Full-Time Daughter
by Huina Zheng
When my daughter Jing failed the graduate entrance exam for the second time, she said she would work first. After sending over fifty resumes, she received only one job offer, as a teaching assistant in a training center. She worked 10 hours a day. However, the first month’s salary was 1,785 yuan.
How ironic!
When Jing was young, my husband and I paid close attention to her study and signed her up for various tutoring classes. I always told her, “If you don’t study hard, you can only sweep the street as a cleaner or work in a restaurant as a waitress.” Her father would add, “With bad grades, you can’t even serve dishes!” Jing listened to us and studied hard. She graduated from a prestigious university but earned about one-third of a waiter’s monthly salary.
Such low-paid and tiring work would only burn her out. Employment pressure was tremendous, especially after the epidemic. But if she became a civil servant, she would have a stable job and endowment insurance. However, the entrance exam for the civil service was particularly competitive, so she needed to spare no effort to prepare for it.
After discussing with her father and grandmother, I told her, “You should stay at home as a full-time daughter, but you must also prepare for the civil service exam.”
“A stay-at-home daughter?” Jing said in surprise.
“Right. Similar to the housewife, you will be a house-daughter.”
Jing nodded. I continued, “Your father makes 20,000 yuan a month but will retire in three years. He will have a monthly pension of 8,000 yuan, I have 6,000 yuan, and your grandma has 4,000 yuan. You’ll work for us at home. Together, we will pay you 6,000 yuan a month.”
“What are the job responsibilities?”
Then I told her:
First, she must reply to all our WeChat messages and answer the phone.
Second, she will cook three meals daily and do all the house chores, but we will help her.
Third, she will provide emotional value by chatting with us every day.
The working hours are year-round. The bonus is board and lodging at home and a transportation allowance for driving our car.
“It’s hard to find a job. The pay is low. The commute is long. And you have to endure your boss and clients. But you won’t have such troubles if you work for us,” I told Jing.
That is how Jing became a caregiver for the family. We were all happy. Every morning after breakfast, she danced with me for one hour, walked with her grandma in the evening, and talked with us while watching TV for two hours at night. During the rest time, she prepared for the exams or went out with her friends.
Since last year, she had taken the written exams for civil servants ten times but failed. Her best performance was ranking second place, 2 points lower than the first-place examinee. Knowing the result, I blurted out, “After all the money we have spent on you and all the years we’ve put into your studies, why can’t you succeed even once? You wasted our money and efforts.”
Jing burst into tears and said she would look for work the next day. Her grandma said, “I have become used to Jing’s company. I can’t live without her.”
That night, my husband and I discussed it in our room. He said, “You can’t blame Jing for failing the civil service examinations. Only 1.47 percent of examinees were admitted last year.” I knew he was right.
He said, “Last year, when I was hospitalized, Jing kept vigil at the bedside, saving us the caregiver’s money. Last month, my mother fell ill. Jing accompanied her to the hospital, saving us the payment for a caregiver again. Will you be able to cope without her being at home?”
I couldn’t. Jing had been busy studying every day and had gone to cram school on weekends since 1st grade. We seldom had time talking with her. However, since she had become a full-time daughter, she spent more and more time with us. Her cooking skill has also improved by watching cooking videos.
My husband continued, “Hiring a caregiver will cost us at least 7,000 yuan, and the caregiver won’t love us as much as Jing does. We can’t find a better caregiver than Jing.”
I apologized to Jing that night. After that, Jing spent part of her salary on social security to get a pension when she is old. Jing is our only daughter, and we should think about her future. What will she do after we die?
We have two apartments and rent one of them. The rent is 4,000 yuan per month. We all bought life insurance, and the beneficiary is Jing. After we pass away, Jing will inherit the two apartments. She can live comfortably with the rent, our savings, and life insurance compensation we will leave to her, but she will be lonely.
I told Jing, “We can rest assured if you will have a child.”
She said, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
I said, “No need to fall in love or get married. To increase fertility, China has lifted restrictions on birth registration in many areas, which means women can legally have children without getting married. You can have a baby by in-vitro fertilization. We will help you raise the baby. If you’re married, your husband won’t help around the house. You will do all the housework and care for the kid and your in-laws without pay. You are better off as a single mother than if you were burdened with a husband.”
Jing said she needed time to think it over, but that was okay. She has time to think. Her father and I worked hard all our lives. Jing can have our support to iron out the wrinkles and furrows in her life. Such a happy life is what we all need.
Copyright © 2023 by Huina Zheng
