Because the little bit of money she earned from working after school was nowhere near enough to cover the tuition and living expenses for herself and her younger sister.
After dropping out of school, she worked odd jobs at restaurants in the small town. Two years later, she entrusted her eight-year-old sister to their uncle's family, packed a few sets of worn-out clothes, and boarded a train south with people from her village.
She could barely afford the tuition for elementary and middle school by working odd jobs in the small town, but if her sister wanted to attend vocational school, high school, or even university, it would be nowhere near enough.
For her sister's future, a seventeen-year-old girl who had never even left their small city once came to an unfamiliar southern coastal city, carrying a faded denim bag. Her eyes were filled with confusion and fear toward the future, yet they also held determination. It was a place where opportunity and danger existed side by side.
It was only 1983, when the wave of people heading south to find work was at its height. The train station was packed with people, like a sea of humanity, shoulder to shoulder, and every sort of person could be found there.
Fortunately, with an acquaintance from her village showing the way, she wasn't cheated the moment she got off the train, nor did she run into the black-clad bag snatchers, foot-stompers, motorcycle thieves, or the like. She smoothly took a small three-wheeled vehicle into a little processing factory with the villagers.
She hadn't read much, hadn't seen much of the world, didn't know much, and wasn't very brave. But she knew one thing: as long as she worked harder and harder, her sister's days at their uncle's house would be a