To Live

With Jiazhen gone, Fugui feels like his “strong and healthy family ha[s] been smashed apart like a clay jar” (45). Despite his sadness, Fugui works hard in the fields to support his daughter, Fengxia, and his mother. Long Er now lives in Fugui’s old house and is the landlord, but he is kind to Fugui. He allows Fugui to rent five mus of good land, for which Fugui is grateful:

Looking back now, those days were both difficult and exhausting, but my heart was at peace. I thought the Xu family was once again like a little chicken. If I kept as I had, within a few years that chicken would become a goose. And one day the Xu family would once again be rich (50).

Changgen, the Xu family’s former servant, visits Fugui. Fugui tries to invite Changgen to live with him, but Changgen declines:

After I lost our family property, Changgen was the one who suffered the most. Changgen had worked for our family all his life, and, according to custom, when he got old it was supposed to be our family that took care of him. But once our family was reduced to poverty, he had no choice but to leave (51).