Part 2The Mother I Knew

I cried out, howling from Mom's pinching. The skin under my eyes was thin and tender, and the pinch sent a sharp, agonizing pain through me. I pounded the table, begging her repeatedly, "Mom, I'll change it! I'll change it! I'll change it right now!" Her expression softened slightly. But she still seemed unsatisfied.

Crying, I solved the math problem again according to Mom's logic. Only then did she stand up, preparing to leave. "You're not allowed to eat dinner tonight, understand? Don't think you're better than me just because you started middle school." She sneered. "I actually went to high school back in the day. In our time, high school was the highest education you could get!" She shook her head in disgust. "With your IQ, if you were born in that era, you wouldn't even graduate elementary school. But look at you, just started middle school and you think your wings are hard. Dare to use the teacher against me? Hmph, I'm telling you, your teachers probably aren't as smart as I am!"

Mom grew more and more agitated as she spoke. I hadn't actually disobeyed her again, or made any defiant gestures. But she was always like this: she'd work herself into a rage and then take it out on me. She suddenly lunged forward and punched me hard in the back. "Did you hear me?! Are you deaf?" I nodded repeatedly. "I heard you, Mom." Only then did she slam the door shut, satisfied, and leave.

Mom locked me in my room, forbidding me from drinking water or eating anything. When Dad came home, he asked why I wasn't out resting. Mom snapped, "His wings are hard! He's trying to trick me so he can go sneak out and cause trouble!" Dad didn't say much, made an excuse about running an errand, and left again. Before he left, he secretly slipped fifty dollars under my door. For me, that was a huge sum. I could buy a five-dollar skewer from the school gate, two notebooks with the rest, and even a newly released mechanical pencil. I was both surprised and delighted, tucking the money into my English textbook. Mom never looked at my English book. She despised English, saying we shouldn't learn it. She said English learners were all fake foreigners, wannabe Westerners, and the most useless things! But strangely, my best subject was always English.