A Second-Time Bride’s Return to the Loess Homeland

This is a story about returning to one's roots, about the struggle between rules and human nature, and about finding reconciliation through guilt and redemption. The wind across the loess slopes will remember the warmth hidden in cornmeal porridge, the longing tucked beneath a pillow, and the confessions before the graves. In the end, they all become the warmest glow of home. Rules may hold back the loess, but they cannot sever the ties of blood; time may smooth away sharp edges, but it cannot wear down the tenderness in people's hearts.

A “second wife” and a “married-out daughter,” with no children of her own, she endures the hostility of her stepson, Wang Qiang, in a cold kitchen and a cold bed. Her only wish is to return to her parents' side after a century has passed. But the old saying that “a married daughter is like water spilled from a pitcher” stands in her way, with ancient customs barring her return. For thousands of years, the wind across the Loess Plateau has carved the earthen houses and old locust trees of Lijiawa with the wrinkles of time. Li Xiulian's life is like the crooked jujube tree on the slope, taking root alone through wind and rain. She first married Zhang Dashan, who despised her, and they divorced. Then she married Wang Laoshi, and just as she began to find a little warmth, her husband passed away.