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Peach Blossom Village, encircled by mountains, is a vision of natural beauty. From a distance, it resembles a vast pink ocean as gentle breezes scatter peach blossoms across the ground. This enchanting scene gives the village its name. A small settlement with just over fifty households, Peach Blossom Village is bustling under the blazing midday sun. Villagers can be seen walking in small groups, chatting as they carry hoes and return home from their fieldwork.
At the foot of the hill, near the village’s edge, the sound of sobbing emerges from a small farmhouse. This modest courtyard home, oriented to face south, occupies a small plot and comprises a front yard and three adobe houses.
A sturdy wooden fence surrounds the property, and vibrant trumpet flowers bloom along the morning glory vines that climb its walls, adding charm and vitality to the tidy yard. Upon closer inspection, a few tiny green pumpkins dangle from the vines, as the lingering chill of an unseasonal cold snap keeps the April air brisk.
Li Youyin and his wife, Shen, have been married for over a decade. Together, they have three children: their eldest daughter, Li Guo, aged 15; their second daughter, Li Xing, aged 12; and their youngest son, Li Wen, aged 8. The previous night, Li Wen had fallen seriously ill with a high fever.
With no doctor available in the middle of the night, Shen anxiously cooled her son’s body over and over with alcohol compresses. By dawn, as the first light broke the horizon, the fever finally subsided, but Li Wen remained unconscious.
At daybreak, Li Youyin hurried to their neighbor Mrs. He’s house to borrow an ox cart and traveled to the town’s Baicaotang clinic to summon Dr. Huang. After examining Li Wen, the doctor concluded that the boy’s prolonged unconsciousness was due to severe physical weakness caused by early malnourishment.
Leaving behind a few medicinal prescriptions and collecting fifty copper coins as payment, Dr. Huang was escorted back to town by Li Youyin.
When Li Youyin returned home, he walked into the hall to find Shen crying and lamenting to their two daughters. She blamed her frail health for the family’s poverty. Her pale complexion and delicate frame made her tears all the more heart-wrenching.
Heartbroken, Li Youyin said, “Back then, you didn’t mind that I was a poor orphan without family support. You married me, bore our children, and hurt your body in the process. How could you call yourself a burden? It’s me who’s useless for making you and the children suffer alongside me.”
As he spoke, the honest man covered his face and cried. Li Guo, the eldest daughter, stepped forward and comforted them.
“Father, Mother, don’t cry. Little brother is fine now, isn’t he? We don’t mind the hardship. Life is what we make of it. As long as we’re willing to endure and work hard, things will get better.”
The Li family’s history was complex. Li Guo’s grandparents had three sons: the eldest, Li Youjin; the second, Li Youyin; and the youngest, Li Youcai.
Li Youjin and his wife, Zhao, had two sons and a daughter:
Li Changsong, aged 19, had a two-year-old daughter, Niuniu, with his wife, Yuan.Li Changqing, aged 17, was recently married to Meng but had no children yet.Li Mei, aged 16, was still unmarried.
Li Youcai and his wife, Wang, had one son and one daughter:
Li Changan, aged 14.
Li Xiang, aged 11.
The grandparents openly favored their eldest and youngest sons. When it was time for Li Youyin to marry, no one in the family took the initiative to arrange a match for him.
It was only thanks to Li Youjin, who disliked his parents’ blatant favoritism, that Shen—a virtuous girl from the village—was introduced to him. They soon married.
However, after giving birth to their youngest son, Shen’s health deteriorated. One day, she fainted in the kitchen. The doctor diagnosed her with a chronic condition caused by complications during childbirth. Recovery would require years of expensive medical treatments.
For a farming family, this was an enormous burden. When the grandparents heard the diagnosis, their attitudes changed immediately. Claiming they lacked the resources to support an ailing daughter-in-law, they summoned the village chief and other respected elders. Under their supervision, the family was divided.
Citing financial difficulties, the grandparents allocated Li Youyin’s family a meager share: four acres of barren dry land, three acres of paddy fields, and three neglected adobe houses at the far edge of the village.
Ever since Li Guo’s grandparents forced the second household out of the old family estate, Li Youyin had been deeply hurt. Except for the obligatory visits during major holidays to deliver gifts, he rarely had any interaction with them.
Li Youyin and his two daughters worked tirelessly, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night. Their efforts paid off when they finished tilling the land just in time for planting. Over the next three days, they sowed wheat across the family’s dry fields.
Finally, the tension that had gripped their hearts eased. That evening, after dinner, the two sisters went to bed early, utterly exhausted. When they woke up, it was already mid-morning, and they were startled awake by the sound of loud scolding.
The noise came from the woman living diagonally across from them, berating and beating her youngest daughter, San Ya. Hearing the familiar sounds, Li Guo could only sigh, thinking to herself, “Poor San Ya, what a bitter life she has.”
The scolding woman was Wang Chunhua, whose husband’s surname was Zhang. Her husband, Zhang Dali, was known for his strength but had little to show for it. Before their household split from the larger family, Wang Chunhua endured mockery and scorn from her sisters-in-law for giving birth to three daughters in a row.
Her mother-in-law also frequently chastised her, calling her daughters “worthless money-losers” and using this as an excuse to make her life miserable. Wang Chunhua, unable to retaliate against her mother-in-law, vented all her frustration and anger on her children.
The eldest daughter, Da Ya, and the second daughter, Er Ya, were scolded and beaten less frequently. It was San Ya who bore the brunt of her mother’s rage. Wang Chunhua had endured great physical hardship during San Ya’s birth, and after that, she was unable to conceive for several years. As a result, San Ya lived in constant fear, enduring daily beatings, scolding, and hunger.
Even after the family split and Wang Chunhua finally gave birth to a son the following year, San Ya’s suffering did not end.
When San Ya’s two elder sisters were still unmarried, they occasionally stood up for her. However, after the sisters were sold off under the pretense of saving money for their younger brother’s future bride price, San Ya lost her only support.
It was said that her eldest sister was married off to a widower who already had a five-year-old daughter, while her second sister was wed to a cripple.