Since I started earning my own living expenses after entering university, I didn’t go home very often.​​
Because in my free time, I was either studying or working part-time.
I couldn’t get that Maserati I saw during the day out of my mind. It became a stone on my chest.

But I still comforted myself that maybe that person wasn't my mother at all, and it was just a coincidence that they had the same name and looked alike.
So, I went home this weekend, hoping to confirm that my guess was right.
But the moment I pushed open the door, I was choked by a thick smell of dust in the room.
The floor and the tabletop looked like they hadn’t been wiped for a long time, and a thick layer of dust had settled on them.
It looked like no one had lived here for years.
I called my mother and asked her where she was.

She made an impatient noise and said in a bad mood, "What do you think I'm doing? I'm at work, of course!"
"Do you think I can just stay at home and be all cozy? All I can do is to save some money for you!"
"Are you driving a taxi?" I asked.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and then she hung up, saying that she was too busy.

That was the most reasonable possibility I could think of. After all, our family was so poor. How could she afford a Maserati? She must have borrowed or rented it.
...
​In the afternoon, I went back to school.​​
I went to the cafeteria with my roommate for lunch, and my shift at the cafeteria was about to start soon.
This was my part-time job on campus. After eating, I would serve food until 2 pm, then I would go to class.
So, my roommates would always come to eat when I was on duty. I could give them two extra meatballs/chickenpieces−implied.
But when I was serving a girl today, I noticed that she kept staring at me.
It was actually the girl who had been sitting in the passenger seat of my mother's car that day.
I looked up and asked her what she wanted to eat.
She let out a contemptuous laugh.
"I want some pork."
Although I was puzzled, I still scooped a spoonful for her.
But she directly picked up the fatty parts in it with her delicate and nails-done fingertips and said with a look of disgust, "It's so fatty! Did you do it on purpose!"
With God as my witness, I could swear that each slice had both fat and lean parts. There was no way I would have given her only the fatty part on purpose.
"If you don't like the fat, you can have the chicken nuggets, or some shrimps..."
"Is this the way to talk to me!" She raised her eyebrows and looked down at me haughtily.
"I've never eaten pork with fat before. Either you pick out all the fat for me and kneel down to apologize, or I'll have to file a complaint against you."
I was really annoyed by this young lady and instead asked the next college student in line what he wanted to eat.
When she saw that I was ignoring her, she directly dumped the food I had just served onto my head.
My hair and shoulders were covered with sauce and rice grains at once.
When people around me saw this mess, they all whispered and stood by to watch like there was a show going on.
My roommates rushed over to stand up for me.
"Amanda, are you crazy? If you don't want to eat, get lost. Stop being unreasonable!"
So, her name was Amanda. She was the rumored daughter of a billionaire.
Amanda didn't care what my roommates said to her. She went her own way, took out her card, and swiped several hundred dollars.
"Sorry, my hand slipped. Consider this as compensation for you."
"Should be enough for you to live a few months, right?"
After saying that, she left with a laugh.
"She was so arrogant just because she’s rich. What's so great about that." My roommate, Lily, helped me wipe my face and hair with a tissue.
But my eyes were only fixed on the Hermès bag under Amanda's arm.
In an instant, I remembered what she had said to my mother at the school gate.
Could it be that my mother really bought her such an expensive bag...