The Cross of Wisdom and Courage

Yongzhi was born in a remote village in western Hunan. Orphaned at a young age, he lived with his maternal uncle's family. A betrothal arranged before birth had always shaped Zhiyong's values and life choices. During his university years, as he pursued an ideal life, the handsome and ambitious Zhiyong carried that heavy cross on his back. He had wavered over the woman he loved in college, and as graduation approached, he had been uncertain about which path to choose. In the end, however, he returned to his hometown, became a township agricultural technician, and married his cousin Juhua, to whom he had been promised as a child, fulfilling an old person's long-held wish. He had thought he could set aside all his ambitions and ideals and live a quiet, ordinary married life. But fate had other plans, and troubles kept arising. Because they were close relatives, after ten months of pregnancy, Juhua gave birth to a child with disabilities. Faced with enormous medical expenses...