The midsummer sun beat down fiercely on the earth. Qingping Village, nestled in the southern mountains, was surrounded by lush rice fields and rolling hills. In a dilapidated earthen house at the eastern end of the village, seventeen-year-old Lin Xiaomei sat in the dim room, mending a faded homespun garment by the faint light of an oil lamp.
Lin Xiaomei had lost both parents when she was young and depended on her elderly grandmother for support. Their hard life had not dimmed the light in her eyes...
