The Tuoliugou We Can Never Return To

That autumn, three young men from the city arrived at Tuoliugou on the southern Henan plain. There were earthen houses, old locust trees, endless fields of wheat, and one sincere, plainspoken face after another. They farmed, hauled water, and endured the winter here, weathering storms and disasters and forging bonds they would never forget. Tuoliugou had none of the city's bustle, but its soil held a deep and lasting weight. They wanted to go back, but could never return. These were years etched into their lives, the youth and homesickness of an entire generation.