that, my mother stood up.

She picked me up with one arm and lifted the striped plastic sack with the other, then held her head high and walked toward our new home on the second floor.

“Come on, let’s go home. Mom will make braised pork for Yueer!”

Clinging to my mother’s neck, I suddenly had a feeling. I looked up through the gap in the stairs.

A small, furry head quickly shrank back out of sight.