6

In the evening, Zhao Songzhuang came home. His workplace isn't far; it only takes an hour by car.

But Zhao Songzhuang hardly comes home once or twice a month, spending all his time outside, who knows doing what.

Ironically, the thirty-thousand-dollar-plus Mercedes he drives was part of my dowry.

Originally, when we got married, my parents gave me over thirty thousand as a dowry, hoping I would hold onto it myself.

So if anything happened later, I could stand firm and not be bullied.

But Zhao Songzhuang sweet-talked me excessively. He was set on having a good car, and I couldn't resist his coaxing, so I used the money to buy a car, which is registered under his name.

My in-laws gave me no bridal gift money when we got married. Afterward, my mother-in-law flaunted to the neighbors everywhere, saying her son was capable to find a woman who even gave gifts!

Thinking back now, my parents must have been utterly disappointed in me from that time on.