1. In the 22nd year of Guangxu's reign, Lin Beihe, a neighbor of Zoutang at the foot of Sangpu Mountain in Jieyang, lost his father at the age of seven. His land was occupied by his uncle from the same clan. His mother had no choice but to remarry in a distant village. Beihe lives under a fence, herding cattle and collecting firewood every day. The only thing she thinks about is a small jar of Zoutang pear preserves left by her grandmother. It moistens the lungs and relieves coughs. It is her only sweet thing.
2. Chaoshan has suffered from drought for several years and rice prices have skyrocketed. My uncle is addicted to gambling and is in debt. He is lured by a middleman in the Shantou Piglet House to sell the thirteen-year-old Beihe to a wealthy businessman in Nanyang Sumatra for eight silver dollars to fill a house. He falsely claims that he is giving her extra blessings.
3. Beihe was locked up in the Mayu Pig House in Shantou, where he witnessed the abduction, beating, and branding of old, weak, women, and children. He realized that he was a "pig flower" being trafficked. He escaped several times and was caught and beaten. Most of the preserved pears were taken away by the steward, leaving only the last half of the can hidden under his underwear.
4. When we boarded the ship at the dock, 3,400 Chinese workers and pigs filled the bottom cargo hold, with less than half a foot of space. There was no fresh water, coarse grains mixed with sand, diseases spread, and dead bodies were thrown into the sea from the side cabins every day. Zheng Musen, a fellow from Jieyang on the same ship, appears: his mother is seriously ill and he has three younger siblings to feed. He voluntarily signs a five-year contract to sell himself to Southeast Asia to carry grain and tap rubber. He carries a can of his own Zoutang pear preserves on the road, which he originally left for his mother to relieve her cough.
5. After sailing for half a month, they sailed into the Qizhou Ocean. The waves were monstrous, the cabin was stuffy and miasma was rising to the sky, Beihe was in a coma due to high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The rich businessman's attendants thought it was unlucky that she was sick, so they directly dragged her to the lower-class abandoned cabin and threw her next to the pile of dead bodies, leaving her to fend for herself.
