The Salt Horse Road Through Wind and Snow

Ding Santai never had more than a few days of peace in his life. Yurong died young. Feng Gu perished in a blizzard on the Salt Horse Trail. Cuihong and Nannan vanished into the boundless forests of the Qinling Mountains. Three women, three relationships that never got the chance to reach a happy ending, like three thorns lodged in the turbulent course of his life. In the end, he stayed on the loess plateau, keeping watch over the grave of his father. It wasn’t that he didn’t want another companion. He was afraid: afraid of drawing someone else into his fate, afraid of tasting loss again. This restraint, this refusal to write a fourth woman into his life, carries more power than forcing a reunion in old age. His loneliness isn’t simply having no one beside him. It is carrying thoughts of three women and guarding a weighty sense of attachment, while holding fast to his roots on the loess plateau. This lingering sorrow gives Ding Santai greater depth and adds another layer to the “Loess Plateau” series: the helplessness and resilience of ordinary people caught in turbulent times.