"Get on Her Boat" - Chapter 58: Let's Get Married

"Mom, Xiao Liang is doing very well in school and is a very reliable person, so don't worry. Eat more, the food will get cold if you leave it any longer."
Wan Zi picked up a steamed scallop for her mother, then put her hand under the table and intertwined her fingers with Liang Jingming's.
He looked at her, his expression inscrutable.
His fingertips were icy cold.
"Let me know when you get to your dorm."
Since his mother had arrived, Liang Jingming didn't want her to stay any longer. After seeing him out, Wan Zi sent him another message.
"I'm not going back to the dorm today, I'm going home."
"Oh well."
Turning off the phone is like turning off the last light in the dark night, but it can't cover up the slight ripples in my heart.
Wanzi went back to her bedroom, turned on her computer, and typed "Kowloon City public housing" into the search bar. The search page redirected instantly.
So this is where Liang Jingming lives.
The skeletal, brownish-gray buildings disappear into the sky with a desolate air. There is no greenery, no residential area, only parking garages—everything is designed to save space. Even the seemingly endless rows of mailboxes on the ground floor could easily trigger trypophobia or claustrophobia.
Rusty iron bars crisscrossed, densely cutting through the floor, creating hundreds and thousands of small windows. Behind each window was a family home.
A building can accommodate up to 6,000 people, but each person gets less than six square meters.
Wan Zi simply couldn't imagine how someone as tall as Liang Jingming could fit in there. Just looking at the pictures made her feel suffocated.
When she first came to Hong Kong, she also lived in places like this. Even more dilapidated and run-down, what Hong Kong people call "subdivided flats." "Subdivided flats" refers to a house that has been dismantled and rented out to different people after slaughtering a pig.
Reality is harsh and easily shatters illusions. If Hong Kong were a precious pig, she would have to pay four thousand dollars in rent every month just to be qualified to live in that pig's rotten belly.
She had a really tough time back then.
The room was so small that if you chopped a chicken in the kitchen, the blood would splatter onto the bed; when it rained, you'd bring the laundry back to the room, but the room would leak more than the rain itself; and every night you didn't dare drink too much soup, for fear of encountering a creepy male neighbor when you got up to use the public restroom...
Poverty is not something you can endure by gritting your teeth; it forces people to maintain only the most basic survival.
But what if you have money?
If you want to eat chicken, why cook it yourself? Restaurants offer all sorts of ways to prepare it. If your clothes get ruined by the rain, hire someone to wash and dry them, or even throw them away and buy new ones. If you encounter a creepy guy at night, you can move out, cancel your lease, and stay in a hotel... In short, there are plenty of solutions.
When Wan Zi realized this, she began a frantic pursuit of money. That's just how the world works—cruel and undeniably so.
The poor only have one path to take, while the rich have many choices.
"Kowloon City, public housing."
Her mother was so quiet; she had somehow appeared behind her, her gaze fixed on the screen: "Don't you know your boyfriend lives in a place like this?"
"Mom, you scared me to death!"
Just like when she was a kid and got caught playing games secretly, Wanzi immediately closed the page.
She paused for a moment, then said, "I didn't know before today."
Having just finished showering and drying her wet hair, Mom didn't even look up: "So now you know, are you regretting it?"
"...I was just curious."
Without anyone reminding her, Wan Zi could hear the hoarseness in her voice.
But her mother didn't say anything. Even when she lay on the same bed with Wanzi, the two of them lying side by side with their eyes open, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time, she still didn't say anything.
Based on her understanding of her mother since childhood, Wan Zi had many assumptions. Her mother would either roar and yell or speak earnestly, and no matter what methods she used, she would force her to break up with Liang Jingming.
Unexpectedly, Mom remained silent.
"Don't you have any opinions about your boyfriend Liang Jingming...?" Wan Zi couldn't help but ask as she turned over.
"What can I say? You're not looking for a partner for me." Mom even chuckled. "It's your own business, you decide for yourself."
Suddenly reminded of a past event, Wan Zi felt a pang of sadness.
She had always been an excellent student, except for math, which she failed in third grade. Her mother was very angry about this, and she hit and scolded her, tutored her, and hired a private tutor, but her math grades were still terrible.
Until fifth grade, she failed another test, her grades plummeting to an all-time low. Returning home with that glaring score, the young girl was so dejected she felt like giving up, but the test still needed her parents' signature.
However, that day, Mom was unusually calm, just like today.
After a long day at the food stall, Mom took off her black rubber gloves. She silently signed her name and met Wanzi's eyes.
"Mom...aren't you angry?" she asked cautiously.
"What can I say? You're not studying for me. You're bad at math, so you'll have to bear the consequences yourself." Making a shooing gesture, the mother looked away. "I'm tired, go away."
Those words, spoken in her face, hurt more than any slap. Wan Zi was twelve years old that year, and she burst into tears on the spot.
That was the first time she realized that if she didn't perform well, even her closest relatives would be disappointed, and she felt utterly despondent. She realized that there was no safe haven in life, that her parents might not be there, and that she had to make choices alone and bear the consequences alone.
From then on, she devoted herself to studying mathematics, which even became her strongest subject. Thirteen years later, she no longer needed her elders' approval to do anything, but she still cared about her mother's silence.
The fact that Mom was too tired to speak meant that she was truly utterly disappointed.
There's something I've been meaning to tell you.
To Wan Zi's surprise, her mother spoke again: "Do you know why I never divorced your father after he cheated on you?"
"...Is it because of me?"
"Yes and no," Mom said softly. "I did consider divorce at that time, but then I received some news that your father's hometown might be slated for demolition."
Wan Zi was stunned.
She vaguely remembered that not long after her father's extramarital affair, her mother did indeed move her household registration to her father's hometown.
She was just a young girl then, and she didn't take it to heart at all.
"I've waited all these years just to secure this spot," the mother continued. "This year, we finally received news that the demolition is really going to begin."
"Since your household registration is there, you're naturally entitled to a share. In about three years, you'll be compensated with a resettlement house, which is worth approximately five million on the market."
"But……"
Wan Zi sat up abruptly from her bed, stunned. She was financially comfortable now, but five million was still a considerable sum.
"Let me finish speaking," her mother said, stopping her.
"If you want to make the most money, you need to make good use of the three-year time difference."
“You can get married and transfer your husband’s household registration to your father’s hometown. He can also pay you five million.”
"You can still have children. According to the national policy, you can have two children now, and then register them there. Two children would be worth ten million."
"Do you understand? If you take each step carefully and make the right choices, you can get up to 20 million. Let me tell you, Wanzi, 20 million is not 2,000. Once you get the money, you can transfer to Hong Kong residency and buy a house in Hong Kong outright. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"
Wan Zi was completely dumbfounded when her vocal organs suddenly stopped working.
"So you want me to get married and have children within three years? Two?"
After a long while, she finally spoke in a hoarse voice.
“I didn’t ask you anything.” Mom laughed, but it sounded more like a sigh. “I told you, this is your own business, you have to handle it yourself.”
"But I have to remind you, your current boyfriend, Xiao Liang, is from Hong Kong and doesn't have a mainland household registration at all. If you actually end up with him, it's like you've naturally lost five million."
"Besides, he's only eighteen now. Let alone having children with you within three years, he'll only be twenty-one in three years, a junior in college. Would he be willing to marry you? And you'll be twenty-eight. Considering both money and age, can you afford to wait?"
"In other words, if you continue to date him and drag things out, time will pass quickly... and in the end, you will lose 15 million."
"Moreover, you may not be able to stay with him."
A pie fell from the sky, but when you broke it open, it tasted bitter. I really didn't want to eat it, but I was really hungry.
As if her adrenaline was being slowly drained away, Wan Zi's whole demeanor dimmed.
She never imagined that feelings could actually be measured. Liang Jingming and fifteen million were placed on opposite ends of a scale, and God was asking her directly, "Which one do you want?"
She couldn't make a choice.
The three-year countdown hourglass has already begun to run dry.
"Wanzi, your mother is already fifty-two years old this year."
My mother was still smiling, but her voice trembled: "You know, a few years ago I had breast cancer, and one of my breasts was removed. It's so empty now. Every day I feel like my body is not as good as the day before. I'm an old woman now, you know that?"
"To be honest, no matter how much money you end up with, it doesn't really matter to me, because I probably won't even see you spend it."
"Mom, please don't say that." Wan Zi burst into tears instantly.
More than ten years have passed, and she hasn't made any progress at all.
She became that little, frustrated girl again, her defenses crumbling with just a few words from her mother.
And she finally realized why she felt her mother had changed inexplicably every time they met.
That's because Mom is truly getting old; aging is the most silent form of decay. Her cheekbones are becoming more prominent, her lips thinner, her skin less moisturized, her hair grayer, and she might even develop a musty, old-fashioned smell mixed with face cream...
In the end, time will erase a mother's gender characteristics and extinguish her fighting spirit, so quickly that there's no time to say goodbye.
That's how a person's life goes by.
"Silly child, don't cry."
Her mother wiped away her tears, and in Wanzi's memory, her mother was rarely so gentle: "Listen to me carefully."
“I have raised you to this age, and there are three things I am very sorry about.”
"First, I had cancer, and it cost the family a lot of money. I know that in the first few years after you came to Hong Kong, your scholarship wasn't enough, and you had a very hard time... I'm so sorry..." Mom couldn't hold back anymore and started sobbing. "Second, breast cancer has a hereditary risk, and I'm really afraid that something will happen to you too, so you must have a check-up every year..."
“I’m fine, Mom…” Wan Zi couldn’t stop her tears.
"Thirdly, I know I used to be very harsh on you. But actually, you're very well-behaved, ambitious, and beautiful. You've always made me very proud, I just never said it." Mom covered her face. "Now that I think about it, why was I so strict with you when you were little... It was just that you weren't good at math, why did I hit you..."
All the pent-up grievances, resentment, and disappointment surged forth like a floodgate being opened, leaving Wan Zi almost breathless and trembling uncontrollably.
Did you ever hate your mother?
Of course, I hated her to death. Even when my father cheated on me, I sided with my mother, but deep down there was always a little evil voice saying, "What man could stand living with a shrew like that every day?" My father cheated, but my mother was probably not without her own problems too.
Did you ever love your mother?
Of course, love now and love when you hate.
“Aside from these three things, I believe I have a clear conscience toward you.”
Just like when Wanzi was a child, her mother held her tightly and said, "Now that the time is right, I can hand over the demolition work to you. I'm almost done, I can go and relax a bit."
"You know what? I feel like I haven't felt this free in ages." She shook her head and sighed. "I never imagined that I would be truly free when I turned fifty at the start of the new year."
"What I want to do most right now is go out and have fun."
“When I was your age, I used to listen to Hu Defu’s ‘Beautiful Island’ and I wanted to go to Taiwan. Cycling around the whole island of Taiwan was something we never dared to dream of in our time.”
Mom laughed: "Actually, it wasn't difficult later on, but there were always many other things that delayed it... With you, the food stall business, arguing with your dad... I never thought that with the delay, so many years would have passed."
“Now that you’re older, the food stall business is being managed by someone else. Your dad and I… well, we’re getting old, so we’ll just make do… Anyway, I can finally go to Taiwan now.”
"Then have fun, I'll pay for it."
Unable to suppress her tears, Wan Zi smiled through them, but her heart ached even more. For so many years, she had always watched her mother busy at the food stall, never once asking her where she wanted to relax.
I never imagined that my mother also had a teenage years.
“Silly child, just live your life well. If you can’t make it in Hong Kong, you can always come home.”
"Nonsense, I'm perfectly fine here," Wan Zi said in a light tone. "I'm going to the restroom."
As soon as she closed the bathroom door and turned on the tap, she slowly reviewed everything that had happened that night, and her vision became blurry again.
Despite suddenly having at least five million more, and having finally reconciled with her mother, Wanzi couldn't stop crying.
It felt like my whole body was brimming with emotions about to explode, needing to be released little by little. I felt both happy and wronged; the road ahead was both uncertain and open, and I didn't know which way to go.
I wish someone could hug her.
"Are you asleep?" Wan Zi sent a message to Liang Jingming.
To my surprise, he called, his voice concerned and clear: "What's wrong?"
Clearly, he wasn't asleep yet.
He probably couldn't sleep well today because of his meeting with his mother.
"It's nothing," Wan Zi said, barely able to hold back her tears. "I just wanted to talk to you."
To distract herself, she opened the drawer in the sink that Liang Jingming used. He was always very organized; there were neatly folded underwear and t-shirts, an unopened toothbrush, several boxes of condoms, and even a pregnancy test she had left over from last time, which she had forgotten about.
He carefully put them away.
"Are you alright? Are you crying?" Liang Jingming asked more gently. "Did you have a fight with your aunt?"
"No, no..."
Picking up the pregnancy test, Wanzi swallowed her sobs.
Not to mention Liang Jingming is too young, even she herself never thought that she would use this thing with him again, let alone marry him and have children.
If I insist on continuing with him, will it really have a good outcome?
Fifteen million is a lot of money.
"Liang Jingming..."
Words lingered on my lips, and my heart dangled in mid-air, unable to rise or fall.
"What's wrong?"
"Go to sleep early, I'm fine. I'll talk to you properly tomorrow."
Wan Zi hung up the phone decisively, feeling inexplicably flustered.
For a brief moment just now, what happened to her?
They actually wanted to test Liang Jingming and probe his thoughts. They might not have genuinely asked, but were simply hoping for his answer.
He must have cried too much and lost his mind.
That's why, in that inexplicable moment, she wanted to say to him—
Or, let's get married.

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"Get on Her Boat" - Chapter 58: Let's Get Married

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