Half a Dream Shattered

Shen Jingya and Zhao Jian meet through a matchmaker and marry, but after the wedding Zhao Jian enforces an extreme 50/50 split: every ingredient, toiletry, and household item is divided down to the last cent, and even Shen Jingya's own sanitary pads or a massage chair bought for her mother draw harsh criticism. When Zhao Jian's parents visit, he demands that Shen Jingya entertain them alone; she turns the 50/50 rules right back on him, charging his parents for meals, washing up, toilet paper, and gas. Later, Shen Jingya brings her own parents over and pays out of her own pocket for quality goods, contrasting them with the cheap items Zhao Jian gives his own parents—thoroughly tearing off the Zhou family's mask of hypocrisy.