In a secluded mountain village where the Chao River winds through eighteen bends, a dozen or so households all share the surname Gao. The villagers, numbering several dozen, are like one big family. On the surface, they seem as still as the river in winter, frozen over, but beneath that calm, currents run deep. They disregard the bonds of shared ancestry, each household hoping to see the others fall into poverty. They know nothing of the beauty and love that exist in the world. When Zhang Jialiang, the male protagonist, becomes the live-in son-in-law of Gao Shumei, the female protagonist, it sets off a chain reaction of conflicts over self-interest. Beauty and ugliness, good and evil, love and hatred are all laid bare in the turmoil. As you sow, so shall you reap. Without evil causes, there can be no bitter fruits. In the end, Gao Shumei leaps into the river and dies, while Zhang Jialiang elopes with his wife's sister-in-law, Zheng Xiaohong.
The work expresses the kind wish of good people to build a harmonious home. With a sharp pen, the author renders evil in vivid detail, penetrating to the depths of the soul. The descriptions of beauty spark the imagination, leaving one...
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any similarities are purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
