Reborn, I Sold Off My Family

At 43, Xie Qiuhe died in a hospital corridor.

The last thing to light up on her phone screen was a call from her younger brother, Xie Weidong. She answered. He said, “I've been pretty busy lately.”

The call lasted 43 seconds. Then she died.

Before she did, she remembered being 18.

Her father called her into the main room and told her he'd arranged a marriage for her: a bride price of 1,800 yuan, and the man had a bad leg.

She fell to her knees and begged her father. It was no use. She married him.

For the next 25 years, she farmed, worked odd jobs, and scrimped and saved to put her younger brother through school, from their village to the provincial capital.

Her brother's college graduation, his job, his marriage, his house: she took care of it all. The only thing he ever did for her was make that phone call before she died.

When she opened her eyes again, it was 1993.

Her father was in the main room discussing the bride price with a matchmaker from the Wang family. “Qiuhe! Come out!”

Xie Qiuhe stood up. This time, she wouldn't kneel.

In her hands was a copy of Major Events in China's Markets, 1993–2003.

She knew cotton cloth would soar in price, appliances would be sold in the countryside, and a crisis would hit in 1997.

All she lacked was capital, and she'd find it herself.

Starting with 16 yuan, she went from selling at the village market to wholesaling in the county town, and from selling a single bolt of fabric to building a company.

When her father told her to get married, she said, “I have my own money.”

When her mother told her to look after her brother, she said, “I'll look after myself.”

When her brother asked her to help him find a job, she said, “Your qualifications don't match.”

This time, she would live for herself alone.

As for Jiang Chibai, who worked at the supply and marketing cooperative and tried to steal her spot at the market the first time they met,

he said, “Let's do this together from now on.”

She flipped through her ledger and said, “Let's each get what we need.”

This isn't a story about revenge.

It's about a woman using her second life to finally live for herself.