In the mud-brick house, eighteen-year-old Li Ziqiang clenches his fists as he watches his sisters-in-law bicker over a bowl of rice and listens to his grandparents scold him unfairly. In an era of hunger, hardship, and tangled family conflicts, he is the son his family values least. He's experienced the warmth and coldness of human nature firsthand and seen more than enough domestic squabbles: schemes over dividing the household, secret battles between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, and fights between brothers over their share. Like thorns, they leave him covered in wounds.
Failing the college entrance exam doesn't break him, and the risks of "speculation and profiteering" don't stop him either. He starts by sneaking into the hills behind the village to gather wild goods and sell them for cash. Then he secretly learns carpentry, sets up a street stall, and opens a shop, navigating the gaps in government policy and gritting his teeth through the neighbors' disdain. He has faced scoldings from market inspectors and the frustration of relatives trying to leech off him. He has also endured accusations of being good for nothing, yet with nothing but his own two mud-caked legs, he carves out a path amid the tide of reform and opening up.
