I bumped into a few of my old elementary school classmates by chance.
Some of them had gone on to middle school, while others stayed at home, living comfortable, sheltered lives as young ladies.
I didn’t intend to strike up a conversation with them at first.
Yet after a few brief exchanges, I realized that I saw through life far more clearly than any of them.
Back in our school days, I had been the most naive and clueless girl in the room.
Now, the tables had turned, and they were the ones who seemed naive and oblivious.
They were still trapped inside unrealistic daydreams, completely blind to the harsh reality of the world.
Every single one of them was dressed up impeccably, looking like delicate goods displayed in a shop window.
Their eyes constantly drifted toward young men passing by.
Their minds were filled with romantic fantasies of love, living lives that felt charming yet utterly hollow.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but find it ridiculous.
“They just don’t know any better,” I thought to myself.
I could understand and forgive their innocence.
They had food on the table and clothes on their backs, with zero worries about basic survival.
When your stomach is full and your body is warm, of course romance is the only thing left to occupy your mind.
To them, love between men and women was just a game of spinning a web—testing each other, trying to catch one another.
Girls from wealthy families spun larger nets, giving them the chance to meet far more suitors.
They could take their time, picking and choosing their ultimate destiny with quiet confidence.
As for me, I had nothing—not a single cent to my name.
I didn’t even have a tiny corner to call my own, let alone a place to spin a net.
I had no luxury to choose; I could only stare reality straight in the face.
I either had to grab onto any chance of survival, or be swallowed alive by life itself.
I was far more awake than any of them, living grounded in the raw truth of the world.
Yet that clarity carried a bitter, brutal weight that words could hardly describe.