Lord God, do you want a wife?

My name is Shi Zishan, and I was born with my parents’ expectation.

They were all uneducated people, so they spent ten dollars to find a fortune teller on the street to choose a name for me.

The fortune teller said that I was lacking the element of wood and that my name must contain the character "wood". He also said that my life would be full of ups and downs and that I would have a great disaster in my destiny.

My father has always been a good man. He never loses his temper. He overturned the fortune teller's stall and cursed him as a liar.

Finally, he was stopped by someone and had to pay two hundred yuan before he could leave.

But when they named me, the character “木” (wood) was still included in my name.

Maybe he was also afraid that what the fortune teller said was true, and he just hoped that I could grow up safely.

The yew trees stand majestically on the mountain tops, with deep roots and lush leaves.

He flipped through many books in the bookstore and found this poem, and named me Shi Zishan.

He said he hoped I would be as tough and unyielding as the yew tree, able to thrive no matter what the environment.

Although my family is not rich, it is full of laughter and warmth. My parents have tried their best to give me the best since I was a child. That was the happiest and warmest time for me.

However, at my happiest moment, fate stretched out its cold claws and ruthlessly dragged me into the abyss of despair.

It was a sunny afternoon. My father was sweating profusely at the construction site, and my mother was busy with housework at home.

I sat in the kindergarten classroom, my heart full of anticipation, waiting for the school bell to ring.

I clearly remember my mother telling me that she would make my favorite chicken wings for me after school, and I thought about that tempting pot of chicken wings the whole day.

However, that day, the once familiar ringtone became the most harsh bad news in my life.

I waited and waited at the school gate, but my mother never came to pick me up.

The kindergarten teacher was very nice to me and always stayed with me. Later, she received a phone call and her face was full of pity.

I didn’t understand why at that time, but later I found out - my father fell from a high altitude and was seriously injured.

The moment my mother received the call, the whole world seemed to collapse. She didn't care about me and rushed to the hospital.

All I saw was my father lying on the hospital bed, dying.

The steel bars pierced his legs and his clothes were stained with blood. The shocking scene made his mother collapse instantly. Her cries echoed in the hospital corridor, heartbreaking.

When my teacher sent me to the hospital, I only saw my mother sitting helplessly on the floor in the corridor.

My mother was a very clean person. I remember that she always had her hair combed very neatly and had a kind and gentle smile on her face.

But now her hair was disheveled, her face was tear-stained, and her eyes were bloodshot.

At that moment I felt like I didn't know her anymore.

I stood aside, hesitant to go over. I didn't understand what the doctor meant by "amputation", but I vaguely felt that something very bad had happened.

But what could I do? I was only a five-year-old child. I could only watch it all, feeling terrified and helpless.

In order to save Dad's life, Mom forced herself to sign the operation form.

Watching Dad being pushed out of the operating room and the doctor saying "the operation was successful", Mom also breathed a sigh of relief.

Later, my mother pushed my legless father out. I don’t know where they went, but when they came back, there was finally a long-lost smile in my mother’s eyes, just like people hiking in the desert seeing an oasis.

I thought it was over and our family could live happily together again like before.

I thought it was too simple...

Looking back now, it can be said to be naive and stupid.

Mom said we don't have a penny left...

I haven't eaten my mom's chicken wings for a long time...

The surgery drained all of my father's savings and saved his life, but he lost both legs and could no longer support the family as he used to.

We have no source of income.

The cost of my father's post-operative treatment was like a mountain pressing down on us.

In order to raise funds for follow-up treatment, my mother ran around and borrowed money from relatives and friends.

However, in this money-oriented society, few people are willing to lend a helping hand.

I saw my mother going out again, and I hoped that when she came back she would be like before, with a smile in her eyes.

I don't want her to be unhappy.

But this time it was not like that. When Mom came back, she had a big fight with Dad and scolded him for bringing it upon himself.

My mother's crying echoed in the house, while my father sat there without saying a word.

Later, in order to make a living, my mother found a cleaning job.

She gets up early and goes to bed late every day, and goes wherever she is needed.

As long as there is work to do, she will do it no matter how tiring it is.

She was busy in every corner of the city, and her hands became rough due to long-term contact with detergents.

After a while, my parents and I moved to a shabby little house in the suburbs. It was dark and damp, and the roof would leak whenever it rained.

Rainy days are what I look forward to the most. I count the raindrops falling into the house drop by drop. That is the only thing I can do.

It's like my toy keeps me company.

But my mother was not happy. She was once kind and gentle, but now she was worn down by life. She used to be not good at speaking, but now she can speak in fluent dialect and curse without repeating a word.

She cursed as she caught the dripping water in a bucket.

The water fell into the bucket "drip", and every drop seemed to hit my heart, reminding me of the scene when my father was injured.

I don’t know what I can do, I can only study hard. I just hope that when my parents look at my report card, there will be a smile on their sad faces.

My efforts paid off. Since I was a child, my family no longer had to worry about my tuition and book fees. Sometimes I even had extra money for living expenses.

Later, I was admitted to the university of my dreams, but the sky-high tuition and travel expenses made me feel depressed.

At that moment, I felt hopeless, as if I saw my future completely destroyed. I sat alone in the corner of the dilapidated hut, tears silently falling, my heart filled with endless despair.

I couldn't ask my mother for money like others did. I kept telling myself to be sensible and that being able to go to college was a gift from God.

At this time, a local university extended an olive branch to me. It was a school that I could not get into, and everyone there was either rich or noble.

They told me that all tuition fees would be waived upon admission, and that because of the nature of this school, the prize money for winning any competition would be very generous.

So I agreed.

I felt like a misfit in there, I was isolated.

But so what? My life is my own, why should I care about what others think?

I don't need friends either.

All my time is either spent working part-time or on the road competing.

I am very grateful to this school and want to win honor for the school as well as for the generous bonus.

Everything seems to be moving in the right direction.