When the results came out, I didn’t get into
Harvard or Yale.
But I did get into NYU in New York.
This was the best result in our school’s history.
Yet, I knew my mom wouldn’t be satisfied.
To my surprise, she didn’t hit me.
That summer, I spent every day sleeping.
I wanted to catch up on all the sleep I’d missed
since elementary school.
One day, my mom woke me up from a nap.
She was holding my acceptance letter, tears in
her eyes.
“Honey, did you know? When I was young, I
lived in New York for half a year. It’s the most
bustling city I’ve ever seen…”
Seeing her longing expression, my heart sank.
I had a premonition that even if I went to
college, I wouldn’t be free of her.
Sure enough, she wiped her tears and told me,
“Honey, I’ve decided to sell this house and go
to Shanghai with you for college! ”
I opened my mouth.
My throat was dry.
I realized that over the years, besides “yes” and
“okay, “I hadn’t really said anything else to my
mom.
I tried to speak
“Mom, how will you live there?”
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Apart from pushing me to study, it seemed she couldn’t do anything else
“Doesn’t your school have a cafeteria? I’ll work there!”
She said it, not allowing any objections.
She immediately called an agent
Our house back home was only 60 square
meters and in a nearly 30–year–old
neighborhood.
After countless negotiations, we barely sold it
for 25,000 dollars.
My mom was satisfied.
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She told me, “Look at how I’ve sacrificed
having a home to accompany you to school. So,
when you’re in college, you must strive for
progress. Getting first in your class is a must, and you have to join the student union. No dating. Campus romances never work out. You must focus all your energy on studying and get into Yale for graduate school! ”
At that moment, I knew I would never escape her.
I had parasitized her for ten months to come into this world.
Thus, she would parasitize me for ten or twenty years, or even a lifetime.
That summer, there were no tutoring classes or
homework.
I felt more oppressed than ever.
But I didn’t expect things to get worse.
My mom went to NYU with me.
After registration, I was assigned to a four-
person dorm.
My mom threw her luggage on my bed.
Then she went to the cafeteria.
There, she discovered things weren’t as we had
imagined.
Cafeteria jobs were reserved for work–study
students, and they wouldn’t hire outsiders.
My mom panicked.
It got dark, and we were at a loss.
My mom was too frugal to pay for a hotel, so
she squeezed into my bed in the dorm that
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3:41
With our house sold, my mom refused to return
to our hometown.
She said everyone in the small town knew she
had moved to New York.
Going back now would be a laughingstock.
So, I searched online for rental houses near the
school.
But the high rents were daunting.
After a restless night, I woke up the next day.
My mom excitedly told me, “Honey, why waste
money renting a place? I’ll just stay in your
dorm. We can share a bed. ”
I was stunned.
“Mom, this dorm isn’t just mine. I have three
roommates. ”
But my mom, with a cheeky smile, asked my
Foommates, “You’ll let me stay, right? Isn’t it
nice to have someone taking care of you?”
My three roommates were kind and too polite
to refuse.
They nodded and agreed.
They thought my mom would only stay a few
days before giving up.
Little did they know, once she moved in, she
had no plans to leave.
8
When the school term officially started, my academic load was heavy.
In addition, to meet my mom’s demand that I
join the student union at school, I got involved
with the student council
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The combination of my studies and committee
work left me exhausted.
To make matters worse, I had to share a bed
with my mom at night.
I was severely sleep–deprived.
Seeing my struggle, my mom made a tough
decision and spent 10 dollars on a second–hand
folding bed.
She set up the bed in my dorm room.
Our already small dorm became even more
cramped.
This led to my roommates frequently bumping
into my mom’s bed when they got up at night.
Gradually, my roommates started to complain.
- ))
<
and I kept apologizing, they held back their
grievances.
My mom settled in comfortably.
Besides cleaning our dorm, she had nothing
else to do.
With plenty of time on her hands, she began to consider starting a business.
My mom noticed that the supermarket was
quite a distance from our dorm, making it inconvenient for students to buy things.
And the supermarket wouldn’t deliver.
So, my mom decided to buy goods wholesale
and sell them in our dorm.
She piled our luggage on the balcony and
emptied my closet to stock drinks, snacks,
sanitary products, and laundry powder.
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3:41
The business unexpectedly thrived.
However, this left us with no privacy in the dorm, as people constantly came and went.
My other three roommates spent more and more time at the library, avoiding the dorm.
Their glances towards me grew increasingly unfriendly.
I tried to persuade my mom several times.
84)
Instead of listening, she expanded her business.
Since my closet was too small for all the stock, she gave her phone number to the students.
They could call her for any needed items, and she’d deliver them for a small fee.
This turned our dorm into a madhouse.
<
Besides the steady flow of customers, we had
to endure my mom’s phone ringing constantly.
Two months later, the tension finally boiled
over.
The tipping point was a sudden dorm inspection
by the school.
Our dorm was found to be the dirtiest and most
cluttered in the entire school and was publicly
shamed with photos on the notice board.
