Siheyuan: With a Shelter, I Lay Low Through the Years of Famine

Zhou Ping'an wakes up in 1958, and the doomsday shelter he dug out with his own hands has followed him along with his soul. Everything seems calm on the surface, but he knows the hardest days are just around the corner.

In the courtyard, Yan Bugui's abacus rattles away, Jia Zhangshi wants to grab every advantage she can, and Yi Zhonghai preaches benevolence and morality while only looking out for himself. But Zhou Ping'an has no interest in getting tangled up with these people. Every day, he thinks about just one thing: before the famine fully sets in, turn the shelter's mu of fast-growing black soil and its pond, where the fish grow fatter and fatter, into a lifeline for his family.

The reeds in May conceal fish and wild ducks, while people at the pigeon market trade seeds for a mouthful of fine grain. Zhou Ping'an gradually moves supplies into his space and cautiously tests what he can take out, all while keeping an eye on the neighbors watching him. In a time when hunger matters more than anything and people's hearts are as fragile as paper, all he wants is to protect his parents and younger brother and keep his secret safe. If anyone dares reach for what he has, he won't mind letting them taste his shovel.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.