My classmate who was someone's mistress

My classmate who became a mistress

Rong Rong was my classmate in junior high school. I had known for a long time that she was being kept by someone as a mistress, so I wasn't very close with her. However, since we were from the same village and lived in the same city, we still occasionally interacted. If it hadn't been for the year when I was so destitute that I had to borrow money from her, perhaps we would still be in touch today. But that time, she really broke my heart.

That time, I had spent all my money and couldn't find a job. With an empty stomach and a terrible mood, I went to Rong Rong's place and mustered the courage to ask her for help. Rong Rong didn't refuse, and I took the hundred yuan she gave me with gratitude. Not knowing what to say, Rong Rong suggested we go buy groceries together. Her place was much better than mine, with a market right downstairs. At the meat stall, Rong Rong bought twenty yuan worth of pork. When it came time to pay, I thought she would do it, but she indicated that I should. So, I handed over the hundred yuan I had just borrowed.

Not long after, I finally found a job that paid three hundred yuan a month. As soon as I received my salary, I rushed to return the money to Rong Rong. I gave her the hundred yuan, expecting her to politely decline, but she accepted it without hesitation. After that, I rarely contacted her again.

Time flew by, and before I knew it, more than ten years had passed. I had married, had children, and through my own efforts, owned a car and a house. When I returned to my hometown recently, I met one of Rong Rong's neighbors, and we talked about her. She told me about Rong Rong's past.

When Rong Rong's father passed away, her youngest brother, the one they struggled to have despite family planning policies, was only one year old. Her oldest sister was twelve, and there were two other sisters, aged ten and seven. The slim Rong Rong became the pillar of the family. Her father died suddenly in April, and by May, during the wheat harvest, Rong Rong and her mother managed to cut all the wheat in their field. By the time they loaded the cart, it was already late at night. Other families had finished and gone home, leaving the two of them struggling to pull the heavy cart out of the field. In despair, the mother and daughter cried together in the wheat field. Seeing their hardship, the neighbors helped arrange a marriage prospect for the beautiful Rong Rong, helping the family get through the exhausting wheat harvest season.

Having a partner meant less worry about physical labor, but as summer was coming to an end, all three of her sisters needed money for school. The man could help with some work, but he didn't have the means to support all her sisters' education. Out of necessity, Rong Rong decided to work. Back then, finding a job wasn't easy. Soon, Rong Rong fell into bad company. After working in a dance hall for a year, she met a man in his thirties or forties whose child was already in elementary school. He was short, less than 160 cm tall, and when riding his motorcycle, his legs barely touched the ground. But he had some money, not a lot, but enough to be reliable and not too slick. Rong Rong decided to be with him, leaving the dance hall behind. Through him, her siblings' tuition and the family's living expenses were secured, and she no longer had to resort to immoral means. It seemed like a reasonable choice at the time.

Rong Rong's older sister, only two years younger than her, had also graduated and quickly started working. Under Rong Rong's care, her sister's path was smooth. She soon met a government employee in this city, steady income and a good person. They got married after a year of dating, leading a happy life. However, once married, Rong Rong's sister stopped contributing financially to the family. Despite Rong Rong continuing to shoulder the burden, her mother urged her sister to contribute. Unfortunately, it was useless; she claimed to have no money. Even when her sister needed money to buy a house, Rong Rong gave her the money without complaint.

Once, when Rong Rong returned home, her grandmother, who was relatively well-off and ran a small business, asked her to repay a debt of five hundred yuan that her father had owed. Now that her son was gone, the grandmother demanded the "father's debt, daughter repays" tradition, shocking Rong Rong to the point of almost fainting.

After hearing the neighbor's story, I changed my view of Rong Rong. Although several of us from our hometown felt her stinginess, I now understand that she is only stingy with outsiders. With her family, she is absolutely selfless and accommodating.

Back in the city, I drove with my daughter to visit Rong Rong, whom I hadn't seen for over ten years. Surprisingly, in this ever-changing city, Rong Rong was still renting the same apartment. What used to seem spacious and beautiful to me now appeared shabby and cramped. Rong Rong was still with the short man, having given birth to a boy who is now seven years old. Yet, she hasn't become the official wife; the man's original wife is still in place, aging but still holding the position. Rong Rong remains a third party, without status, considered morally corrupt by others. But I no longer look down on her. I know she doesn't truly like that man. I know she wants to find a handsome man she loves and live happily, but for some people with less fortunate backgrounds, walking the path of one's own choosing is incredibly difficult.

In the eyes of others, I am much better off than Rong Rong in many aspects. But is doing business really my wish? No. Since childhood, I've loved painting. But if I made a living through painting instead of making money through business, my father would have to endure pain and humiliation, pulling a cart on muddy rural roads, and my mother would forever struggle in poverty. My siblings would never see a way out. So, even though I don't want to, I have to do it.

Maslow said: human survival is divided into five levels. The first level is survival, the second is safety, the third is social interaction, the fourth is respect, and the fifth is self-actualization. From the first level to the fifth, the gap is enormous. In the current stage of social development, for us, living according to our own wishes is unrealistic.