Gu Jianping once had everything.
It was the early 1970s. My father was a well-known and capable person in the county. He always had candy in his pocket and new clothes for the New Year. My mother would cook longevity noodles with two eggs for him alone. He is the youngest of the Gu family, with three older sisters and two older brothers. He was raised in the hands of the whole family.
When I was eight years old, the sky fell.
My father died unexpectedly, and my mother died of illness six months later. The eldest brother and sister-in-law took over the family property, and the once-wealthy Gu family disappeared overnight. Gu Ping went from being the most favored youngest to being a burden to others.
At the age of fourteen, he burned his textbooks and left the county. I have done all kinds of dirty and tiring work in coal yards, construction sites, and cargo yards. I slept under a bridge, got into a fight, and my hands were covered with calluses and frostbite. After living like a wild dog for nine years, he learned to talk to people and ghosts, and his eyes had a fierceness that did not match his age.
At the age of twenty-three, he returned to the county town and found that he had no place to stay.
