He was a man with principles. After leaving his wife, Noah searched for his mother near the hotel. Luckily, he found her. His mother was staying in a small motel that cost only twenty dollars a night.

“Mother, you’re so capable. You can ride the bus all the way to South City alone, and you can even find me.” Noah hugged his mother, tears flowing down his cheeks.

His mother laughed. “Silly child! I’m only in my fifties, I’m not that old. I have a hunched back, that’s all, and some white hair. You can’t even call women my age living here in the city as old ladies! I’m literate too. I used the money you sent me and first went to town, then I rode the bus to the county town, and then took a taxi to the railway station. Just like that, step by step. You don’t think I can make my way to the big city?”

Noah looked at his mother sadly. His old mother must have used her entire life’s wisdom. She had never left the mountains. The letters she knew, she learned together with him when he was in