I have this colleague from China, let’s call him Lao Wang. Super hardworking, nice, and honest guy. He came to Singapore to work infrastructure/tech stuff, literally sweating like a pig every single day just to send money back home to support his wife in China.
On top of working like a dog, Lao Wang has a severe hairline issue. He is balding quite badly already, and his wife back home has been making noise, constantly showing displeasure and pressuring him about his looks. So, this poor guy has been living on an extreme budget in Singapore. He wants to save up every single cent not just for her daily expenses, but specifically to do a hair transplant/treatment just to make her happy and feel proud of him again.
You want to know how extreme his budgeting is? For dinner every single day, this grown man typically only eats two eggs with plain rice. That’s it. No meat, no vegetables, no flavor. Just carbs and two eggs because it’s the cheapest way to survive in SG while sending thousands back home. He is literally starving his own body to fix his head for her.
But yesterday, he completely broke down during lunch. He told me he wants to give up on life and his marriage already.
Apparently, a mutual friend of theirs back in China caught his wife red-handed at some high-end lounge, getting super cozy and intimate with a handsome bar host (those male PRs).
Bro, the contrast is eff disgusting. Lao Wang is here sacrificing his nutrition, eating eggs and rice, counting pennies, and working till his hairline recedes to his neck, while his wife is back home taking the hard-earned SGD he sends back to sponsor handsome, young bar hosts to sweet-talk her.
He was crying when he told me. He said, “I sacrifice so much, I eat less for her, I ruin my own health, but she is spending my money on other men.”
I honestly didn’t know how to comfort him. The sheer betrayal is insane. He’s a good man who just wanted to build a future and keep his wife happy, but got rewarded with a green hat (cuckolded) instead.
Told him to immediately stop sending money back, cut his losses, and go buy himself a proper steak dinner. But he just looks totally defeated. What else can I even do to help this brother?