In the countryside of northern Anhui in the 1990s, there are no smartphones and no dazzling department stores. In Pinglong Village, a hundred or so households are packed onto a loess hillside. At sunrise, they shoulder their hoes and head to the fields; at sunset, cooking smoke curls around their rooftops. A farmer's life revolves around three major concerns: growing crops to make ends meet, saving money to marry, and staying home to live out one's days.
Back then, earning money was harder than climbing to heaven. Even a single cent had to be squeezed out through sweat. The depth of people's kindness and the goodness of their consciences were there for all to see. The village isn't large. One family borrows rice from another, neighbors gather firewood together, and familiar faces are everywhere. But you never know what lies in another person's heart. Once differences in wealth emerge, the better and worse sides of people's character become unmistakably clear.
The two most conspicuous households in the village have ended up living lives that are polar opposites.
Theme: The two most conspicuous households in the village have ended up living lives that are polar opposites.
