Strap

>Where Mao Zai was born, there was always a shiny old cloth strap hanging under the eaves. >My mother, Chen Dongying, said: "A girl's life is just one strap after another." >Mao Zai had just turned seven when she carried her younger brother Xiao Anzhi on her back. His urine seeped into her thin cotton-padded jacket and was cold.