Set in the mid-1980s, this story follows three generations, two love stories, and one marriage. Through comedy, the author tells a distinctive tale of “rural romance,” celebrates the traditional virtues of the Chinese people, offers an honest and objective portrait of the spirit of Northeast China's farmers at the time, and brings to life a cast of vivid, familiar country folk.
Wang Yongde had four sons. He worked himself to the bone arranging marriages for them, and even after turning sixty, he was still doing everything he could to find a wife for his youngest son.
To ease his father's burden, the fourth son ran away from his wedding and went to the city to find work. Little did he know that Er Feizi, who had secretly loved him, would follow him. Their journey in search of work was fraught with danger...
The eldest son, who was born in violation of the family planning rules, was no help to his father. Instead, he caused one problem after another, yet was dead set on having a son of his own...
The third son, who lived next door to Wang Yongde, longed to know what it was like to be a father, but his wife was infertile...
The second son, a teacher in town, wanted to help his father shoulder the family's burdens, but couldn't stand up to his wife...
Auntie Fifteen, widowed for half her life, and San Longzi had been childhood sweethearts, but the lovers could never be together...
Grandma, who didn't know how to spend money, folded countless little silver ingots from the foil in her cigarette packets and asked people to burn them for her when she died...
Through the intertwined clashes of progress and backwardness, kindness and ignorance, modern civilization and traditional culture, the story unfolds into a series of tragedies and comedies that move the soul.
With its weighty themes, twists and turns, vivid atmosphere of everyday life, lively characters, concise and expressive language, and witty, humorous storytelling, this is a work well worth reading.
Although there are some differences between the era in the work and the era I lived in, as a person born in the 1970s, I am very familiar with the plot of the story. This is a novel that is very close to life and very logical. As a general reader, I like it very much because I am also from the Northeast and am very familiar with the plot and some dialects in the novel. It's not as exaggerated as some modern novels. I personally think that if this novel is adapted into a TV series, it will definitely be as good as the popular TV series such as "Country Love". Give this novel a big thumbs up👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
It's very well written, but a bit short.
It's well written, and I still enjoyed reading it. I recommend it.
Very well written, I like it
Pretty good novel
The writing is more realistic, I like it.