Shirley tucked the money into her bag and suddenly felt a sense of clarity in her heart. She had received her salary today, twenty-three yuan, a bit more than usual as a bonus. The money at hand was gradually increasing. At twenty-six years old, she thought about the years spent with the Xu Family; there was a time when she even considered giving up completely, thinking that nothing could be worse, and that many women in the village lived even harder lives—they all did the same work, what was the big deal?
But every time in the dead of night, looking at Lai Zi's despicable face, she thought again that she couldn't give up, she had to stay clear-headed, especially with children to think about. Dezi was already a lost cause, part of the Xu Family's lineage, but Daya and Xiao Ya are good kids; they are all good kids, and girls too. If she neglected to act, what would happen to those two kids' futures?
