Born in a chaotic age, how can anyone speak of freedom?
Yao’er has made up her mind.
For a woman of low status, there is only one way to survive in this world: depend on a man.
Mother often talks about how deeply in love Grandfather and Grandmother were.
Yao’er doesn’t believe her.
She will never fall in love with anyone.
She will leave this place that has kept her trapped for more than a decade, and might keep her trapped for the rest of her life.
She will leave this place where swords hang overhead, ribbons flutter in the wind, and everything teeters on the brink of collapse.
She will leave. She won’t let her daughter follow the same path as the three generations of women before them.
She needs someone to help her escape her low status, shatter her “pardon from death,” and climb the mountains to admire the flowing waters.
She doesn’t want to be a bird in a cage.
She doesn’t need bright, beautiful feathers.
What she wants is something she has never had before.
Freedom.
