Jiang Nan's ears buzzed from her mother's sharp voice, momentarily dizzy and with a ringing in her ears.
Back when the two of them arrived in Yangcheng and had rented a place, they were penniless that very month, unable even to lift the lid of their pot, yet they stubbornly waited until payday at the construction site.
Every month, the man earned money at the construction site and, apart from setting aside twenty yuan for living expenses, he sent the rest back to pay off debts and cover the children's living costs.
In the city, everything required money, even buying a single spring onion. Nowadays, Jiang Nan reluctantly split a single yuan to make it last.
Listening to her mother's endless chatter on the phone, always about money, Jiang Nan suddenly felt tired and disappointed.
"Mom, when Ze was working at the machinery factory, I gave you twenty yuan a month, and occasionally sent you things. Don't tell me you've spent it all! Not a single yuan saved."
