Half an Acre of Barren Land

When Liu Daya was five, her mother died in childbirth. From then on, she was left to run wild without anyone looking after her. At six, she became a little beggar in town, trailing behind a pack of boys and scrambling for food. No one even realized she was a girl. When she was eight, her father decided to take a second wife and wanted to sell her for money. He drugged her and sent her to the matchmakers' house in town. But while her guards weren't paying attention, she managed to escape. She slipped medicine into her father's and stepmother's food, took her household registration papers and the family's money, and ran away.