My Years of Passion

Some say I have a keen eye, while others say I caught the pulse of the times. But I know the truth: I was just a little luckier than most.

In the twelfth lunar month of 2002, my mother ran off. She had been kidnapped and brought here. My father died, which you could say he deserved. With nowhere to go, I walked twenty kilometers to town, where I met Sister Qiu, whose husband had just died.

My name is Lu Zhou. My friends call me A-Zhou, too. A-Zhou's high school grades were nothing to write home about...