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墨書 Inktalez
On the day I married A Mei, many people came to the village. Everyone said A Mei was lucky to marry such a handsome husband. I was wearing a brand new suit, and I must admit, I looked pretty good. Standing at over six feet tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, my fair skin often drew comments from the aunties back home, who would say, "What a pity he was born into the wrong family."
Life after marriage turned out to be better than I had imagined. I no longer had to live in the factory dormitory; I had my own room now. A Mei's parents treated me well and never made me feel like an outsider. I continued working at the furniture factory, sending all my salary back home while A Mei gave me two thousand yuan for pocket money each month. Compared to before, this life was indeed much better.
A year later, we welcomed a son. Days passed by like this, one after another. In the beginning of our marriage, I didn’t feel anything was amiss until that Mid-Autumn Festival after our son was born when I first experienced the awkwardness of being a son-in-law.
That day, A Mei's three sisters brought their husbands back for a family reunion. At the dinner table, my father-in-law handed out red envelopes to each son-in-law. When it was my turn, he hesitated for a moment and then directly put the envelope back into his pocket. "You eat my food and stay in my house; you don’t need it," he said casually.
My face instantly flushed with embarrassment, and I forced a smile, pretending not to care. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the other three sons-in-law stifling their laughter. In that moment, I felt an indescribable shame wash over me, but all I could do was swallow my pride.
When we returned to our room, A Mei noticed something was off with my expression and asked what was wrong. Before I could respond, she spoke up first: "Why be so stingy? You’re the 'son-in-law who came in through the back door' yet you’re sulking. No one says anything about you living here for free. My brothers all bought their own houses."
I only just realized how low my status was in this household. I was merely an outsider, dependent on their charity. From that day on, A Mei looked down on me more and more, frequently berating me for not making money and lacking ability. She started to withhold my salary, leaving me with just a hundred dollars for pocket money.
"Look at my cousin's husband; he runs his own company and just bought a BMW last month. And look at you—how much do you even earn in a month? Useless! You'll never amount to anything in this life," A Mei constantly scolded.
I felt stifled inside, but there was nowhere to vent my frustration. I thought about leaving, but the thought of my son made it hard to go. To be honest, I was also afraid of returning to that life of financial struggle.
To prove myself, I worked tirelessly and took on various chores around the house. Fixing pipes, changing light bulbs, moving heavy objects—whatever physical work needed to be done, I jumped at the chance. I hoped that by doing so, I could earn A Mei's family's respect.
But all these efforts were in vain. A Mei's attitude towards me grew increasingly worse; sometimes she would even insult me in front of my son. My father-in-law turned a blind eye to it all.
During my toughest days, a new colleague at the factory turned out to be from my hometown. Lai Shenglin was also Hunanese, a few years older than me, tall and robust with a cheerful personality. We quickly became the best of friends upon discovering our shared background.
Every day after work, we would eat together and chat. I shared my grievances about being a son-in-law with him, and after listening, he patted my shoulder and said, "Brother, as a man, you need to carve out your own path. You're still young and handsome; why should you put up with this?"
Encouraged by him, I began to contemplate starting my own business, hoping to finally achieve success and make a name for myself.
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