At my husband Jonathan Collins and my wedding, my mother-in-law Elsa Collins insisted on going on stage to give a speech.

She held the microphone and her face was full of wrinkles from smiling.

"Today is my son Jonathan's wedding. Thank you all for coming. Seeing Jonathan marry a beautiful and sensible city girl without spending a penny, I think he is capable, and I am so lucky!"

When I heard this, I looked gloomy.

I stared at Elsa on the stage, met her gaze, and found she looked proud.

It turned out that my understanding and kindness were just making me cheap in their eyes.

Elsa was still speaking on the stage, praising Jonathan. He was the only college student in his village and became a university teacher after graduation.

When he was in school, many girls pursued him. And I, a city girl, didn't ask for anything but even gave Jonathan a house, car, and money just to marry him.

"Men should learn from Jonathan. If you are good enough, many girls will be eager to marry you.

"We said we couldn't afford a house or a car, but she was eager to marry Jonathan. It was said that she almost broke up with her parents to marry Jonathan.

"Her parents only have one daughter, so to let her live a happy life, they brought her a house and a car, and gave her money.

"Jonathan's father and I didn't want to agree to this marriage. She gave us a house, a car, and money just to marry Jonathan, so I was afraid there was something wrong with her.

"But now everything is fine. She is pregnant. I'm relieved that she can give birth."

Jonathan wanted to rush over to stop Elsa when she said the first word but was held back by his father Morgan. I saw them look gloomy. Jonathan looked at me apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, Chole, my mother must have drunk too much."

"What do you mean?" Morgan glanced at me with disdain and said, "Your mother is right, you did marry her without spending a penny!

"I heard that you even paid for the banquet and wedding. Chole, it's not that we look down on you, but this is the first time in my life that I have seen someone so eager to get married."

Jonathan and I knew each other in college. He was good-looking and was good at talking and studying. Many girls, including me, favored him at the beginning of the school year.

I had always been bold and unrestrained in my attitude towards love. When other girls only secretly looked at Jonathan, I had already brought him breakfast and water.

Once when it was raining heavily and I heard that he was trapped in the library, I rushed to the library with an umbrella. However, I caught a cold and had a fever later.

Jonathan bought me some antipyretic medicine. I went downstairs in my loose pajamas with a fever patch on my forehead to get it. Just as I was about to turn around and go upstairs, Jonathan grabbed my arm and said, "Chole, I'm not worthy of you doing this."

I turned my head to look at his eyes and said, "It's worth it because I like you."

Jonathan's face turned red instantly, and I felt his hand holding my arm tremble.

I took advantage of this and added, "I have been pursuing you for so long, and I like you a lot, why don't you consider being with me?"

Jonathan lowered his head with red ears, and I just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

After a long time, Jonathan raised his eyes and nodded.

Then we were together.

No one was optimistic about our relationship. After all, I was recognized by everyone as a girl from a wealthy family, but he came from the countryside.

A friend advised me, "Just date him, but don't ever think about marrying him. You two have different family backgrounds. You will suffer if you marry him."

I smiled and said nothing.

Why couldn't a city girl and a country boy get married? Who stipulated only people from the same family background could get married?

My rebellious mentality made me be with Jonathan for six years, and we even started to discuss marriage.

My parents went crazy when they heard that I was going to marry Jonathan. They first tried to convince me, "Dating is different from marriage."

They also said earnestly, "The economic gap between our families is so big, once you get married, there will be many conflicts over money."

In the end, they even asked all my friends to persuade me not to marry Jonathan.

I responded perfunctorily, but I was busy choosing wedding photos and a wedding planning company.

I liked Jonathan. I had been with him for six years but we had hardly ever quarreled.

I understand that his family was not well off, so I gave him gifts every holiday and he didn't need to prepare for anything.

While the girls in my office received the coffee ordered by their boyfriend, I took the initiative to order it for Jonathan.

My colleagues all said I was crazy and that Jonathan must have cast a spell on me because no man wouldn't prepare gifts for his girlfriend.

But I thought they were biased. I didn't think men had no right to receive a gift.

They explained, "We mean if you prepare a gift for him, he should also prepare a gift for you. How could he just receive a gift but not prepare anything?"

I explained on behalf of Jonathan, "He doesn't have much money! And he has to send part of the money he earns back home."

"It doesn't matter if the gift is expensive. Even if it's worthy of just a few hundred dollars, or a few dozen dollars, it's fine if he chooses it carefully."

I explained again, "Maybe he doesn't know how to choose a gift."

"Then he can just transfer you some money. "

Then I didn't know how to explain this.

Jonathan and I had been together for six years. He only gave me fifty dollars once the first year we were together. Later, he made an excuse that he had no money, and I expressed my understanding of him. Since then, he never gave me anything.

I convinced myself that his family was so poor that he had no money to buy me gifts. After I started working, I convinced myself again that most of the money he earned was sent back home.

It might be because I'd deceived myself for too long, when Elsa said in front of me that their family wouldn't offer us anything for our marriage, I still convinced myself that I should follow their family custom.

But I was still sad for a long time because I didn't get a penny from his family. During that time, I even treated Jonathan coldly.

To please me, Jonathan bought me my favorite cake for the first time. He said, "I love you, Chole. I don't want our love to be tainted by money. You know our family's financial situation. If my family was better off, I would have given you money."

He even promised me, "Wait for me. When my salary exceeds twenty thousand dollars a month, I will take you on vacation. After we get married, I will give you my bank card."

I must have been insane. Anyone could tell he wouldn't keep his promise, but I still believed him. Even when I told my parents that Jonathan's family wouldn't offer me anything, I was still very proud. I was sure that the relationship between Jonathan and I was so pure that we didn't need to talk about money.

Jonathan, who regarded money as nothing, said, "Chole, how much will your family give us?"

Seeing that I was skeptical, he explained, "The money your parents give to you is a guarantee for you. I am just curious."

When I said carelessly that my parents would give me two hundred thousand dollars and a car, I noticed he looked excited. During that time, he took me to see cars every day and said that he could finally have a car of his own after working for so long.

I wondered if he had misunderstood something. My parent brought the car for me but not for him. Why was he so excited?