“Look at Fruity Na [Natalia Vodianova, model], born in the slums, used to help her mom at her fruit stall, and that’s why she got the nickname Fruity Na. Her mom is super lovesick, though, and got conned by a man into a fling and ended up accidentally pregnant with her. Her dad never married her mom, he ran away, she’s never even met him. And her and her sisters aren’t even from the same dad. My mom just keep falling for scumbag men. Although she never lacked for flings, she never could tie a man down to improve her family’s economic situation.
In such a shitty family, what does her mom know? She can’t help Natalia plan her life out. But so what? Even just selling fruit at a fruit stand, Natalia can get scouted…she just won the genetic lottery. There’s nothing to say about it. God was actively trying to help her. She used a couple months to cram English and then left the country to get model training. Then, she quickly got super popular, and married some Russian noble before she turned 20.
Her MIL was terrible though and kept trying to break up the marriage because she’s from a lower class. But what’s even more amazing is that even after Natalia got divorced from the Russian noble, she could still marry the heir to the LV company with her three kids…the LV company are proper old money, one of the richest families in the world, and they didn’t look down on her family, or her age, or her three kids, or her past divorce. If this had been a Chinese man, it doesn’t take much money at all before they’re strutting around picking out a harem for themselves. Who would dare marry a divorced woman with there kids?
After reading all that, do you still not believe in fate? With her mom’s incompetence at holding onto men, what could she have possibly taught Natalia? Not like her dad helped her either. She accomplished everything with her own awesomeness…
There’s Dong Zhujun too [businesswoman]. Her dad was a rickshaw driver, her mom was a laundress. She was very solidly underclass in Shanghai, back in the day. Her dad really wanted her to marry well, sure, and he’d made some plans for her. He sold everything he owned to pay for her way through private school. But only a couple of years later, her dad fell sick, can’t keep driving anymore, and didn’t have money to get treatment. He had no choice but to put her in a brothel.
Logically speaking, once you’ve been in a brothel, there’s no way you can marry well, right? You’d be blessed if some rich guy wanted you as a concubine. And yet, even in such a shitty environment, she still met her true love, Xia Zhishi. Although Xia Zhishi was already married at the time, he still fell in love with Dong Zhujun and confessed his love to her (and yeah, sure, he was a scumbag to his wife), and wanted to marry Dong Zhujun. Take note, he’s really in love with her. He didn’t just fall for her looks and want a fling with her.
Well, maybe Xia’s wife wasn’t as lucky as Dong Zhujun, and died after getting sick. So Dong became the local Warlord’s wife. Dong’s mom and dad didn’t even know about all of this happening, much less help her plan her life. Xia was a communist revolutionary at the time too—that’s why he was working from the brothel so much, and ended up falling in love with Dong at first sight. They never even had a proper wedding together. They just ran away from the brothel together, and got a hastily marriage in front of some friends as witnesses in a random house, and then ran away to Japan overnight.
I’ve gotta say, that’s a rather risky decision. What if Xia turned out to be a scumbag who abandoned her later? She was totally gambling with her life. But Dong’s gamble paid out—Xia really was in love with her, and he was the biggest support to her through her life.”
Comments say, “Grown adults need to stop blaming their family for everything. It’s all fate. And behind fate is the will of the universe.”
“They’re only the lucky few though.”
“That’s not it. Look and you’ll see that the worse your family is, the more likely you are to marry well, because you’ve got nowhere to go. You’re not worried about gossipy relatives. So you’re more brave and reckless. And that’s what men like. Girls that were raised by proper families are too conservative.”
A compilation of ridiculous ticket scalpers:
“Bought fan meeting tickets for 1K, and only found out it was a fake ticket from a ticket scalper when I arrived. He took off his jacket, and he was wearing a suit underneath just like the real security. And then he pretended to be maintaining order at the scene while he quickly stuffed me in.”
“The Disney Fast Pass tickets selling on Chinese Etsy is basically just a scalper helping you cut in line, and then you go on the ride while he argues with the people behind you.”
“Went to a concert. The scalper reassured me that he’ll definitely get me in. And he did it by grabbing the security while screaming, “RUN! RUN! RUN!””
“There was a music festival in Nanjing, and I bought tickets from someone on Chinese Etsy, and they never showed up to give it to me. A scalper said he could get me in, and it turns out, her method was to just rush in and draw the security to chase after her. While she was being chased down, she was still yelling at us to run.”
“My friend went to a concert, and a scalper promised he would be able to get her a photo opportunity with the singer. Apparently, his method was to quickly block the singer off in a small alley way and yell at my friend to quickly snap a photo.”
“The only time I’ve ever met a scalper was when I was touring University of Xiamen. It was free to enter, but the scalper said that for 10 RMB, he’ll help people skip the line. Someone paid, and the scalper just took them up to the very front of the line and stuffed them in, and then started arguing with the people next in line. Some people got too embarrassed and said they don’t want to go in anymore and wanted their money back, and he refunded them right away, and got back to hollering for more customers.”
“Lol when I went to University of Xiamen, the scalper gave us fake student IDs.”
“My mom, my brother and I went to Famen Temple, and the scalper took us around to this super hidden tiny passageway around the outside of the Temple, and even had a ladder prepared so we could climb over the wall. My mom had a fear of heights so she was screaming her head off at the top of the wall, and the scalper was super nervous, like, “Shut up or the security guards are gonna find us!””
“A couple of years ago, I was buying tickets at the train station. There was only like an hour left before that train was set to leave, but nobody was around at the time, only about a dozen people. I could’ve gotten the ticket if I just waited in line. But the scalper kept insisting that the train was going to leave soon, that I wouldn’t have time, that if I gave him 30 RMB, he can get me a ticket right away. I ignored him, but some young couple paid, and he just took them to cut in line.”
A tiktok educational video on the life of Wenxiu, the last Noble Consort in Chinese history—the content is clips taken from a lot of period TV shows, but there are a couple of black and white photos in there of Emperor Puyi and his harem that are interesting to look at:
“I’m the last Noble Consort in Chinese history. I was born in a failing noble family, and started going to private school at the age of 8. I had excellent grades. But at 14 years old, my greedy uncle sneakily sent my photo into the Imperial Palace, to enter into Emperor Puyi’s harem selection. Who would’ve thought that that 15-year-old brat would name me as the Noble Consort. If you were me, the Wenxiu that would only live to this day in 1953, would you enter the Palace and become a caged nightingale?
“Geez, what era is it? We’re all educated now. Why would we become a consort in the Palace? That’s so out of fashion.”
“Hey, this has to do with the fate of the whole family. You can’t just do what you want.”
After Emperor Puyi picked Wenxiu out of a lineup, her entire family’s life changed. Wenxiu’s mother gained a mansion in Houhai. They went from the verge of poverty to comfortably middle class. But Wenxiu could no longer continue going to school, and had to stay at home to be trained, whether it was in Imperial etiquette or the Morals of a Woman, she had to learn it all. Worst part is, she had to enter the palace before Emperor Puyi married his Empress, Wanrong, so she could show her respects to the new Empress the next day.
Life in the Palace wasn’t too bad. Nobody ever paid her any attention, neither the Emperor nor the Empress, so at least she was free and peaceful. And yet, in just two years’ time, Puyi and his entire family would be exiled from the Forbidden City and had to go hide in Tianjin.
Puyi and Wanrong spent all the time together, enjoying themselves like a couple on their honeymoon. Wenxiu might as well have been in the Cold Palace. Or the…ice room??
When she turned 22, as a modern woman, Wenxiu finally went Super Saiyan. She hired three lawyers and sued Puyi for divorce. Although it was Nationalist China by that point, a woman divorcing a man was still almost unheard of. The fact that it was a woman divorcing the Emperor was enough to blow people’s minds. The reason for divorce was even that she, “hadn’t slept with her husband for nine years.” Wow, how embarrassing for Puyi!
As the divorce got more and more attention, Puyi was eventually forced to agree to the divorce and paid Wenxiu 55K in alimony. But after obtaining her freedom, life was still hard for Wenxiu. After she was done paying the lawyer fees, she didn’t have much money left. She rented a place with her sister in Beiping, and sold cigarettes along the street.
When she turned 36, WWII finally ended. She got a job as an editor at a newspaper publisher thanks to a friend’s help. At 38, she married a military commander. By this time, the name on her marriage certificate was Fu Yufang, the name she used back when she went to school. She had a very happy marriage with her husband. But he never found out that his beloved wife used to be the last Noble Consort in Chinese history.”
“My baby started going to preschool for the first time this year, and I sent messages to the teacher, and never got a response. It’s been 24 hours, and I’m just getting stressed out at home now. Does the teacher hate my kiddo? Does she think I’m super annoying? Shouldn’t teachers answer their texts?”
OP shows screenshots of her texts:
“Hi, teacher! I’m [so-and-so]s mom. Just a brief summary of my kiddo’s situation:
He’s a very cautious and observant kid. Once he feels safe and familiar in an environment, he’s very eager to play with other kids and try challenging games.
He knows how to say he needs to go to the bathroom. “My peepee feels funny.” or “My butt feels funny.” or “My tummy feels funny.” or “I need to pee.”
He’s a little behind on his ability to take care of himself, because we do everything for him at home. He’ll still spill with his spoon a lot, and doesn’t know how to dress himself, and he’s a little bit of a picky eater. I hope you can help direct him.
He can express his emotions: “I’m upset.” “I cry cry.” “I’m sad.” “I’m mad.” When he’s getting emotional, just give him a hug and some comfort. Once he calms down, you can talk it out with him.
He’s getting a little bit “rebellious” lately. He likes to say the opposite of what he knows is right to observe how adults react to it.
He has a habit of touching an adult’s arm or tummy while sleeping for comfort. I’m sorry for the inconvenience if he gets touchy-feely with you. We’re working on it at home.
He loves music and instruments (especially piano) and picture books. He’s not very interested in sports. I hope you can direct him on that too. Right now, his favourite thing is the fence of car parks and faucets. You can use it if you ever need to re-direct him.
Thank you for your hard work. Which way do you prefer I contact you? Wechat? Text? Email? Or phone call? Thanks!”
Comments say, “If you have a crown prince, don’t send him to preschool [splitting apart emoji].”
“Preschools teach everyone how to dress themselves and eat and go to the bathroom. Everyone naps together after lunch, and nobody needs extra hugs. If he’s really that fussy of a kid, then I suggest you send him to an expensive private preschool. The teachers there are paid a lot more to take care of fewer kids, and might actually bother to listen to your demands. Or just keep him at home until he gets better.”
“This is school, not your house. If everyone was this way, how’s the teacher supposed to deal with them all? What’s the point of sending all these? Do you want the teacher to get to know your kid and get used to him? When he’s outside, he has to get used to his environment. Nobody is gonna change their ways for his sake.”
“My cousin passed away suddenly in an accident, and his wife was absolutely devastated. Once his funeral was over, she took out a fat stack of cash, and gave it to his parents and said, “Insurance paid out a million. I’m taking 400K. Here’s the other 600K so you can take care of yourselves.
My aunt and uncle took the money and said, “You should take more, so you can live a bit easier. We’ll keep our grandson with us in the countryside then?”
My cousin-in-law refused to take the money. She was already in the process of getting a divorce from my cousin. The only thing she wanted was custody of her child. But now that my cousin’s died, she doesn’t want to insist on custody anymore, and instead let the grandparents take the kid.
The day after my cousin-in-law left, my aunt and uncle found a letter from the insurance company that wrote out the entirety of the payout was 600K. My cousin-in-law hadn’t taken a cent.
They felt bad about it, and found my cousin-in-law’s family, and her family expressed her wishes, “What she wanted most in her life was to be able to stay with her child, but now that she’s witnessed her husband’s tragic passing, she knows that you’ve lost your only son. So she’s decided to give up her love as painful as it is, and let you raise her kid. As for money, she thinks that you’re getting older every day and can’t work more, so it’s best if you kept the money. She’s still young and healthy—she can always make more money.”
My aunt and uncle wept after they heard that.”
Comments say, “I mean, even if she’d kept custody, he would still be his grandparents’ grandson, right? I don’t get it. It feels like my CPU is overheating. He’s not changing his surname. He’s not changing his name. I’m sure he would still visit them for the holidays, and maybe spent summer break with them. How is it any different than any other kid?”
“The only takeaway I got was that your cousin was a scumbag in life. Sure, his parents are very pitiful right now, but he was definitely a colossal asshole in life, or else such a reasonable woman wouldn’t be getting divorced from him. The most tragic person in this story is your cousin-in-law. She had to give up her last hope in life for this bastard.”
“So, no one’s trying to think on behalf of the kid, whether it’s better for him to be with his mom or his grandparents?”
“The space station was launched. You’re making 3K a month.
The winter Olympics were held in Beijing. You’re making 3K a month.
The Fujian Aircraft Carrier set sail. You’re making 3K a month.
Covid restrictions were lifted. You’re making 3K a month.
Hybrid cars are getting popular overseas. You’re making 3K a month.
Huawei can make their own microchips. You’re making 3K a month.
It’s been over two years. The whole country is making steps forward. Only you’re stuck just like always, blaming everyone but yourself.
Is something wrong with this country? Or is something wrong with you?”
Comments say, “It’s definitely your own fault if you only make 3K a month. You could get any random job in a first-line city and make 7-8K a month.”
“You’re not gonna bring up unbuilt houses? Or the unemployment rate?”
“Yeah, it’s a lot better in America, where shoplifting is legal. You don’t even need an income, and you don’t need to work. Just go shoplift whatever you need!”
Whoa! Shoplifting is legal in America? The things I learn about my own country...!
In all seriousness, is that a commonly held belief? Or, what's up with that?
fwiw I'd be interested in having the Chinese language version of these tweets, might be useful to brush up on my Mandarin