Hidden in the folds of the Loess Plateau is a village called Huaishugou. On a thunderstorm night in 1998, seven-year-old Ku Zao stood on the slope and watched her father fall under the power lines blown down by the wind. She didn't know that from that day on, her life would be like a crack on the roof of a cave dwelling - the harder she tried to fill it, the more the hole opened up.
Her mother remarried and thought she was a burden.
The blind grandma used a crutch to fumble to pull her up, but the blind grandma also died. She died in front of the stove, still holding half a piece of uncooked steamed bun in her hand.
Kuzao was kicked around by the whole village. The aunt beat her, and the children in the same village called her "the loser who killed the whole family." She was fostered by three families, and each family did not treat her as a human being - she had to cut pig grass before dawn, stepped on the ice shards with her bare feet in the middle of the winter, and there was always only leftovers from other people's food on the table.
When she was fourteen years old, Kuzao was adopted, thinking that good times were finally coming.
The person who adopted her is named Li Qiaolan. Aunt Qiaolan is a good person, but her son does not recognize her, and her daughter-in-law throws bowls every day. Kuzao suffered a lot of glares and difficulties in the Li family. She took over the housework of the whole family and had to serve her difficult mother-in-law.
But this Kuzao, whom no one wanted to see, never frowned during the eight years when Aunt Qiaolan was paralyzed. When she was wiping Aunt Qiaolan's body, she would whisper: "Auntie, don't be afraid. If you were willing to have me back then, I will remember it for the rest of my life."
Kuzao said that she had never resented anyone in her life. It's not because she is generous, it's because she is too tired and has no energy to hate. She left all her strength to stay alive—and to those who were willing to let her live.
