In order to stop me from spending money recklessly, my mom has exchanged my college living expenses into coupons.

If I need to buy anything, I must buy it online. Also, I need to send a copy of my expenses sheet and the details behind said expenses to my mom so that she can check everything thoroughly. Only when she's given me her permission can I buy that item.

When I tell my mom I want to buy a shirt, she tells me, "I remember you could still wear that shirt back in your high school days. You should just stick with it. Why waste your money on new clothes?"

During winter, I can only wear the old sweater I've been wearing since my high school times while huddling in a corner of my dorm and nibbling on a sandwich.

Meanwhile, my mom smugly posts a picture of the six-thousand-dollar dress she has just bought on her social media feed.

"What a beautiful dress!"

I was so hungry I started seeing things. I was even seeing double. When I saw the six zeroes on the screen, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Using the last bit of my strength, I opened my chat with Mom.

"Mom, I've already used up all my coupons for this month. Could you transfer me 50 dollars so I can grab a bite at the school cafeteria?"

Not long after I sent the message, Mom's voice message came in.

"How did you use up all the coupons? Didn't I give you more than 20? Did you use them to buy other things? Or are you trying to scam me out of my money so you can go out with some guy?

"Susan Jaffe, I'm telling you—don't even think about it! If you go fooling around with those guys, I'll break your legs!"

After hearing her voice message, I felt everything go black for a second. Even though I was dizzy with hunger, I still wanted to explain myself.

"Mom, I didn't do any of that. I really don't have any money for food right now. Could you send me 50 dollars?"

"Stop lying. I checked your purchase history. You bought a big box of bread and tortillas at the beginning of the month.

"That should've been enough for the entire month. How did you go through everything so quickly?

"I think I've been giving you too many coupons. Now you think you can take advantage of me. Starting next month, I'm cutting your coupons in half. You'll have to figure out other ways to get food!"

After that, I didn't get any more messages from Mom. When I tried texting her again, I realized she had blocked me.

My vision went black, and I fell off the bed, losing consciousness immediately. When I came to again, I found myself in the school infirmary.

The counselor looked at me, clearly panicked. "Susan, what's going on with you? You tried to lose weight and ended up blacking out. Do you know how dangerous that is?

"The doctor said you're severely malnourished. You need to eat something right now!" the counselor barked at me.

My roommates stood next to me, looking at me apologetically. "We're sorry, Susan. The counselor asked what happened, so we had to tell the truth."

That made sense. My roommates had no idea that Mom hadn't been giving me any allowance.

To keep up appearances, I could only tell them that I was trying to lose weight by buying cheap bread and tortillas in large quantities.

Still, they weren't filling enough and didn't sustain my body's needs. In less than half a month, I had already finished everything.

However, Mom thought I was trying to trick her into giving me more money. How absurd.

"Susan, listen to the counselor. Go eat something."

It wasn't that I didn't want to eat. I just didn't have any money to buy food.

A bitter taste filled my mouth as I forced a small smile. "It's fine. I can get through a few more days. If I eat now, all my efforts will be wasted."

"Susan!" My roommates looked at me helplessly.

The counselor looked at me sternly. "Susan, I'm warning you. If you don't start eating properly and getting enough nutrition, you'll be suspended from school until you're fit to return."

"I…" I opened my mouth to speak, but in the end, I gave in. I had to use another phone to call Mom and ask for money.

"Mom, the counselor said if I don't start eating properly and getting enough nutrition, I'll be suspended from school. Can you please send me 50 dollars?"

Hearing that, my roommates went still. Even the counselor froze in place.

Mom said coldly, "I already gave you the money, didn't I? Susan, you've got a lot of nerve. How dare you use a counselor to trick me…"

"Mom, I didn't." I quickly handed the phone to the counselor.

Realizing the counselor was there too, Mom quickly changed her tune. "Sir, I've never mistreated my daughter.

"I've been giving her 2,000 dollars a month as her allowance. We already agreed on that. Our family's not really well off.

"I didn't expect my daughter to cause so much trouble. She's always been a good liar. I bet she still has some allowance left. Don't let her fool you!"

2,000 dollars?

Hearing that, my mind went blank. "Mom, when did you ever…"

I wanted to explain myself, but Mom had already ended the call.

The counselor looked at me sternly. "Susan, if you still have some allowance left, why did you lie to us? 2,000 dollars is a lot for a college student every month. Go eat something now!"

The counselor's question left me speechless. After all, I couldn't possibly tell him that the 2,000-dollar allowance Mom mentioned was actually just a bunch of coupons.

Even worse, I couldn't use some of them at all.

I spoke through gritted teeth, "Sir, I'm on a diet."

"You…" The counselor looked at me, frustrated and disappointed.

Finally, he gave a cold snort. "Do whatever you want. If this happens again, I'll report this immediately, and you'll have to take a leave of absence."

With that, the counselor stormed off angrily.

My roommates looked at my pale, expressionless face. They shook their heads and left the infirmary.

The school doctor gazed at me in disdain. "Young people these days! They'll really go to any lengths just to look prettier."

Ignoring him, I got up and left the room.

The blustery December wind bit into me, making me shiver. I pulled out my phone and called Mom again, but the call wouldn't go through at all.

I was still blocked.

Suddenly, a message came in. "Not bad, Susan. How dare you try to pressure me by getting a counselor involved?

"As punishment, I'm going to block you for a while. Once you've reflected on your behavior, I'll unblock you."

Seeing those words, I let out a chuckle.

I couldn't take the hunger anymore. I went to the cafeteria and got some soup and a couple of buns to make do for dinner.

Once I got back to the dorm, I lay on my bed, staring at the last coupon on my phone. All I had left was a three-dollar coupon.

A box of tortillas cost at least five dollars, and bread was at least seven dollars. No matter what I got, it wouldn't last me the rest of the month.

I kept my eyes fixed on the screen until midnight. My hands were trembling from hunger.

Suddenly, my phone slipped from my grip and fell to the floor. When I picked it up, a bright red page flashed on the screen.

"Congratulations! You've won an 880,000-dollar coupon!"

Thinking I was hallucinating, I looked at it again in disbelief. It was really an 880,000-dollar coupon.

I got 880,000 dollars off after spending 890,000 dollars.

My hands kept trembling, but this time it wasn't from hunger. It was excitement.

…

The next morning, I managed to borrow ten thousand dollars from my friends. I used the money to buy all sorts of expensive luxury items.

After setting up an account on a secondhand marketplace, I listed everything at a higher price.

The luxury goods arrived very quickly. In just three days, I had already flipped all the money.

A million dollars! I had exactly a million dollars in my bank account. I burst into tears when I saw the balance.

I immediately took a hot shower and hurried to the most expensive restaurant near campus. I ordered everything I had ever wanted but could never afford. I didn't stop until I couldn't eat another bite.

Finally, I went back to my dorm, feeling full and satisfied.

Not long after I arrived, my phone started ringing. Mom was calling me.

I hesitated for a moment before answering the call.

On the other end, Mom asked excitedly, "Brat, did you just win the jackpot or something?"

I froze for a moment before denying it at once, "No."

"You're lying! You just ordered ten large plates of meat at a restaurant. It even made local news. Tell me—where did you get the money?

"I looked into the restaurant. It costs 888 dollars per person!"

Oh, no! I got a little too carried away with my meal. I didn't notice there was a camera nearby, and I made no attempt to hide how excited I was about the food.

"My financial aid just came in, so I used the money to pay for my meal. It just so happened that the restaurant was running an eating contest. I only spent 50 dollars there. It wasn't that much."

"Really?" My mom had always been a suspicious woman.

"Really."

"Brat, if I find out you've been lying to me, you'll regret it."

Mom's cold words cut me like a knife. Still, I wouldn't go hungry anymore or worry about food.

In the following days, I threw myself into my studies and even applied to study abroad through my professor. Given my strong academic performance lately, she approved my application.

All I had to do was brush up on my foreign language skills.

One day, I had just gotten back to the dorm when I received a message from Mom, which rarely happened.

"Since you've already received your financial aid, I don't have to give you any more coupons for the rest of the semester. Use your financial aid instead."

I replied, "Got it."

Deep down, I was already planning how to get away from Mom. I just needed one more month. In one month, everything would be finalized.

Still, I didn't expect Mom to realize something was off.

Mom gave me a call, saying, "I heard from your professor that you've applied to study abroad. Where did you get the money for that?

"Be honest with me. Did you win a high-value coupon or something?"

"Absolutely not!" I immediately denied it.

But Mom refused to let it go. "Stop lying. The platform just posted the winner's username. Doraemon is you, isn't it? Even the profile photo is exactly the same.

"I was wondering where you got the money. Now I know you've won a prize. Give me the coupon now."

Mom's voice was as commanding as ever, and it felt suffocating.

"I won the prize myself. Why should I give it to you?"

"I see how it is. You think you can just do whatever you want now, Susan? Do you really think I can't control you just because you're at college?

"Just you wait. If you don't hand me the coupon, I…"

I didn't want to hear anything else from Mom and ended the call.

Soon, I received news from my professor.

Thanks to my excellent academic performance, he decided to ask his supervisor to speed up the approval process. Everything could be finalized by next week. By then, I would finally be able to leave this place and get far away.

Over the next few days, I was cooped up in the dorm, feeling stressed out. During that time, Mom kept bombarding me with messages and even showed up on campus.

My roommate hurried over to inform me. "Bad news, Susan! I don't know how your mom found out you're going to study abroad. She's at the administration office, making a scene.

"She's telling everyone that you're mentally ill and shouldn't have been approved to go abroad."

My heart sank, and I hurried over to the office.

When Mom saw me, her distorted expression twisted. She darted over and grabbed my hand. "There you are. I've checked your balance. You've got a million dollars in your account. Give it to me."

I understood immediately. This was just another one of Mom's tricks to lure me here.

"That's my money. Why should I give it to you?" I shook her hand off.

Mom pretended to collapse to the ground and started to throw a tantrum, calling me an ungrateful brat. Even though I had plenty of money, I refused to give her anything, and she even accused me of being heartless.

Between sobs, Mom said, "I don't actually want your money. I just want to keep it safe for you, but you don't trust me at all. I raised you, and this is how you treat me? I'm so heartbroken."

The students watching the scene eyed me with contempt. "How can anyone be like that? Now that she has money, she can't even trust her own mother? Anyone would think they were enemies."

"I can't believe I'm in the same college as her. Can the president just expel her?"

"Typical selfish behavior."

Hearing the students hurl insults at me, Mom only grew more smug. She seized my hand and yanked me down to her level, dropping her voice to a whisper.

"You heard what they said, right? Keep ten thousand dollars for yourself and give me the rest, or I'll report your behavior to the college president and get you expelled."

At that, I felt both sad and amused. "Alright. Go ahead."

As Mom froze in place, I continued, "It's fine. I'll do it myself."

I looked around. "If you don't know her yet, let me tell you who she is. The woman throwing a tantrum on the floor is the one who gave birth to me."

Hearing my words, the crowd erupted into chaos again.

"The woman who gave birth to her? Is that really how she talks about her own mom? Her mom raised her all her life, and this is how she treats her?"

"I feel so bad for her mom. If she were my mom, I'd never let her suffer like this."

The counselor looked at me sternly. "Susan, are you done yet? Even though your entrance scores were satisfactory, our school has a zero-tolerance policy for students with poor character. If you keep this up, you might get yourself expelled."

Everyone nearby looked at me grimly.

What made it even more ironic was that Mom had deliberately gotten the reporters involved to escalate the situation.

Did she really think I would hand over the money? Too bad. She got it all wrong.

I cleared my throat. "As for why I said that, it's because she's never once cared about me since I was born!"

"Huh? What does she mean by that?" The crowd started murmuring in shock.

Mom went deathly pale. "Brat, what are you talking about? How can you say I've never cared about you?"

Mom seized me, her shrill voice overpowering mine completely. "Ladies and gentlemen, don't be fooled by her words!

"What parent wouldn't love their own child? Susan's my daughter. I went through so much just to raise her.

"I love her more than anything, and I've never mistreated her. How could I not care about her?

"Susan, stop being mad at me, okay? I'm doing this for your own good," she begged me tearfully, almost winning the crowd over again.

"For my own good, huh?" I let out a chuckle. "When I was three months old, you abandoned me at Grandma's place and never came to see me.

"It wasn't until I was old enough to start primary school that you came back for me. Every day after school, I had to wash your clothes, gather firewood, and cook your meals.

"I had to wash clothes in the dead of winter. My hands were covered in blisters, yet you told me off for taking too long.

"You kicked me so hard in the back that the studs on your shoe cut into my flesh. I still carry those scars."

The crowd gasped at my revelation.

I was about to continue when Mom suddenly cut me off, "What are you talking about? You didn't know any better back then.

"I'm your mom. Why can't I discipline you? Can't I even parent my own child? Don't you think that's just unfair?"

"Fine. Then, how do you explain not giving me any money in college?" I looked at Mom questioningly.

She looked away, avoiding eye contact. "What do you mean I didn't give you any money? I give you 2,000 dollars a month, don't I?"

"2,000 dollars? That's quite a lot, isn't it? What more does she want?"

"That's right. Everyone gets roughly the same amount too. What is she complaining about? I really feel sorry for the mother. Her daughter's so ungrateful and only wants to leech off her."

"And I thought the daughter was the victim here."

Snide comments rang in my ears as my gaze swept across the crowd. "Has anyone ever met a mother who gives her child coupons as allowance? On top of that, the child doesn't even get a single cent."

"What? Coupons? Did I hear that right?"

Those who had been mocking me earlier froze in shock.

"Exactly. You heard me right. She's been giving me coupons through a shopping app."

"My mother…" I took a deep breath. "Ever since I started college, she hasn't given me a single cent. All my daily expenses are covered by the coupons she gives me. Her so-called 2,000-dollar allowance is really just coupons."