No one expected Dad’s bag of dried fish…

My monthly salary was barely enough to pay daily expenses, and we could only save a small amount for emergencies. How long would it take for us to bestow a house or buy a new car?

Last weekend, I was at home alone while my wife took our child to visit a friend. A person from my wife’s hometown, who had just come to the city, arrived with a package from my father-in-law and mother-in-law for their daughter and grandchild.

I thought it would be something expensive, but to my sh0ck, it was dried fish. This was a local specialty from my wife’s hometown, and she liked to eat it, so her parents often sent it. However, I thought the fish was cheap and smelled aw.ful—it only suggests the poverty in my wife’s family. They never delivered us anything of value, just these cheap, sm.elly local gifts.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

After my wife wasn’t home, I angrily threw the bag of fish into the trash outside. Just then, our neighbor occured to walk by and saw me. She asked what it was, and I vaguely said the fish had gone bad and I was throwing it away. I saw her sniffing the fish and then taking the bag back to her house.

Clearly, the fish wasn’t spoiled, and she probably just liked it, so she decided to consume it. Their family wasn’t w.ell off either. It seemed like we were all po.or people suffering from each other!