Ever since I was a little girl, my mother had taught me to be thrifty.​​
When the temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius, I wasn’t allowed to turn on the air conditioner. I wasn’t allowed to throw away my underwear until I had worn it for at least a year.
Even when applying for a university, I could only choose a public one that doesn’t require tuition fees.

I used to think it was because my father had passed away early, and it was hard for her to raise me all by herself.
However, when I was delivering takeouts under the scorching sun because I didn’t have enough money to live on, I actually saw with my own eyes that she was driving a Maserati to send the daughter of her first love to school.
At first, I thought that woman just looked like my mother.
But the next second, the girl getting out of the Maserati sweetly called out my mother’s name.
“Auntie Shirley, thank you for the Hermès you gave me. I like it very much.”
​Ever since when I was too young to remember anything, it had been my mother raising me on her own.​​

She always said that since I was spending her money, I owed her.
When it was my birthday, I envied other children who could have cakes.
She would just frown and glare at me, saying, “How can you be the same as others? We’re so poor, and I'm still supporting your studies. You should know better!”
During my adolescence, the physiology teacher said that girls should keep their private parts clean and that underwear should not be worn for more than three months without being replaced.

I did so and threw my old underwear away and asked my mother to buy me new ones.
But she slapped me and said I was being extravagant.
“Are you some kind of la-di-da gracious lady? These aren’t even torn or moldy. Just wash them clean, you can still wear them for a few more months!”
“I’m telling you, I won’t buy you new underwear until you’ve worn the current ones for more than a year!”
“Go pick them out of the trashcan and put them on again!”
Later, I had to go to the hospital because of hygienic problems with my private part.
After I came back, rumor was spreading all over the whole school that I was indiscreet about my private life, and I was bullied for a long time by those malicious rumors.
During the brutally hot summer, I was so hot that I had rash all over my body and even a mild case of heatstroke.
So, while she was at work, I secretly turned on the air conditioner.
When she came home and read the electricity meter, she shouted at me furiously, “Elena! Did you turn on the air conditioner when I was away? It’s such a waste of money!”
“I'm working so hard outside to earn money, and you’re just here at home all cool and enjoying yourself, right?”
I tried to explain that I turned it on because I had a bit of heatstroke and felt dizzy.
But she called me pretentious and said that I’m a princess but I’m as delicate and as difficult to please as one!
Later, I finally finished my SAT. I was thinking of applying for a university I liked so that I could escape from her control and nagging.
But while I was away from home, she secretly logged into my computer and sent my college application papers to an ordinary university that didn’t require tuition fees and was close to home.
I cried and felt resentful.
But as soon as I saw my mother wiping away her tears and saying that she had worked so hard to raise me alone and that being thrifty was just to make my future easier, I forgave her and was willing to live this “life of hardship.”
After that, I never asked her for money to cover my living expenses ever again.
During the day, I worked as a delivery guy.
At night, I worked as a tutor and handed out flyers.
Until one day, when I was riding my second-hand electric scooter, carrying a large box full of takeouts waiting at a traffic light.
I saw a cool Maserati parked at the school gate.
I looked into the car, and the silhouette of the woman in the driver’s seat was exactly the same as my mother’s.
At first, I thought I was seeing things because of the heat.
But the next second, the girl who got out of the passenger seat sweetly called out my mother’s name to the woman inside the car.
“Auntie Shirley, thank you for the Hermès you gave me. I like it very much.”
I stood there completely stunned. Looking at how intimate she and that girl was, I even forgot that the traffic light had turned green.
The honking of the horns behind me brought me back to reality.
Then I rode away on my scooter.