Chapter 1 — Mother's Boundaries

My mother-in-law took care of my brother-in-law's children for three years, devotedly and diligently, never complaining of fatigue. When it was my turn to give birth, before I could even open my mouth, my mother-in-law hugged my waist and sighed first: "Oh my god, I'm old, my body can't take it anymore." That afternoon, she packed her luggage and returned to her hometown. I didn't cry, I didn't make a scene, I didn't say a single word. During the month of confinement, my biological mother flew from thousands of miles away to take care of me. I smiled and said, "Mom, it's been hard for you." On the day of the monthly party, the hotel booked ten tables, all of them were relatives and friends from my mother's family. My husband walked around looking for someone, confused and asked: "Where is my mother, where is my sister? Why hasn't anyone come?" I picked up a chopstick of food and slowly said: "I didn't invite you." His face immediately changed.01The day I gave birth to my daughter, there was only Luc Minh Vien outside the delivery room. He lowered his head to look at his phone, the screen lit up and then turned off again. The nurse carried the baby out and said mother and child were safe. Luc Minh Vien raised his head to look, his smile stiffened slightly. "A daughter." The smile on the nurse's face faded a bit. "What about a daughter? Three pounds six, very healthy." Luc Minh Vien immediately said: "I didn't mean that." I was lying in the hospital bed, the anesthetic still not completely gone. Hearing this sentence, my heart felt like I was being poured with a bucket of cold water. Didn't mean that. But I'm so used to that idea. When I was five months old, Ma Phuong Lan's mother-in-law once rubbed my belly and said, "With a belly like this, it must be a boy." At the seventh month, she said again. "Our Luc family only lacks one grandson." At that time, I just smiled and did not respond. Luc Minh Vien also laughed. He said: “Mom, boys and girls are all the same.” Ma Phuong Lan glanced at him. "Your mouth says the same thing, you'll know when you're actually born." At that time, I thought she was just talking too much. I thought that family members would gradually get along. The second day after her child was born, Ma Phuong Lan went to the hospital. She did not come alone. Luc Giai Giai's sister-in-law also came, carrying a bag of fruit. As soon as she sat down, she started complaining of fatigue. "Sister-in-law, you gave birth so suddenly, my mother didn't sleep well last night." Ma Phuong Lan put the bag on the nightstand, not looking at the baby first, but looking at me first. Her eyes swept from my face to the blanket. "How's the recovery?" I said: "It's fine." She asked again: "Has the milk come back yet?" I said: “Not yet.” She frowned. "Young people these days are really weak. Just giving birth to a child is so hard." I said nothing. My mother Dieu Ngoc Cam was still on the fast train. She came from her hometown more than a thousand kilometers away, received a phone call and immediately packed her luggage that night. As for Ma Phuong Lan, who lives in the same city, took a taxi for twenty minutes to get to the hospital. But when she arrived, her face was full of unwillingness. Luc Minh Vien stood next to him and coughed softly. "Mom, Thanh Hoa just gave birth." Ma Phuong Lan then lowered her voice. "Mom, I didn't say anything." Luc Giai Giai sat on a chair peeling apples, peeling half of them, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Sister-in-law, you have to take good care of yourself, taking care of your child is very tiring." Having finished speaking, she raised her head and looked at me. "When I was born at home, Doa Doa was raised by my mother alone." She said this very well. natural. As if reminding me. It's like drawing a boundary. Of course I remember. The year Luc Giai Giai gave birth, Ma Phuong Lan moved directly into her house. From the time the baby is born, until he goes to kindergarten. Three full years. Take a bath, cook rice, make powdered milk at midnight, and take you to early education class in the morning. Ma Phuong Lan did not have a single complaint. She still said to everyone she met, "My daughter gave birth, if I don't help, who will help?" When she took care of Luc Giai Giai's baby, her waist didn't hurt, her legs didn't get tired, and she could still get up at three in the morning to make milk. When it was my turn, she sat for less than ten minutes before she started punching me

waist. “Oh my god, I'm old, my body is really not okay anymore.” I looked at her. She also looked at me. The hospital room was quiet for a few seconds. Luc Minh Vien lowered his head to play on the phone. Luc Giai Giai gave the peeled apple to Ma Phuong Lan. "Mom, don't try too hard, your health is the most important thing." Ma Phuong Lan took the apple and sighed. "Mom also wants to help, but this old waist really can't take it anymore." I opened my mouth and asked: "Mom, do you want to go home and rest?" She seemed to have been waiting for this sentence for a long time. "Thanh Hoa, it's not like I won't help you." "Look at my body, it really can't." "Besides, isn't your mother coming soon?" "Your biological mother takes care of you, it's definitely more convenient than your mother-in-law." She said very fluently. Fluent as if memorized. I don't argue. I just nodded. "Yes." Ma Phuong Lan was stunned for a moment. Maybe she thought I would keep it. Or at least will feel sorry for yourself. But I don't have it. At this time, Luc Minh Vien raised his head. "Thanh Hoa, my mother's health is really not very good, don't think too much." I looked at him. "What do you think so much about?" Luc Minh Vien was choked up by my question. Luc Giai Giai smiled conciliatoryly. "Sister-in-law, I'm afraid you're not comfortable inside." I said: "No." There really isn't. At that moment, my heart was very calm. So calm that there's not even anger. A lot of things didn't happen today. It's just that today, I finally see clearly. At three o'clock in the afternoon, Ma Phuong Lan's bag was zipped up again. She stood next to the hospital bed and gave a few more instructions. "The child is still small, don't hold him forever." "If your milk is not enough, give him more powdered milk." "During the month of confinement, don't do anything." "All women go through it like that." I listened to every sentence and every word. She said: "So I returned to my hometown a few days ago." I said: “Yes.” She looked at Luc Minh Vien again. "Minh Vien, take me to the station." Luc Minh Vien hesitated for a moment. "In Thanh Hoa..." Ma Phuong Lan's face darkened. "There is a nurse at the hospital, her mother is coming soon, what can an old woman like you do staying here?" Luc Minh Vien looked at me. As if waiting for me to express my attitude. I closed my eyes. "Go away." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll come back after I drop my mother off." I didn't answer. After the door closed, there were only me and my child left in the hospital room. A tiny lump lying in a newborn's crib, fingers curled up. She didn't know that as soon as she arrived at this house, someone placed her on the weighing table. I reached out and touched her face. "An An." The first time I called her name at home. "From now on, I love you." The phone vibrated. It was a message Luc Minh Vien sent. "Mom is old, please sympathize." I stared at that text for a long time. Then place the phone face down on the head of the bed. No reply. At dusk, my mother pushed open the hospital room door and walked in. Her hair was messy, her eyes were red, and in her hand she still held the bus ticket that she hadn't thrown away. As soon as she entered the door, she looked at me first. "Are you in pain?" Just this one sentence. My eye sockets almost turned red. I held back. "Mom, I'm okay." She looked at the baby again. "Oh my, your granddaughter is so good." She washed her hands, bent down to look for a long time, smiling until the corners of her eyes were full of wrinkles. "Just like when I was a child." I said: "Mom, it's been hard for you." She raised her head to look at me. "What nonsense." "If you give birth, if I don't come, then who will?" I bowed my head, my fingers tightening the corner of the blanket. The phone vibrated again. Luc Minh Vien sent another message. "Your mother got in the car, she said she would come to visit you in a month." I looked at that sentence and suddenly burst out laughing. Full month. It turned out that she also knew that there were times when she should appear. I did not answer Luc Minh Vien. Just take a screenshot of that message and save it to an album.02In the first week of confinement, my mother only slept four or five hours a day. At night An An cried, she was the first person to wake up. My incision was painful and I had difficulty turning over. She supported me, little by little helping me sit up. In the kitchen any time?

Hot soup is also available. Millet porridge, crucian carp soup, green vegetable noodles. She cooks without fuss, but every bite is hot. Luc Minh Vien is also at home. But his busyness is like choosing the right moment when his child cries. As soon as An An cried, he frowned. "Why are you crying again?" My mother picked me up and comforted me. "Children are small, crying is normal." Luc Minh Vien looked at the phone. "Tomorrow I still have to go to work, can you let her stop crying so loudly at night?" I sat on the bed, looking up at him. "Go to the living room to sleep." He was stunned. "I don't mean that." I said: "So what do you mean?" He was speechless again. During this time, the sentence he said the most was this sentence. Didn't mean that. But every action he makes has meaning. When he comes home from work, the first thing he does is not to look at his child, but to ask if the meal is finished. As soon as my mother put An An down, he said. "Mom, can I have a little less ginger tonight? I'm not used to eating it." My mother smiled. "Okay." I looked at him. "You can cook it yourself." Luc Minh Vien's face stiffened. "Aren't you afraid your mother will be tired?" I said: "If you're afraid she'll be tired, don't order." My mother's hand holding the bowl stopped. Luc Minh Vien looked at me, with a bit of dissatisfaction in his eyes. "Thanh Hoa, you're in confinement, why are you so harsh?" I bowed my head to drink soup. "You're always like that." "I didn't say it before, it was to give you face." The dining table quieted down. Luc Minh Vien's chopsticks stopped in midair. My mother bowed her head and stirred the rice, not interrupting. She knew I wasn't just speaking in anger. There are some debts, I just haven't started calculating them yet. On the tenth day of confinement, Ma Phuong Lan called by video. She sat in the yard of her house in the countryside, behind her, drying a blanket. Her first question was not about my health, nor about my child. She asked: "Why has the baby become thinner?" I hugged An An without saying anything. Luc Minh Vien quickly picked up the phone. "Mom, children are all like that." Ma Phuong Lan was not happy. "When my mother took care of Doa Doa at Giai Giai's house, a month ago she was already white and plump." "Does Thanh Hoa's mother know how to take care of children?" My mother was chopping vegetables in the kitchen. The sound of the knife falling on the cutting board stopped a bit. I reached out. "Give me the phone." Luc Minh Vien lowered his voice. "Don't argue with your mother." I looked at him. "Give it to me." He hesitated for two seconds, then gave me the phone. In the video, Ma Phuong Lan was still talking. "It's not me who said it, your mother's family is really too careless." I looked at her. "Mom, if you don't feel secure, you can go back and take care of me." Ma Phuong Lan's face changed color. "Didn't you say your body is not okay?" I nodded. "Then stop giving me instructions." She was stunned. Luc Minh Vien also froze. Ma Phuong Lan's voice was high-pitched. "Thanh Hoa, what are you talking to me like?" I said: "Talking normally." "Mom lives in the countryside, hasn't held the child once, hasn't woken up once at night, hasn't cooked a meal." "Mom may not help." "But don't sit in the yard and blame your mother." The other end of the video was quiet. Luc Giai Giai's voice intervened from the side. "Sister-in-law, what you say is so harsh." "My mother only cares about the baby." I said: "If you care, you can contribute money." "An An's diaper powder milk this month, I will send everyone an invoice later." Luc Giai Giai immediately fell silent. Ma Phuong Lan's face turned pale. "Are you still charging me?" I said: "Mom, if you don't want to count, don't bother." I cut the video. Luc Minh Vien looked at me, his face very unsightly. "Thanh Hoa, you are too much." I put the phone on the head of the bed. "Where is it too much?" "My mother works hard to take care of you, and you still talk to her like that." I looked at him.