'Having kids is a woman's most important responsibility,' Beibei replies. 'A woman without kids is like a witch! That's what she said.'

CC screams after hearing it, 'A witch? She's too much.'

'Whatever she says, I don't care,' Beibei shrugs.

'Perhaps she wants to have a grandchild more than anything else now,' says Lulu.

'You should have told her that perhaps your son's concubine can help you make the dream of being a grandma come true,' says Niuniu.

'What else did she say to you?' asks CC.

Beibei mimics her mother-in-law, 'I wonder what has happened to modern women who only care about their looks and freedom! How come they have become so self-obsessed?'

'What did you say to her?' Lulu asks.

'I said that yes, our generation is selfish. The good thing about us is that we are allowed to be selfish and to think of ourselves.' Beibei smiles proudly, sipping her tea.

'Right on!' says CC. 'Actually, I think this kind of selfishness is better than self parenting. The Chinese parents use their kids to fulfil their dreams. I've found this to be more selfish! My parents, for example, they fled from the mainland to Hong Kong. After they got rich, they sent me to England when I was only two years old. They thought it was cool to have a daughter who speaks Oxford English, but they can't imagine the loneliness I felt when I was young.'

'My mother-in-law thinks exactly like your parents,' Beibei says. 'She said not having kids might be cool now, but all women eventually grow old one day. Your children are the continuation of your youth and charm. If a woman wants to be a complete woman, then she must have a child. She even used iron women such as Hillary Clinton and Madonna - as examples.'

Niuniu comments, 'That is such a cliche. It sounds like she gave you a lecture on socialist morals. You should tell her that you are saving China and the planet for not having children. The Chinese are already too productive!'

Lulu can't agree more. 'Look at the kids of the one-child generation nowadays. I feel sorry for them,' she says. 'They are their parent's one-shot. They are forced to study this and that. My nightmare is to go visit friends' houses and they have their kids play the piano, or practice English on me. Who cares if their kids play piano or violin!'

'I don't feel motherly at the age of 35,' Beibei adds. 'Sometimes I think I'm still a child myself. What's wrong with me?'

'Nothing is wrong with you,' CC answers. 'Like so many Chinese your age, you didn't have a childhood, so you're making up for it right now.'

Lulu chips in, 'It's expensive to raise kids. Nowadays, everyone has the marketplace in mind. Is the investment worth it? You spend so much money raising your kids and sending them to study abroad. When you get sick, all you get is just a phone call if you are lucky! I guess the return isn't that good.'

'I wonder if just we think like that,' Beibei says. 'Do other women, I mean women from the blue-collar world think like us?'

A waitress comes to add water for them. Niuniu asks the waitress, 'What do you say, as a woman, do you want children in the future?'

'That depends on who I marry. If I got lucky and if my children could be born in America, then I'd have five or six. One of them might even become president of the United States! If I married someone even poorer than me, then I wouldn't want children. I don't want to be dragging around kids and trying to squeeze on to public buses every day.'

'It's expensive to raise kids. Nowadays, everyone has the marketplace in mind. Is the investment worth it?'