Today I had to monitor examinations as long as 4 hours in all . During the time , we must keep an eye on the students  . We are forbidden to read books or use cell phones . What can I do ? I took out my pen and write randomly on a piece of paper . I thought of my mother-in- law . It is nearly 8 years since she passed away suddenly .

She was always saving。She never spends any money buying clothes for herself . When I got married and lived with her , I found some of her clothes had been patched。 Didn’t she want new clothes as a woman ? Did she feel worried about what to wear when she planned to go to visit her relatives ? I always like wearing new and beautiful clothes . I proposed to make some new clothes for her , but she refused . Was her decision related to her past hard life ? Seeing this , I stole some of her clothes and asked my own mum to buy some cloth and asked tailors to make clothes for her according to the size of her old clothes. I was sure that she wouldn’t go shopping with me . I prepared for her some blouses ,trousers and even shorts . I still remember her smile on her face when she folded the new clothes , although she criticized me for wasting money . And I also remember she told our neighbours that her daughter–in-law made many clothes for her . I felt a bit ashamed . Compared with her , I almost did nothing . Sometimes she even tolerated walking more than 10 miles or sold empty juice bottles in order to save money to buy ice cream for her grandson . In fact , she didn’t need to be so harsh to herself . I didn’t know what kind of life she had lived .

She was hard-working . She got up early and cooked porridge every morning when we had summer vacation . My husband said we should take the place of her to prepare the breakfast . But I didn’t understand why she got up so early since no one needed to go to work .How couldn’t she feel sleepy after making shoes so late the night before ?  Why couldn’t she sleep a little more ? When we were away at work and there were only her and grandfather , it was always her to wash the vegetables , cut the meat into pieces , and tended the kitchen fire and grandfather cooked the meals .So she couldn’t cook by herself and neither had she made any decision at home .When I got married , I almost knew nothing about cooking . But I got a lot of chances to learn to cook while she tended the fire . In this way , my mother got surprised at my progress in cooking . I was thankful to mother-in –law , because of her trust and encouragement .
  She suffered a lot of injustice。She was the youngest daughter of her family . She was father’s-in-law

second wife . The first one died because of illness. When she gave birth to the second daughter , her husband didn’t do nothing but got very angry . Father has an ache in his waist since he was young , so she did most of the work.

·                                 She didn’t get enough concern from others 。She died of  cerebral hemorrhage . In the same afternoon, she harvested the rice in the field.

After she died , I still felt she still would come back from the usual way. It seemed that she had been to her neighbour’s。

What if mother-in-law is still alive ?