"Tracy, you know well I come from a rural family. My parents spent most of their lives striving to pay for my university level education. They even managed to gather enough funds to buy a house, our ticket to a better life..." Rodney put down his chopsticks, breaking the silence at the dining table.

His patient tone, laced with a hint of annoyance, resonated. "You demanded a dowry of twenty thousand, which was tolerable. But insisting that the house be under your name, diffuses their hopes of having a home to retire in. Aren't you pushing them to their limits?" He paused, then continued with a stern voice when Tracy didn't respond, "You grew up in a single-parent family. My mother was never fond of you, and now your behavior might vindicate her thoughts that you're a gold-digger. That's like adding insult to injury!"

Tracy held her cup while Rodney's words, cold as the water in her cup, bucketed over her.

She looked up at Rodney, whose mouth opened and closed with each word, and suddenly, the boyfriend she had been with for nearly three years felt like a stranger.

Rodney was her schoolmate, two years her senior. He is currently acting as a supervisor in a foreign trade e-commerce company. They met a few years ago at an annual school celebration.

At that time, she had just completed her postgraduate studies and was interning at a company. After her father had tragically passed away, she was alone. Coincidentally, Rodney was wooing her at this time, coddling her, picking her up after work, delivering food when she worked overtime—his attentiveness was unrivaled.

Despite being raised in a single-parent household, she performed excellently in school and was independently strong since graduation. She never felt inferior and believed their relationship was equal and respectful, even proposing to split the restaurant bills.

Fast forward to this year, Rodney turned thirty while she approached twenty-seven.

Both families are eager to discuss their marriage. But what was discovered was that Rodney and his family saw her "single-parent family" background as her "defect," a card to play in haggling down the bride price. Rodney's family didn't even dignify a serious discussion about marriage, leaving Rodney to announce his intentions cavalierly.

It seemed they were convinced that, given her lack of close relatives, she could be taken advantage of.

Even Rodney must think he has her cornered; uncovering his true manipulative nature didn't seem to faze him.

The only one she could blame was herself for not recognizing people's true colors soon enough, wasting three years of her youth for naught.

"It's not about buying it for me, but putting both our names on it. And as I've said before, the dowry is just a formality. I'll use it for the house renovation later," Tracy spoke up, without having taken a bite yet, she tasted an inexplicable bitterness in her mouth.

But her tone was surprisingly calm, "Rodney, originally it was you who proposed that we each shoulder half of the down payment, each contributing 150,000. I transferred my share to you. But at the very last moment, you tell me that your parents can give 200,000, but the house will only be in your name and we have to issue an IOU to your parents. Do you think that's fair?"

Rodney frowned, still trying to reason," Even if the house is only in my name, it will be our home. After marriage, we will have to repay the mortgage, they won't seriously expect us to pay them back. They are retirees, and they have exhausted their savings to buy us a house. Is it not reasonable for us to issue an IOU for their own assurance?”

Tracy almost laughed at his ludicrous logic.

Initially, Rodney planned the future with her, promising that by scrimping and saving together they could establish a home. Since then, she hadn't received any gift from Rodney, and she didn't buy any new clothes. Even having a cup of milk tea was considered luxury.

She never complained, but all this while she had been looking forward to the "home" he kept mentioning, which turned out to be nothing but a pie in the sky.

Thinking about this, Tracy finally spoke up, "They need assurance, don't I? Isn't part of my down payment money my father worked hard his entire life to leave me? According to your terms, your parents can take back the house at any time due to overdue debt, and now I have to work diligently to pay back the mortgage for your parents?"

Her father passed away a few years ago but he lived frugally and always mentioned buying a house so they wouldn't have to rely on others. Therefore, he saved little over 100,000. She added her money saved from a few years of working to the sum, making it 150,000. Last month, when Rodney said he found a house, she transferred the money to him, not expecting his family to change their mind last minute.

Tracy couldn't help but sneer, "Are you looking down on the teaching level of our alma mater, or are you insulting my mentor's judgment?"

Rodney was taken aback by her words, seemingly stunned. He looked at Tracy as though he was examining a stranger.

After a while, he spoke again, "Tracy...I know your job isn't easy. But you can't think about divorce even before we're married. A job as an assistant engineer is not suitable for women, and the pay is low. If you don't want to pay the mortgage, then after marriage, just focus on taking care of our family and children. I will work hard to support the family and make sure all you need to do is stay pretty, okay?"

As he spoke, he tried to take Tracy's hand, but she avoided it.

This made him feel a bit awkward, and he looked at Tracy with a reproaching gaze, "Tracy, doing this makes me question whether you really love me, whether you truly want to marry me."

Tracy smiled insincerely, "Taking care of the family, and just staying pretty? Rodney, I am not naive. Being an assistant engineer will not be the end of my career, and I definitely won't be a full-time, unpaid nanny. Since we have mutual doubts, and your mother looks down at me, let's just call off the wedding and break up."

She transferred the money for the meal to Rodney, then picked up her bag and stood up, "Consider this meal my treat for our breakup. Please return the 150,000 I contributed for the down payment."

Rodney only reacted when she reached the door. He abruptly stood up, and asked loudly, "What do you mean, Tracy! I've never despised your family background and have taken care of you for three years. I have sacrificed a lot for you, right? We're about to get married, we've signed the purchase agreement for the house and paid the deposit. Now, you want to break up with me over a name on the property certificate?"

Upon hearing his words, Tracy felt as if a knife had ruthlessly pierced her heart once again. Even though she didn’t perceive being part of a single-parent family as a stain on her life, it was nonetheless a reminder of the pain inflicted by her broken family. What hurt more was that the one using this scar to belittle her was the person she had once intended to spend her life with.

Suddenly, Tracy felt overwhelmingly tired and couldn't bother responding to Rodney behind her anymore. So she pushed open the restaurant door.

Rodney didn't follow. He just coldly said, "Do you think with your status, you could find another boyfriend after leaving me?"

She hailed a taxi and left.

By the time she got back to her apartment complex, it was past nine.

After her parents' divorce, the house was owned by her mother. They had been living in her cousin's place ever since. Despite her father's continues efforts in earning money to purchase another house for them, unfortunately, that day never came. The silver lining was that they grew familiar with most of the neighbors over the years who looked out for each other.

Upon reaching her community's small garden, she happened to run into her neighbor, Valerie, who had just finished her square dancing.

Valerie lived alone above her apartment and had always been caring towards her and her father. When she was younger, Valerie would pick her up from school. Sometimes she would also bring home some groceries for them while she was out shopping. Over time, the constant mutual lookout had created a bond beyond blood.

Seeing her distressed, Valerie hastily ushered her to sit down on the stone bench and asked, "What happened, Tracy? Weren't you supposed to discuss marriage with your boyfriend? Did his family treat you poorly?"

Tracy hadn't felt anything until now, but her eyes reddened at Valerie's question.

She didn't know how to relay Rodney's disrespectful words about her family to Valerie, so she just shook her head and said, "It didn't go well. His family offered to pay two hundred thousand as down payment, but in return wanted me and Rodney to issue a promissory note. I didn't agree, so we broke up when we couldn’t reach an agreement."

Upon hearing this, Valerie quickly responded indignant, "Oh dear, of course you couldn’t agree! Rodney, I told you long time ago he is no good for you, but you wouldn't listen. See, now he wants to take advantage of you!"

Forcing out a smile, Tracy said, "I was clearly mistaken about him."

Seeing her on the verge of tears, Valerie promptly consoled her, "Alright, alright. It's not too late to see his true colors. Cut your losses now and no more dealing with him in the future. Our Tracy is educated and good-looking. Why wouldn’t she find another guy? As for Rodney, we kick him to the curb. In fact, let me find a better man for you!"

Valerie comforted her for quite a while before they both went home.

Tracy had originally thought that Valerie was just saying she would introduce her to someone as a consolation. However, when she got out of the shower and was preparing to rest, her WeChat alert suddenly rang. She opened WeChat and was surprised to find that the message was from Valerie.

She sent a phone number and then said, "Tracy, I have a grandson who just returned from studying abroad. He's around your age, and I can absolutely vouch for his character! Would you like to add him on WeChat and meet up someday?"

Valerie sent a few more voice messages, briefly elaborating on how her grandson plans to stay in City C for a long-term development, praising his virtue and how well-matched they would be.

Tracy was somewhat amused and exasperated.

She didn't expect Valerie to be so forthright and decisive.

However, the current situation was a mess. She still hadn't gotten back her 150,000 from Rodney, and she hardly dealt with her last relationship, let alone start a new one. She was about to tactfully reject Valerie's kind suggestion, when Rodney's words, "Do you really think you could find another boyfriend if you leave me?" suddenly came to mind.

Before she knew it, her finger had tapped on the contact's card.

The profile picture was of a forest road, and the name was simply "J".

She didn't know what compelled her to send a friend request.

But immediately after, she regretted it —

Reacting impulsively towards a jerk like Rodney, wasn't she just wasting everyone's time?