Siheyuan: An Orphaned Technical School Student Finds Comfort Even in Coarse Grains

Reborn as an orphan in a 1963 hutong, with his father gone and his mother dead, he lives alone in a two-room home. He's about to graduate from medical school, but after searching every tin, all he has left is half a kilo of cornmeal. A neighbor comes over with a bowl. "Xiao Du, why don't we pool our food? I've still got half a jar of pickles." I stare at the ration coupon stub in the corner: thirty-two jin a month. No matter how hard life gets, I've got to keep going.