With $15,000 in monthly interest, plus daily expenses and costs for his mom and sister, we needed at least $20,000 a month just to get by.
Under those conditions, coming up with $700,000 was next to impossible.
But I'm stubborn by nature.
Once I set my mind on something, I wouldn't give up.
From that day on, I did whatever I could to make money.
Hauling bricks and giving massages.
Being a bridesmaid at weddings and mourning at funerals.
Selling drinks at bars and singing at karaoke houses.
As long as it didn't involve selling my body or breaking the law, I did it.
In my best month, I made $50,000.
Surviving on less than four hours of sleep a night, I lived like this for six years.
Just as I was about to hit that $700,000 mark, my body finally gave out.
I knew I couldn't keep putting it off. That day, I found the jade bracelet my grandmother had left me in my bag.
It was something her grandmother had passed down to her, and it was the only keepsake my grandmother left me.
When that keepsake turned into stacks of cash, I couldn't hold back my tears any longer.
I broke down in tears.