Xu Xiangjuan had been fierce and domineering for most of her life. Just when she finally started enjoying a comfortable and peaceful life, she suddenly found herself back at the age of 24. Her future elite-status son and daughter were now just children—one running wildly around the courtyard, and the other still a crying baby in swaddling clothes.... more>>

As for her husband, who had passed away several years earlier, he was now in front of her, fumbling awkwardly as he tried to prepare a bowl of milk formula for their son.

In her younger years, Xu Xiangjuan had always been strong and sharp-tongued to outsiders, but she could never bring herself to be harsh with her soft-tempered husband. Now, at 24 again, though she regretted losing the good days she’d finally earned, she knew that ensuring her husband’s health was far more important than anything else.

No matter what, there was one thing she wouldn’t waver on: she would firmly hold onto control of the household finances.

Thinking about how, in the future, her son and daughter would have living allowances when they attended high school and college, while her husband not only wouldn’t have any pocket money but would also be required to hand over his entire salary, Xu Xiangjuan felt a pang of conscience. She took out two one-yuan bills from the handkerchief where she had hidden her money and handed them to her husband as pocket money.

Having been married for three or four years, this man, who never touched money except when he got his salary, looked at the two yuan in his hand, utterly baffled about what his wife meant by this gesture. <<less