Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I don’t have any prejudice against Stepmother Literature.
Forbidden love, after all, can be written well. It can portray intricate, winding emotions, profound ethical conflicts, and irreversible tragedies dictated by the times-take Thunderstorm, for example.
My relationship with my mother-in-law was fairly harmonious.
She and I always maintained a subtle sense of boundaries.
If I didn’t volunteer information, she never pried.
If I asked for help, she never refused.
She was always bare-faced, spending the year in oversized hoodies and sweatpants. She spent her days doing laundry and cooking, wholeheartedly devoted to her husband and son. She worked hard without complaint, so ordinary that people often forgot she was a woman with her own desires…
However, while it’s fine for others to read Stepmother Literature, it felt awkward when it was my mother-in-law.
After all, my mother-in-law, Shen Yumei, is only forty-three this year, and she really is my husband’s stepmother.