04/01/23 - She'd eaten nothing but millet porridge for two days.
A writer blogs, “Just had a man born in ’88 complain to me that he’s been married for 9 years, his child is 7 years old, and his marital state is basically like living with a roommate, calm and boring and pointless.”
“For him, as soon as his wife even mentions divorce, he’d agree right away. He’s said this to her too. Why? Because he has no desire for her, no sexual attraction. Having sex with his wife is not even as good as masturbation. And she’s very cold towards him. So what’s the point of this wife?”
“He’s never cheated, but now he’s really considering cheating. If he’s caught, worst case scenario, they get a divorce, right? He’s even already planned out how to split everything—she can decide whether she wants custody or not. She can keep the car. His house was paid for in full by his parents, so obviously he’s keeping it.”
“She’s got a stable job, good figure, good looks, and has a decent personality. But they never have any communication now outside of their kid.”
“It’s hard to say who’s at fault for this terrible marriage. Disappointment is built up in a string of hundreds of little incidents. It’s the same for her as well as him. He imagines that if she was asked to describe their marriage, she probably also thinks that she’s been wanting a divorce for a long time.”
“He even knows the reason—her husband never helps with the kid and doesn’t care about her. She’s doing everything by herself, and she hasn’t had any time to herself since her kid was born. She’s not reliant on him for everything and just wants him to never bother her. Whether he exists in her life or not is the same.”
“He feels like there’s no purpose in this kind of dead marriage, but he won’t bring up divorce either. Not like there’s a point in divorce. They’re just wasting each other’s time.”
Comments say, “Men should only marry sex dolls.”
Someone asks, “Can convenience stores start selling Lou Mei (braised meats, tofu and veggies)? I’m super jealous of people in Taiwan. They can buy super tasty food at the local convenience store.” A blogger responds, “Have you never eaten good food in your life? Is it possible that people in mainland China prefer to go eat barbecue, kebabs, hotpot, Mala Tang (Chinese oden, but spicy), clay pot roasts, and get a little beer? Why would anyone try to get proper food at a convenience store?”
The coal mine who was fighting for water with the forester in Ningxia has spoken and said that they have been in negotiations with the forester since the 29th of March, regarding how to split water. The forester demands that the coal mine supply him with the water he needs for living and desert reclamation, that he be allowed priority in taking construction contracts on the mine, and that the mine recompense him for using his land. The mine has not been able to reach an agreement with the forester, because his demands for water doesn’t comply with local water regulation laws, and both parties are still seeking a legal compromise.
Comments joke, “He wants priority on all the construction projects? Why doesn’t he just demand you hand the mine over?”
A video of a kindergarten boy crying because the teacher asked him to change seats. She asks why he doesn’t want to move, and he says because the little girl next to him is pretty. A blogger reposts this and writes, “He said out loud what most men think, lol. He’s a good kid, very honest. The little girl was giggling from the beginning because she knew exactly why too. My son’s going to kindergarten and he came home one day super sulky. His mom asked him what was wrong, and he mumbled, ‘Does the kindergarten teacher not like me?’ His mom asked why he would think that, and he said, ‘She keeps switching my seat, and the girl I’m next to is uglier and uglier.’”
A education blogger warns that, “Government jobs are no longer dependable. Contract workers are getting cut like crazy. From when the news first came out to now, in just a couple of days, a shitton has been happening. Someone said that they have 52 colleagues at work, 18 of which are contract. In just the last couple of days, six have been laid off. The other 12 are on the list to get laid off too. They’re only getting to stay a bit longer to help with the transition. Everyone knows this, and those 12 people know it too. Their attitude’s totally changed. They’ve got no motivation to keep working.”
“Everyone else is kind of in a panic too. There’s a lot of gossip and opinions flying around with this. The most pressing question is, after these unofficial workers leave, who’s gonna take over their jobs? The hardest part are the technical jobs, or the super tiring or repetitive unskilled jobs, and anything that requires facing customers. And night shifts, and jobs that take you on work trips for several months at a time. The tenured, official workers are all unwilling to do it, or unable to.”
“The main reason is that they just don’t have the experience or capability to handle it. Even if you put them on the position, nothing will get done. At this rate, all the bosses are losing hair. Work isn’t getting completed, no one wants to do anything, they’ve fired everyone who can be fired, leaving just a bunch of tenured workers laying around letting work pile up. What’s anyone supposed to do now?”
“This is the newest problem in government.”
Comments say, “Isn’t that great? All the people with tenure are the ones not working, and they make the most money too!”
A screenwriter posts an official court-ordered apology for his behaviour in using a cow emoticon to refer to Niu —Hong, who is an FAA supervisor, and apologises for any damage to his reputation from the claims of, “being a cancer in the FAA”, “harassing his bosses”, “wasting societal resources, never going to work but still taking his pay, causing public funds to be wasted, blurring the lines of personal and government property”, “this is where tax dollars are going”. He also apologises for using a picture of Niu —Hong talking on his phone on the subway, violating Niu —Hong’s privacy and image rights. He has been ordered by a court to post this apology, as well as pay Niu —Hong 50,000RMB in emotional damage, and legal fees of 1300RMB.
Comments say, “Thank you. I have learned more about Niu —Hong thanks to this apology.”
A man asks, “I bought a children’s geography book for my 5-year-old daughter, and she read a little blurb about America and saw a picture of the Statue of Liberty, and she said that she thought America was cool. I can only say that it’s probably because she thinks the name is cool or something. I told her that she shouldn’t like America—America is bad to us. She should like China. Did I do the right thing?”
Comments reply, “No, you should have told her why she shouldn’t like America.”
Under a tiktok video of someone showing off the chicken bones that their roommate had brought to them from her hometown, there is a massive thread of people being sad that their roommates didn’t like the food that they brought. “I especially looked for mochi that keeps well in Fujian, went through several transfers all the way to Sichuan, and they took a bite and said they didn’t like it and threw it away. T_T”
“My roommates thought the sausages and rabbit heads I bought from Sichuan were too spicy to eat.”
“I brought homemade pickled turnips from my mom and they were all disgusted by the smell. I was afraid my mom would know and be sad, so I ate all of it myself on the way home.”
“I had a friend bring milk tea from Inner Mongolia—it was salty, not sweet. To be honest, I didn’t like it at all, but I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I had several cups in a row and told her I’ve never had such tasty milk tea.”
“I brought milk tofu from Inner Mongolia to my roommates. They thought it was disgusting. They didn’t know that you couldn’t keep it covered up. I bought a bed and sat up for the entire train ride, so the tofu could lay out and sun. They don’t know that my family can only eat a tiny bit of milk tofu on special occasions.”
Comments say, “This is why I ask what kind of food my roommates are into before I bring anything.”
A doctor writes, “It really is true that all it takes is one bad day. I’ve seen a postpartum mother go through a C-section because of low amniotic fluid. Her MIL and husband were taking care of her. Her sister also visited the day of the surgery. Yesterday, two days after her surgery, she mentioned that she wanted something more flavourful than millet porridge. Maybe noodles, or even just some orange juice. But the problem is that her husband can drive, but can’t cook. And her MIL can cook, but can’t drive. And there’s very few take out places around here. And her husband doesn’t want to drive her MIL home to cook and leave her and her two-day-old baby alone.”
“So, this problem still hadn’t been resolved by the time dinner rolled around. So for dinner, she refused to eat her millet porridge and texted her sister. Not sure exactly what she said.”
“Her sister showed up at 7pm with bags and bags of stuff. She brought so much stuff that she couldn’t carry it up to the hospital room by herself, and had to ask for help from a nurse. Two people had to make two trips. At 8pm, the sister got into a huge screaming match with the mother’s MIL and husband. The sister was only in her twenties, but boy she could argue. For just about half an hour, she was dealing damage like crazy. The MIL could occasionally get a word in, the husband was just staring in shock.”
“Once she was done yelling at everyone and made the MIL and husband speechless, we all thought she’d leave. But she just sat down in the corridor and started bawling. She looked way more hurt than the people who lost the fight.”
“We obviously couldn’t let her just cry in the corridor, so we got her up, and took her to an empty exam room. She was cooperative the whole way, very calmly followed us. Some other visiting family to a different patient even gave her a bottle of water.”
“From what she said during the argument, we learned that their father had passed away in February. Their mother’s not in a great emotional state, so she’s been taking turns taking care of her mother with her sister. Her mother knows that she’s not well and can’t take care of her daughter while she’s sitting the month, so before her daughter gave birth, she took her younger daughter and went to visit and gave the MIL 10,000RMB. What her mother said at the time was, ‘I can’t help out any other way, so I’ll put up some money. You can decide whether you’re going to hire a nanny or do it yourself.’ And the MIL took the money and promised that she’ll take good care of the new mother and baby, nothing to worry about.”
“That afternoon, the sister got a text from the new mom that she’d eaten nothing but millet porridge for two days. She wants something flavourful like noodles or orange juice. I don’t know how the sister interpreted that text, but in addition to orange juice, she’d bought peach juice, apple juice, kiwi juice, canned pears, and protein bars. She’d bought beef noodle, chicken noodle, rib noodle take out. And she even bought a self-heating hot pot. She’d even needed a ride from a coworker because she had too much stuff.”
“She brought all the stuff over, but the MIL wouldn’t let the new mom drink the orange juice, claiming that it’s bad for nursing. And then the MIL opened up an orange juice and drank it herself. And then the MIL went off about how the noodles were too greasy and had congealed, and complained why she took so long to show up. That if they knew she was going to bring this much food, they could’ve saved money on their own dinner. What a waste. At first, she ignored the MIL and focused on feeding the new mom noodles. She even apologised that she doesn’t know how to cook and has to make the new mom eat take out right after giving birth.”
“Next, the MIL said that she’s been staying up for 3 days with the husband, they’re both exhausted. Since you’re here, don’t leave tonight. Take care of the new mom for a night. Since your mom can’t show up, you take her spot and deal with your sister. We’ll come over tomorrow morning and bring some Chinese fajitas for you guys. And then they started getting dressed to leave. And that’s when the sister threw her noodles down and started flipping the fuck out.”
“The gist was you see that my dad’s gone and my mom’s ill, so you think you can start bullying my sister? Why didn’t you say that it was too tiring when you took my mom’s money? My sister just wanted some fucking noodles, and that takes all day? Insert lots of swearing.”
“In the end, the MIL and husband didn’t leave for the night. The mother came out to the exam room and cried with her sister. The sister’s coworker showed up at some point too and bought bubble tea for everyone, they both said thanks to the staff and left. The new mom said several times to not tell their mother about this.”
“A lot of other visiting family watching this happen were saying that the sister was for sure dating the coworker. The doctor agrees. Yeah, when they’re dating, a man can come with you to visit your sister, wait for you for two hours, drive 20 kilometres to get bubble tea for a whole ob/gyn staff, and comfort you afterwards. But after you have his child? After you have his child, when you desperately want some orange juice, all he cares about is that it’s not good for your milk.”