This book is a purely autobiographical work. Some events have been fictionalized for artistic purposes, so please don’t assume they happened to you. A slow-paced, realistic story about the half of my life spent struggling against fate.
My name is Ma Xiaochuang. I’m a poor kid from the countryside, born with a defect in one eye. Life was harder for me than for other people from the very beginning.
I dropped out of school early to make my way in the world. While working at a restaurant, learning to prep ingredients, I fell in love for the first time. But the other person’s parents looked down on me in front of everyone, trampling my dignity underfoot.
After that, I drifted from place to place, trying to get by. I worked on railway construction and hauled steel rails, then found a job at a cardboard box factory. There, I finally met someone who understood me and warmed my heart. I thought we could spend our lives together in peace, but our time together was too brief, and in the end, they couldn’t stay by my side.
After leaving the box factory, I joined a construction crew and moved from place to place until I reached the unfamiliar city of Jiangzhou. Alone in a strange place, I struggled to make a living and scraped together enough to open a bottled-water shop. Carrying water jugs up flights of stairs every day, braving the wind and sun, I gradually made a place for myself in the city through honesty and perseverance.
Little by little, I built up a network of contacts and some savings. I branched out into construction projects and started a wine business, enjoying a brief spell of success at the top of my life.
But fate always seems to play tricks on ordinary people. One unexpected setback after another brought my business crashing down, sending me plummeting from the clouds to the bottom in an instant.
My life has been half a lifetime of heartbreak and hardship, of success and misfortune, of swallowing my grievances and gritting my teeth through it all.
No savior came to my aid, and there were no shortcuts. I endured and fought my way forward, one step at a time.
The more fate tries to keep my head down, the more I refuse to give in. I’ll fight it to the bitter end for the rest of my life!
