A Left-Behind Rural Girl: He Xiaoyu's Coming-of-Age Story

He Xiaoyu is a rural girl whose parents went away to work and left her to grow up in their hometown in the countryside.

She was timid and frightened, often scolded, beaten, and bullied. She grew up surrounded by fear and darkness.

Her parents always said they worked far away, suffering and toiling, all for her, to earn money for her and give her a good life.

Everything was for her.

But He Xiaoyu had spent her whole childhood with no one to love or care for her.

There was no money, either. She always wore hand-me-down clothes and ate leftovers. Poverty and hunger followed her everywhere.

Year after year, she struggled to grow up...

Only after she grew up did He Xiaoyu understand.

What her parents called doing it for her was nothing but a lie dressed up as love.

The truth was, her parents had never really loved her.

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The hidden, difficult experiences of a rural left-behind girl growing up.