May Every Year Bring a Bountiful Harvest

The Su family once lived comfortably, but when Old Man Su injured his leg in a workplace accident, the household became like a rice jar with a hole in the bottom, growing emptier by the day. A marriage proposal was withdrawn, rumors came knocking, and with spring plowing near, the family lacked both food and seeds. Su He could only grit her teeth and keep the whole family moving forward.

Lu Han was the quietest hunter at the foot of the mountain. He went into the mountains with a bow on his back and returned home with meat. He did not say much, but he had his own way of doing things. The Lu family did not look down on the Su family for falling on hard times. They only asked whether Su He was willing to build a life together in earnest. After the two families became related by marriage, Su He slowly brought sweetness to their impoverished life, working by the stove, in the fields, and along the mountain paths. Wild fruit could be boiled into candy, barren fields could feed a family, and even a broken-down house could, little by little, be replaced by a new one.

But before they had time to settle into their good fortune, a late blizzard bowed the eaves and sealed off the mountain roads. Some ran out of food, some lacked firewood, and some regretted not heeding the elders' advice. Amid the wind and snow, Su He gradually understood that a farming family's security never falls from the sky. It is a bundle of firewood, a sack of grain, and the warmth of a home, secured by a family holding on together through gritted teeth. Having grain left over year after year means refusing to bow to hardship and slowly turning bitter years sweet.