[Rural Setting in the 1960s] [Cutting Off Ties and Fighting Back] [Getting Rich Through Herbal Medicine] [Clear-Headed Hustle]
In the winter of 1963, the Xu family's sixth daughter was born. Her own father tossed her into an abandoned brick kiln and left her to die.
Xu Deshan, a blind man who lived at the end of the village, carried her home by lamplight and kept her alive with rice water and herbs. He named her Xu Sui.
For eighteen years, she did the hardest work for her biological parents next door, but never got so much as a hot meal in return.
Then, when she turned eighteen, her blind uncle fell gravely ill. Her biological mother showed up with new clothes and a smile for the first time ever. "My girl! Come home with me. I'll pay for your uncle's treatment."
Xu Sui's eyes welled up at the word "girl," but that night she heard her parents next door doing the math: an 800-yuan bride price, 400 already collected, which they planned to use to pay off her younger brother's debt.
And the man who wanted to marry her was a tyrannical widower from town, whose first wife's death was shrouded in mystery.
Xu Sui sewed five yuan into the sole of her shoe, hid her blind uncle's old medicine book, and memorized the day they planned to come for her.
She would never agree to this marriage. She would save the man who had raised her.
In front of the villagers gathered in the courtyard, she exposed the bride-price deal: "Whoever took the money can pay it back."
With fifteen yuan borrowed, she took her blind uncle to the city. She started by sorting medicinal herbs, saving for his treatment, learning how to inspect goods, and opening a little shop. Bit by bit, she turned the herbs from the mountains into a business of her own.
Her biological father wanted to sign on her behalf, her biological mother wanted to take her medicine money, and her younger brother was still waiting for her to buy him a house.
Xu Sui said, "Every cent of my money has somewhere to go, and none of it is going to you."
Later, Shansu Hall finally established itself, and her blind uncle could at last see her face clearly.
She set a hot meal by the old man's hand. Beside her was the love of her life, someone who had known her for years, and in the courtyard, their daughter ran after the wheat ears.
"Uncle, dinner's ready."
