After I switched from a private company to a foreign enterprise, my salary rose accordingly.

My husband, who was always frugal, suggested that I hand over my entire salary to him.

He claimed it would be used for daily household expenses.

Watching him calculate the numbers, I asked, “What about your salary?”

He said casually, “I’m saving it for our retirement.”

I said nothing and followed his instructions. I spent my entire salary within a month.

My husband finally felt uneasy when he saw how many packages kept showing up at our home.

Seeing his doubts, I happily said, “You’re the one who said to use my whole salary for household expenses.”

He exclaimed, “What are we, the Rockefellers?! How can one month cost this much?”

That was funny. It turned out that he knew that a normal family’s expenses would never take my entire salary.

I met Trevor Guthrie in college. We were campus sweethearts. In those years, the graduation season was often the breakup season. Yet the two of us supported each other all the way to marriage.

He often dreamed of saving one million dollars. He wants to travel around the world with me.

I was living inside the beautiful dream he had woven. Because of that, I turned my entire salary over to him. I only kept $100 for my expenses.

During the hardest times, I could not even bring myself to buy beef jerky. He and I lived on beans and rice every day.

Because he did not find life difficult, he assumed I did not either.

After a few years, we did manage to save a small amount. It was tens of thousands of dollars. When I saw that five-digit number in my savings, I convinced myself that all those years of scrimping were worth it.

One good break led to another, and I successfully applied for a job at a foreign company. I got a huge salary.

I suggested to Trevor that we could celebrate this good news in a restaurant.

He hesitated and said, “Eating out is too expensive. It’s not worth it.”

I said, “We hardly ever eat out. The two of us might just use $50 at most.”

Trevor became impatient.

“With that money, I can buy several pounds of meat at the supermarket. We wouldn’t get as much meat if we spent that amount eating out.”

Just like that, my first-ever celebration did not come to pass because he objected to it.

Seeing my disappointment, he volunteered to go to the supermarket to buy some meat. He said he would personally cook them for me to eat.

I decided to take what I could get and agreed.

As we were about to leave, Trevor said, “Transfer $50 to me first.”

I was stunned.

He said, “I put all my salary into our savings. I don’t have extra cash on me.

“Besides, you’re the one who wanted meat. So, it’s only right for you to pay for it.”

I was stunned.

Half out of spite, I took out my phone and transferred $50 to him.

After the money was transferred, he excitedly went downstairs to the supermarket. He bought a few pounds of pork and stewed it in a big pot.

The food was not as delicious as I had imagined.

Just then, I happened to scroll past a post on Instagram. A colleague who got into the company with me was showing off.

[I finally got into my dream company! My husband treated me to a fancy steak dinner to celebrate!]

The picture showed steak and red wine.

I frowned slightly.

Trevor leaned over and said, “Don’t envy other people. Both of our parents are from the countryside. We can’t count on them for anything in the future. We have to save up little by little on our own.

“When we have kids someday, we’ll need to save for them too. Money’s needed for everything. So, we need to save wherever we can now.”

He had a point.

Both of our parents were farmers. They have lived their entire lives on a small plot of land. They truly could not afford to support us.

We could only rely on ourselves for everything.

After thinking it over carefully, I decided not to dwell on this issue anymore.

On the day I got my first salary from the foreign company, Trevor suggested that I keep $100 as usual and hand everything over to him for managing the household.

I hesitated. Being past twenty-five, I needed to step up my facial skincare routine.

“$100 is way too little. That won’t even cover one bottle of serum.”

Trevor said, “You’re still young. You don’t need serums! We’re not movie stars. Who are you trying to look like a lass for?”

Just as I was about to speak, he added, “A family like ours can’t compete with other families’ generational wealth. You need to think about the future.

“I’ll leave you an extra $50. That way, you can get a few decent meals.”

He reasoned eloquently, and I could not come up with a proper argument to refute him.

I had no choice but to follow his advice and hand over my entire salary. I kept $150 for pocket money.

That day, I used the extra $50 he had let me keep to buy some snacks.

I took them home to share with him.

But he got upset instead.

He claimed I had bought too much. Then, he said things were too expensive these days.

He started to lecture me.

“You only get $150 a month as pocket money. You spent $50 on snacks! How will $100 cover groceries?

“You need to budget. Buy one lollipop this month, then a pack of gummy candies next month. That way, you don’t blow too much cash, and you still get to try everything.

“I’ll let it slide this time. But don’t ever do that again.”

I initially thought I had heard him wrong. Then I saw his grim expression and realized he was serious.

I was just about to retort when my younger sister, Bella White, called me.

She requested to borrow $50,000 to buy a car. She said she could pay it back by the end of the year when she received her year-end bonus.

The amount Bella wanted to borrow was exactly what we had in our savings.

After hanging up, before I could even explain, Trevor said, “No way! Even if Bella says she’ll pay you back by the end of the year, can she really do that? Is her year-end bonus even $50,000?”

Bella’s workplace had good employee benefits. For someone like her who had just completed two years of work, the year-end bonus could indeed amount to $50,000.

Her monthly salary was $10,000. Her husband’s salary was also very high. The two had just gotten married and did not have any savings yet.

That was why she needed to borrow money urgently from me.

Trevor fell silent.

Seeing him silent, I said, “She’ll definitely pay it back by the end of the year. Just send her $50,000.”

When he saw how resolute I was, he said, “Our money’s locked in a fixed deposit. If we cash it out early, we’ll lose $6,000 in interest.”

“But Bella is in trouble right now! You can earn interest anytime. Emergencies don’t wait around.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re not lending her that money.”

Looking at his cold and heartless face, I felt utterly disappointed.

“Fine! You don’t need to. Give me back the money I give you every month.”

I thought he would feel something when I put it like that.

Trevor became agitated.

“We’re a family! Why are you keeping score like that? It’s not like I don’t want to lend her that money! I just can’t withdraw it right now! You can’t just take money out of a fixed deposit.”

Did he really think I was a fool?

Bella called again. I looked at Trevor.

He slammed the door and left.

When I answered Bella’s call, I steadied my breath and lied that I had not yet talked to Trevor. I told her we would discuss it in the evening.

Bella cautiously asked, “Trevor doesn’t want to lend me the money, does he?”

I quickly said, “No, that’s not it! He’s swamped with work today. I haven’t told him yet. Just give me some time. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

After that, Bella happily hung up.

That night, Trevor and I had a fierce argument.

It even got to the point where we were about to come to blows.

I smashed everything in the house. He cursed at me as he handed me $25,000.

“I’ll only lend you half!”

At that moment, instead of feeling happy about getting the money, I sat on the floor and wailed bitterly because of how hard it was to even ask for my own money from him.

It was my money. Why did I have to beg for it like it was his?

I borrowed another $25,000 from a coworker. I finally had $50,000 in total to give to Bella.

Bella happily thanked me. She even said she wanted to call Trevor herself to thank him for being kind enough to lend her the money.

I did not have the heart to stop her. I told her that sending him a thank-you text would suffice.

The next second, Trevor received a thank-you text from Bella.

He asked me, “You lent her $50,000? Where did the other half come from?”

This time, I did not argue with him. I said calmly, “I borrowed it from someone else.”

“You only get $150 as pocket money a month. How are you supposed to pay back $25,000 back to them? Let me tell you right now, I’m not covering it for you!”

I looked at him as if I had heard the funniest joke. I kept silent and turned to head into the small bedroom.

I thought he would come looking for me. Instead, he fell fast asleep in the master bedroom as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He got up the next morning and acted as if nothing had happened.

But I could sense that his mood was off.

We went to work as usual and came home as usual. We went to the supermarket together to buy groceries.

When I asked him what he wanted to eat, he gave me a brisk reply and told me to decide by myself.

Seeing him like that, I could not be bothered to ask further.

At the checkout, I organized the month’s worth of groceries while listening to the cashier announce the total.

It cost $101.

I was short by $1.

I turned to look at Trevor. He was standing far away at the exit.

His eyes darted in every direction. He just would not look at me.

The cashier said again, “Miss, your total is $101.”

Embarrassed, I took out $100 and called Trevor.

He glanced at his phone. Then, he put it back into his pants pocket.

The people queuing behind started to complain.

“Come on, it’s just a few things! How long does it take to check out?”

“What’s up with young people these days? Living paycheck to paycheck! Seriously? Are you stressing over $1?”

“People are waiting behind you! If you’re broke, why even come to the supermarket?”

The complaints grew louder. I had no choice but to leave behind a condiment I liked. I barely manage to check out and leave.

Although the cashier said nothing, she looked at me in annoyance.

When I walked over to Trevor with the items, he said impatiently, “Why did it take you so long just to check out?”

I felt a knot in my chest and said softly, “It’s because I didn’t have enough money. I called you, but you didn’t answer. That’s why it took so long.”

“You don’t have enough? Borrow some from a coworker, then. Aren’t you supposed to be so good at that?”

I looked at him in disbelief as I found it utterly ridiculous.

“You borrow money only for emergencies. Coming to the supermarket is to buy food for both of us. Why did you just leave?”

Trevor sneered with his hands in his pockets.

“I spent money on groceries last week. This week, it’s your turn.

“Besides, when you go to the supermarket, you need to spend within your means. You can’t just buy whatever you see.

“I’m not like you. I’m not used to buying useless stuff. I only buy what we need. That’s why I never go over budget, not even by $1.”

I was so angry that I could not help but laugh.

Every month, I gave him over $10,000, yet I did not even have the right to spend more than $100 on groceries!

Before I could say anything, he picked up the groceries and walked out.

He yelled at me to hurry up and follow.

Seeing that there was a crowd, I did not make a scene. I followed behind him.

After we got home, he took the groceries out.

“Four apples for $10? You actually bought those? What are these? Gold-plated tomatoes? And these potatoes? There were ones for ten cents a pound. Why did you buy these?”

Listening to his endless nagging, I lost my composure.

I picked up the bag and threw it out the door along with the groceries.

“Faye White, are you out of your mind? Why are you throwing away perfectly good food?”

I could no longer suppress my anger.

“Yeah, I’m out of my mind!”

Trevor gave me a dirty look and picked up the groceries one by one.

He rinsed the food and veggies that were scattered on the floor with water and placed them on the dining table.

“You must be really rich! Throwing away $100 worth of groceries just like that!” he said sarcastically.