My mom had a severe case of being "love-struck" when she was young. She worked two jobs just to put my dad through college. But when he finally graduated and got a cushy government job, he dumped her. The reasons were simple and, to him, completely justified: A factory girl vs. a government official—they were no longer in the same league. People say life is a long marathon. When two people are in love, if one is sprinting forward and the other is standing still, the one running fast will inevitably leave the other behind. In my dad's eyes, my mom was the one standing still. They belonged to different social classes now and no longer had any common ground. My mom wasn't willing to be dumped. In their small apartment, she screamed and cried, calling him a completely ungrateful bastard, and refused to break up. "A breakup only takes one person to decide. If I want it, it's happening. You're just being broken up with." "But we're married! We're husband and wife! We aren't just dating!" My dad laughed out loud and held out an empty hand: "Husband and wife? Where's the marriage certificate?" 1 My mom was stunned. They had a wedding reception back in their rural hometown, but they never actually filed for a marriage certificate! She heard that many people in that area did the same thing. She didn't have much schooling, and even less legal knowledge. She never thought about using the law to protect herself. After crying in that apartment for a few days, she actually just let him walk away. All those years, the youth she sacrificed, the money she spent... were all wiped away by his single sentence: "I wronged you. I owe you the money for now, and I'll pay you back double in the future." My mom no longer had a man to support, lost her motivation to make money, and, heartbroken, left the coastal city to return to her hometown. A half month later, she discovered she was pregnant with me. She called my dad, but his phone number had been disconnected. I don't know what she was thinking, but she didn't get an abortion. She insisted on having me. Over the following years, she went from running a small street food cart selling spicy noodles to owning her first storefront, then a second... Through sheer hard work, life for the two of us got better and better. My mom stayed single. Relatives, friends, and neighbors constantly tried to set her up with men, but she rejected them all. She would say: "Men are all trash!" She would say: "Isn't it great being alone? I make my own money and spend it on myself. How desperate would I have to be to look for a man?" She would say: "Penny, you need to study hard. When you grow up, focus on your career! Men will betray you, but your career won't." I completely agreed. 2 My name is Penny White. "White" is my mom's last name. "Penny" is because she loved the sound of wind chimes, the crisp, jingling sound they make. When I was born, there happened to be a faded wind chime hanging in the hospital room, so she gave me this name. The name was quite casual, but my mom's approach to my education was anything but. Even when we were still running the street food cart and she was pinching pennies, she would always buy me books. I remember under the dim yellow streetlights, while she was busy serving customers, I would sit on a small stool nearby reading. Little bugs would constantly swarm the book. I was afraid of getting the book dirty and afraid to squash the bugs. During those summer nights, I would always read with one hand and wave the bugs away with the other. I remember customers or other vendors praising me for loving to read, saying I would definitely be an A-student. My mom loved hearing that and would always smile, "My girl loves reading." For her pride, and for my own vanity, I pushed myself to be excellent. Not just in school, but outside of it too. From elementary to high school: art, dance, advanced math... Student council, top of the class, class president, class president, class president... I became exactly the kind of person my mom and I wanted me to be. Until— The second semester of my junior year. The homeroom teacher suddenly stripped me of my class president title and replaced me with a student he preferred. 3 Her name was Chloe Sterling, a new transfer student. On her first day, she walked into the classroom with her head down, following right behind the homeroom teacher, Mr. Davis. The classroom erupted. The boys in the back went from secretly whistling to openly cheering: "Gorgeous! What a beauty!" Mr. Davis scolded us with a smile: "Don't scare the new student. Chloe is new to the school, so everyone needs to help her out." The boys erupted again, shouting over each other: "We got it!" "Don't worry, Mr. Davis!" "Leave the new girl to us!"... Mr. Davis nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly changed the subject: "Chloe comes from a big city. She's seen the world, and her grades are outstanding. From today on, she will be our class president." Instantly, the cheering stopped, and my classmates all turned to look at me. Mr. Davis paused, his gaze landing on me: "Penny will be the vice president. You'll assist Chloe and help her get familiar with everything." I felt a knot in my chest. A new student had just arrived. No one knew her, and no one knew her character. Why should she be the class president? My face must have shown my displeasure, and I didn't stand up to express my agreement. Mr. Davis frowned, looking directly at me: "Is it really that hard to acknowledge someone else's excellence? "You can always learn from others. Don't you understand that basic principle?" Every word felt like a deliberate strike against me. I held back my frustration and finally yielded to his authority: "Yes, Mr. Davis, don't worry. I will do a good job assisting her." The feeling... It was like swallowing a dead fly and then having to say it tasted good. 4 Chloe Sterling was quite the character. After class, she hesitantly walked over to my desk. "President..." I looked up at her. She was biting her lower lip, her fair, clean little face looking like she was about to cry. Truly... A classic "mean girl playing the victim." "President Chloe, what is this expression supposed to mean? I didn't bully you, did I?" I was incredibly annoyed. She was pulling this routine right in front of the whole class! "No." Her voice was as soft as a mosquito. "Vice President Penny, I didn't want to steal your position. I just got here and don't know anything, please don't be mad... "...Mr. Davis didn't tell me beforehand... Later, let's go find him together and ask him to give the position back to you..." She looked so sincere. I felt like I was hearing the funniest joke in the world. Mr. Davis had made the decision. I had just expressed my dissatisfaction during class, and now she wanted to go talk to him? Was she trying to make my impression on him drop to the nineteenth level of hell? I looked at her, scrutinizing her. This manipulative girl! Even though it was between classes, she had managed to make the classroom grow quieter and quieter. The whole class was looking our way, dead silent. Chloe suddenly started crying, her voice loud: "I didn't do it on purpose! Penny, I'll give the position back to you, just please don't be mad at me, boohoo..." I finally experienced the helplessness a normal girl feels when facing a manipulative victim. When she held me hostage with her "morality," trying to break free was simply too hard! Everyone around was waiting for my answer, and more eyes fell on me, expectant. I felt like I was being forced onto a battlefield. I slowly stood up, looking her dead in the eye: "Chloe, just do your job well as president. No one is trying to make things difficult for you." Chloe instantly broke into a smile through her tears, grabbing my hand and whining coquettishly: "I knew Penny was the best! I just got to this class, you'll definitely help me, right?" Me: ... I laughed out of sheer annoyance. Look at this little thing pushing her luck! "I'll help!" I dragged out the word. "Not only will I help, our whole class will help!" I looked at the crowd of onlookers and asked them directly: "Isn't that right, guys?" "Right!" The boys laughed and agreed, some girls didn't answer, others rolled their eyes... 5 Mr. Davis and Chloe must have been true love. In the first benchmark exam after the semester started, Chloe, the little princess who had "seen the world and had outstanding grades," didn't even make the top five in the class, let alone the grade. Her total score was 13 points lower than mine. Mr. Davis found a bunch of excuses for her: She wasn't used to the new environment; she hadn't adapted to the teaching methods here; the test questions were too simple, so kids with active minds were actually more prone to making careless mistakes... Mr. Davis comforted her: "Take your time, you'll be fine once you get used to it." Mr. Davis ordered me: "You need to take on more of the class duties. Don't just hold the vice president title and do nothing!" I laughed out loud on the spot. He said it as if Chloe had ever done any class duties. Mr. Davis glared at me fiercely, and I lowered my head, pretending to be invisible. Ever since Chloe joined our class, whenever Mr. Davis assigned tasks, his first sentence was always "President Chloe will take the lead," and then he would call my name or the names of other class officers, telling us to assist Chloe. Naturally, we "veterans" ended up doing all the actual work. Once the task was finished, Mr. Davis couldn't wait to praise Chloe: "Great leadership! The job was done beautifully!" Those of us doing the work inevitably started gossiping: "He's so biased he must be blind! Is she a relative or something?" "Even a relative wouldn't get this kind of treatment! Last Friday, I saw him personally escort Chloe out of the school, open the car door for her, and practically bow to the people inside!" "It must be a government official..." "I heard it's the new county commissioner. Chloe told the girls in her dorm." We all fell silent. In the adult world, we didn't necessarily agree with it, but we understood it. 6 As the midterms approached, the class voted for the Outstanding Student Leader. My name was at the top of the list, and the whole class voted for me almost unanimously. When it came to Chloe, I didn't raise my hand. Again, why should I? She was a class president who didn't have to do a damn thing, just let the homeroom teacher spoil her. I wasn't obligated to cater to her. Several other class officers who did a lot of work didn't raise their hands either. We just didn't like this girl who relied on her strong connections to get special treatment. We were the veterans in the class, so we naturally set an example. Plus, some of the girls already disliked her whiny attitude... As a result, only 23 people voted for her, not even half the class. Chloe's eyes instantly turned red, and she buried her face in her desk, sobbing loudly. Mr. Davis had a stern look on his face. It should have been time to vote for the next candidate, but he suppressed it and made the whole class vote again. Seventeen and eighteen-year-olds are at an age where their sense of justice is overflowing. The second vote: 25 people. Only two more people, still not half. The classroom was very quiet, making Chloe's sobbing seem particularly loud. "What is wrong with you all?!" Mr. Davis suddenly erupted, slamming his hand down on the podium with a loud bang. "Chloe is the president of our class. If you don't vote for her as Outstanding Leader, do you want other classes to laugh at us? "Chloe does so much for this class! Her grades are outstanding! Even if you aren't grateful, at a time like this, you should be fair and just!" I don't know how many people in the class were like me in that moment, lowering their heads in silence on the surface, but inwardly scoffing in contempt... But I knew Mr. Davis was glaring fiercely at me. His next few sentences were all thinly veiled attacks: "You're all old enough now. For something as small as an election, do you really have to look at others for cues? "Some people are overly jealous. They always feel like something was stolen from them, but they never reflect on themselves! "What's the use of just having good grades? Morals first, character first, kindness first! Have you studied for so many years just to forget all that?! "I'm giving you one last chance. Vote again!" As his voice faded, someone in the class whispered: "If you want to secure her spot, just change the vote count! Why bother voting?" It was a boy's voice. Although it was quiet, the rebellion and disdain in his tone were practically overflowing. When had Mr. Davis ever faced such defiance? He froze on the spot, his face turning bright red, then started slamming the desk frantically: "Who? Who is talking? Stand up right now!" The boy's words represented the thoughts of so many of us. No one in the class made a sound. After Mr. Davis threw his fit, he slammed the door and stormed out. The classmates looked at each other in dismay. A few of us class officers briefly discussed it, finished the remaining voting process, copied down the vote counts, and had the English representative deliver them. (The homeroom teacher was our English teacher). 7 This incident should have ended there. Half a month later, the bulletin for Outstanding Student Leaders was posted. Except for Chloe, who was named a State-level Outstanding Leader, everyone else received city, county, or school-level honors. Everyone instantly understood why Mr. Davis had been so furious that day. He wanted to secure her position. In this world, people don't fear poverty; they fear unfairness. When the school's honor roll was posted, the classroom was filled with a heavy gloom. Students from other classes also came over to ask about it. In our school and our grade, there were only two spots for State-level Outstanding Leader, and there was definitely more than one student leader more outstanding than Chloe Sterling! Where there's doubt, there are explanations. The school's official reasoning was: You can't just look at grades and class votes. You also have to consider other aspects. A student must be well-rounded in morals, intelligence, and physical fitness. They produced a huge list of awards Chloe had won and volunteer activities she had participated in, at both the state and city levels. Most were in the arts, and most were hosted by private organizations. Mr. Davis specifically called me into his office and expressed three points: First, the list of State-level Outstanding Leaders had been publicly posted on the state Department of Education website. For 7 days, no one raised any objections. Now it was set in stone. No matter how dissatisfied anyone was, they just had to suck it up! Second, this quota didn't mean much to me. He told me not to care about it. Any student who had won first place in the Math Olympiad, Physics Olympiad, Chemistry Olympiad, or Informatics Olympiad already had a huge advantage in independent college admissions. Even if they added State-level Outstanding Leader to their resume, it wouldn't mean much. I had won first place in the Chemistry Olympiad during the first semester of my junior year, so there was really no need to fight for this. A gentleman helps others achieve their goals, not ruin them. More friends mean more paths in life. Third, he hoped I would assist him in pacifying the emotions of the other students in the class. He promised that if there were other opportunities in the future, he would definitely recommend me. At 17, I was already past the age of speaking without thinking. My mind was full of curses directed at him: Trash! How does someone like this deserve to be a teacher?! If there was a war, he would definitely be a traitor! But my words were much softer: "I heard President Chloe's father is the county's second-in-command. Mr. Davis, are you trying to take a shortcut to a promotion?" "Nonsense! Who told you that?" He lowered his voice. "The person involved, of course. The whole class knows." Mr. Davis's face darkened, and he opened and closed his mouth several times without speaking. Seeing him speechless, I felt incredibly satisfied and just walked away from the responsibility: "I can't do the pacifying work. Stopping the people's mouths is harder than stopping a river. I don't have that kind of ability!" Mr. Davis exhaled heavily and waved me away. 8 Chloe started crying again. When she talked to other class officers or the boys, she constantly wore a timid expression, her eyes red as if someone had bullied her. I really couldn't understand it. With a family background like hers, so many people trying to suck up to her and serve her respectfully, it was a miracle she hadn't developed an arrogant and bossy personality. How did she end up acting like a manipulative victim? As for the State-level Outstanding Leader issue, although everyone discussed it heatedly for a few days, the people who truly cared about it and had the capability to fight for it... In the whole grade, you could count them on one hand. Everyone was smart. We knew there was no benefit in obsessing over it. The result was hard to change, so it was better to do a few more practice tests and try to score a few more points on the college entrance exams. A half-month later, no one in the class was discussing it anymore. Our midterm grades also came out. I was still first in the class, third in the grade. Meanwhile, Chloe fell from the top ten in the class to outside the top ten. The parent-teacher conference went ahead as scheduled. 9 My mom knew there was a transfer student in our class, and she knew the transfer student's father was the new county commissioner. I occasionally gossiped with her. She wasn't interested in this kind of stuff. Every time she listened to me, she just offered a few noncommittal "uh-huhs" before changing the subject: "Grades are still the most important thing! We'll just get into a good college directly. Isn't that much more impressive than them racking their brains trying to find loopholes?" Then she would change the subject again: "If you think the social atmosphere is bad, then go change it! "You don't have much power now and can't do much, but wait until you graduate college, take the civil service exam, become a good official, and find a way to fix these corrupt practices!" My mom had an obsession with the civil service exam. No matter how nice she made it sound, no matter how many times she shouted slogans like "the end goal of the universe is a government job," I knew she was hung up on someone. Or rather, she couldn't let go. Couldn't let go of that youth. That love. That all-consuming devotion, and the absolute, total betrayal... 10 The parent-teacher conference was on a Friday afternoon. My mom dressed up beautifully. She loved attending parent-teacher conferences. Her daughter had good grades and was the class president—the classic "other people's child." For all these years, she was the envy of other parents and was often asked to share her experience. However, When she came back that evening, she was in a terrible mood. She walked through the door and immediately slumped onto the sofa. "Mom, what's wrong? Did Mr. Davis give you a hard time?" "It's nothing, I'm just a little tired. Go do your homework... Let me sit here for a bit, I'll cook dinner for you later." She propped her elbow on the armrest of the sofa, rubbing her temples with her fingertips, looking utterly exhausted. I poured a glass of warm water and placed it in her hand. Her fingertips were ice cold. "Mom, what exactly happened?" "It's adult stuff, don't worry about it. Hurry up and do your homework!" My mom urged, her voice quite loud, carrying a hint of impatience. I got up and walked toward the study. Before entering, I turned back and took one last look at her— Her spine suddenly relaxed, her energy seemingly drained in an instant, looking like a spent arrow. "Mom, let's have dumplings for dinner! I want some." There were frozen dumplings in the fridge. My mom nodded.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "438320", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel