Returning to the Water

Lin Wanqing grew up by Dongting Lake in a family that favored sons over daughters. Her parents fought constantly, and even as a little girl she had to shoulder all the housework. Being scolded and beaten, and swallowing her grievances, were part of everyday life. Some of the few warm memories from her childhood came from her maternal grandmother and aunt’s family. Her childhood playmate Zou Fang drowned young, but her lingering spirit formed a bond with Wanqing, silently protecting her through countless difficult nights. The kindness and cruelty of country folk, neighborhood disputes, and harassment by local troublemakers all left a deep mark on her growing years. At school, her family’s poverty left her struggling at every turn. She had an old schoolbag and barely enough stationery, and had to endure her classmates’ exclusion and ridicule. But Wanqing was stubborn at heart and longed to change her fate through education. In 1996, a catastrophic flood swept through her hometown, destroying their home and forcing the family to flee to safety. She witnessed the joys and sorrows, life and death brought by the disaster, and after the waters receded, everyone struggled to rebuild their lives amid the ruins. Under the crushing weight of life, Wanqing was forced to leave school and say goodbye to her home. She moved from place to place, making a living in Huarong, Fugou, and elsewhere, tasting the hardships of life at the bottom. Later, she traveled far away to make her way in Zhuhai and Guangzhou. As a migrant worker far from home, she ran into old acquaintances, weathered the ups and downs of love, and witnessed the shifting fates of friends and family around her. Even with the shadow of her childhood family always at her heels, she grits her teeth and keeps fighting, striving to find a place of her own in the bustle of everyday life. Set against the backdrop of a waterside town, this novel tells of an ordinary girl’s hardships, bonds, and fight to save herself. Though covered in mud, she never bows to fate.