Chapter 1

After six months as a live-in caregiver, Wang Cuilan, the neighbor across the hall, had grown jealous of me.

She craned her neck, making sure everyone in the corridor could hear her.

“Caregivers have it easy these days. Back in the countryside, I looked after my late husband—emptied his bedpan, waited on him hand and foot—and only got three thousand a month.”

“But she’s got it made. She sits on the balcony chatting with the old lady and gets eight thousand.”

The aunties nearby, who had been sorting vegetables, immediately gathered around.

“Really? Eight thousand?”

“She only cooks a meal and helps the old lady take a few steps each day. That sounds like easy money to me.”

Wang Cuilan lowered her voice, but just enough for me to hear.

“Some ‘premium caregiver.’ More like a neighborhood swindler.”

“I’m close with Mrs. Zhang. I’ll go talk to her tomorrow. I can do the job for five thousand.”

The next evening, Li Mei came home from work wearing an ingratiating smile.

“Xiaowan, you’ve been working for us for half a year now, haven’t you? Mom’s always treated you like her own daughter. Don’t you think eight thousand a month is a little much? Wang Cuilan next door only wants five—”

“Ms. Li, Mrs. Zhang has lost most of her mobility.”

“She needs to be turned every two hours. When she eats, the head of the bed has to be raised to thirty degrees. She needs passive joint exercises every day, and her tailbone has to be checked regularly—”

I hadn’t finished when Li Mei cut me off.

“Oh… isn’t that just something you do along the way?”

“It is,” I said. “But it’s also what I’m paid to do.”

Her face tightened.

“Look at you, counting every penny again. I’m only trying to talk it over. If five thousand feels too low, I can add another five hundred.”

I didn’t answer. I gathered all the care logs I’d kept for Mrs. Zhang over the past six months and laid them out in front of her.

“It’s fine. If you think Wang Cuilan is cheaper, you can hire her.”

“I’m done looking after her.”

……

“Xiaowan, let’s be frank with each other.”

Li Mei came home from work and dropped her handbag onto the sofa. “Eight thousand a month really is too much.”

I paused. “Too much in what way?”

“You know Wang Cuilan, the woman across the hall?”

“She came to see me yesterday.”

Li Mei held up five fingers and waved them in front of me. “She has experience, and she only charges five thousand.”

I gave a cold little laugh. “Then hire her.”

“Don’t rush to get upset.” Li Mei hurriedly waved her hands. “I’m just saying, she charges five thousand and you charge eight. That’s a difference of three thousand. How could I possibly pay you only five? We’re close. I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Six thousand.” She seemed to grit her teeth. “Six thousand five hundred! I’m giving you another five hundred. That’s fair, isn’t it, Xiaowan?”

“Ms. Li, the going rate for caring for someone with severely limited mobility is between seven and nine thousand. Eight thousand is right in the middle.”

Her expression soured. “Xiaowan, you make it sound like I’m shortchanging you.”

“We’re practically family. How has my mother treated you? Search your conscience and tell me.”

“I’m not saying you’re shortchanging me. I’m just following the proper rate.”

I slapped the care log down on the table. “Turning her at two in the morning—recorded here. Raising the head of the bed to thirty degrees when feeding her—recorded here. Passive joint exercises twice a week—recorded here. What can Wang Cuilan do for five thousand?”

“She told me she has experience! She’s cared for a paralyzed person before!”

“The person she cared for was an old man who could still lift a bowl and drink on his own.”

I laughed. “The person you need cared for is an elderly woman who can’t even roll over without someone supporting her waist. If Wang Cuilan is really that capable, bring her over—”

I nodded toward the bed.

“Let’s see her get up at two tonight and turn Mrs. Zhang.”

Li Mei was speechless for two seconds. Then her expression softened, and she edged closer to me.

“Xiaowan, I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart.” She sighed. “I’m really struggling right now. My son’s at an international school that costs two hundred thousand a year, my husband’s family business is having problems, and I had to put the twenty thousand for Mom’s hospital deposit on my credit card last time.”

“So because you’re struggling, you need to cut my pay?”

“I’m not cutting your pay! I’m negotiating!”

She grew flustered. “Just help me out this once. Six thousand, okay? I’ll remember your kindness for the rest of my life. And during the holidays—”

“You said that last time too.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Nothing.” I picked up the coat from the back of the chair. “Eight thousand. Not a cent less. If you think Wang Cuilan is cheaper, by all means, hire her.”

Li Mei sprang to her feet and pointed at the tip of my nose.

“What kind of attitude is that? Was all the love my mother showed you for nothing? Did we feed you for half a year for nothing?”

“Whether Mrs. Zhang cares about me is between her and me.”

I reached for the door lock. “Whether you’re trying to cut my pay is between you and me.”

“You came here to lower my pay because Wang Cuilan is cheaper. So I’m done looking after her.”

## Chapter 2: Handing Over the Job

Li Mei officially hired Wang Cuilan.

I didn’t care. I only asked Li Mei to pay me everything she owed.

On the day of the handover, I sat by Mrs. Zhang’s bed all afternoon.

Wang Cuilan leaned against the doorframe, cracking sunflower seeds as she watched me write everything down, one item at a time.

“Check her blood pressure at six in the morning. Her diastolic pressure mustn’t fall below sixty.”

I read aloud as I wrote. “Her blood-pressure medicine is that little white pill—half a tablet after meals. Don’t put any weight on her right side. When you lift her to turn her, support her shoulder and hip. Don’t pull on her arm. Her shoulder joint is loose; it’s been dislocated once before.”

Wang Cuilan mumbled a half-hearted acknowledgment without even glancing at the notebook.

“When you feed her, raise the head of the bed to between thirty and forty-five degrees. She choked once before and nearly had to go to the emergency room. Cook the porridge until it’s very soft, strain the steamed egg until smooth, don’t give her dry food, and don’t let her drink while lying down.”

“I know, I know.”

Wang Cuilan waved a hand. “I looked after my late husband far more carefully than this.”

I gave her a glance.

I’d already heard from the neighborhood aunties what her “care” had been like—

Two packets of instant noodles a day. When her husband died, his pressure sores had rotted down to the bone, and she’d still stood in the corridor telling people, “It was his fate.”

I closed the care log and set it beside the pillow.

“This is the third notebook. I photographed the earlier ones for backup. You need to write a line in it every night—how much she ate, whether she used the bathroom, how many times you turned her. Otherwise, when Li Mei asks, you won’t be able to answer.”

Wang Cuilan bared her teeth in a grin.

“Young lady, are you putting on this whole act to make Sister Li think she can’t do without you?”

“Relax. I’m an honest person. I don’t pull tricks like that.”

Li Mei called from work and put the phone on speaker.

“Xiaowan, shall I pay you now? You’ve only worked twenty days this month—”

“Pay me for the full month,” I said. “The remaining ten days are my notice, so you don’t have to compensate me for them. But don’t lose a single word from the seven pages I’m handing over.”

Li Mei laughed on the other end.

“Fine, fine, fine. Whatever you say.”

I nearly laughed out loud.

“Ms. Li, I just think you’ll need to pay closer attention to Mrs. Zhang’s health from now on.”

Li Mei gave a scornful laugh.

“Enough, Song Wan. Don’t pretend to be so righteous.”

“If you really cared that much about my mother, you wouldn’t walk away over one or two thousand.”

“Wang’s our neighbor, and she has experience. She’ll be much less trouble than you.”

Then she hung up without hesitation.

A chill settled in my heart, but I still accepted the red envelope Li Mei sent and opened the message from Mr. Chen.

He said his father had come home after surgery, and they hadn’t been satisfied with any of the caregivers they’d interviewed.

He asked if I’d be willing to work for them. The pay was twelve thousand a month, with one day off each week, and the family wouldn’t interfere or tell me how to do my job.

A few days earlier, I’d told him that Mrs. Zhang still needed care and that I had to see how things went with her family first.

Now I replied without hesitation:

“Yes. I’ll come over as soon as I’ve finished the handover here.”

## Chapter 3: A New Employer’s Consideration

My new employer lived in the apartment building next door, which had an elevator.

Professor Chen was seventy-two. After having a stent placed in his heart, he could still walk on his own with a cane.

He just needed someone to make sure he took his medicine, cook food with less salt and oil, and accompany him on rehabilitation walks.

On my first day, his son, Mr. Chen, handed me a stack of papers.

“Auntie Song, these are my father’s medical records, his medication list, and the foods he needs to avoid.”

“You looked after my father in the hospital before. Now that I’ve seen you work in person, you’re even more meticulous than we expected.”

“Your salary is twelve thousand. You get four days off a month, and holiday pay is double. My wife and I won’t interfere with how you run the household. If you think something is best for an elderly person, just do it that way.”

I was stunned.

In my seven years on the job, this was the first time anyone had told me, “If you think it’s best for the elderly person, just do it that way.”

Professor Chen sat on the sofa and nodded to me.

“Xiao Song, I’ll be in your care from now on.”

That evening, I moved in.

I cleaned the kitchen, sorted his medicine into morning, noon, and evening doses, and put a chart on the refrigerator showing what he should eat at each meal and how many grams of salt to use.

At six the next morning, I got up on time to take his blood pressure, cook multigrain porridge, and walk with him around the complex for forty minutes.

At noon, while Professor Chen was napping, I scrolled through my phone for a while.

The residents’ group chat had more than ninety-nine unread messages. Ten minutes earlier, Wang Cuilan had posted nine photos.

In the first, she was holding a bowl of plain porridge beside Mrs. Zhang’s bed. The caption read, “First day on the job. The old lady has a good appetite.”

In the second, Mrs. Zhang was lying flat in bed while Wang Cuilan sat beside her, scrolling on her phone.

In the third, Wang Cuilan had taken a selfie with Mrs. Zhang, pressing their faces together. “Not family by blood, but closer than family.”

A string of praise appeared underneath.

“Sister Wang is so capable.”

“Much better than that Song woman. She had the nerve to demand eight thousand.”

“I knew it all along. Song only knows how to overcharge.”

“Li Mei can finally relax. She’s saving three thousand.”

Li Mei herself chimed in:

“Exactly. Sister Wang is so thoughtful. Mom’s been smiling a lot more these past two days.”

Wang Cuilan immediately sent a voice message, practically shouting into the phone.

“If anyone needs a caregiver, ask me first. Don’t waste your money. Five thousand, and I’ll take care of everything.”

People in the group piled on.

“I heard Song changed jobs. She’s asking for twelve thousand now?”

“Good grief. What kind of fool would hire her?”

“Li Mei was too soft on her. That’s why Song had her wrapped around her finger.”

Wang Cuilan chuckled.

“They say she knows how to flatter people and name her price. I’m not clever like that. I just keep my head down and do the actual work.”

“Exactly. If I hadn’t kindly stepped in, who knows what shape that old lady would’ve been in after Song got through with her.”

Li Mei added:

“Now I can use that three thousand to sign my son up for swimming lessons. Isn’t that money better spent?”

I stared at the photo for two seconds.

The head of the bed was completely flat.