Great book. Very well written.
great update ...
only 1 chapter uploaded today????
It was a very good read
The house in this novel is basically a character itself. Let me walk through it because the author really goes to town on the architectural details and I need everyone to appreciate this. Eight rooms of blue-brick, red-tile construction. Two-entry courtyard. Each room nearly 30 square meters. A kitchen and several side rooms for storage. The text explicitly compares it to Zeng Cheng's smaller house—18 square meters per room at 150 yuan each—to highlight just how lavish Old Qian's place is. This isn't just set dressing; the house IS the conflict. Every argument about property, every suspicion Madam Zhao faces, every room allocation maps directly onto the physical structure of this home. The room assignments tell you everything about the family power structure without a single word of dialogue: - Old Qian and Zhao's mother share one room (the couple at the top) - Three Qian sons + two Zhao sons each get a room (five rooms, the next tier) - Qian Sanya and Zhao Qianqian share a room (the girls, lower priority) - One room for living/dining (communal space, but who controls it?) - The eldest son's "retirement rooms" reserved for whoever cares for him (the future inheritance path) And here's the brilliant detail: when Qian Daniu married back then, they didn't clear out a separate room. "Because a single room was big enough for a newlywed couple." The space itself is so generous that the family never felt the need to split. But that's also the trap—because the rooms are under everyone's names, the tension of who gets what never actually resolves. The village setting adds another layer. Qian Family Village is unusually wealthy—thirty-plus fish ponds, daily supply to the marketing cooperative, work points worth five or six mao instead of the usual two or three. This isn't some generic rural backdrop; the village's economic structure directly enables the family's internal dynamics. They're wealthy enough to argue over property instead of starving, which makes their conflicts feel almost petty—and that's exactly the point. The dinner scene itself is vividly rendered: a chicken slaughtered specifically to nourish Zhao Qianqian, white rice steamed to match, the whole family gathered around. But the atmosphere is thick with unspoken resentment. The lavish meal contrasts sharply with the fact that on ordinary days they eat cornmeal buns and coarse-grain porridge. The author writes: "Don't be fooled by how well-off the Qians were—on ordinary days they ate cornmeal buns or mixed-grain mantou and coarse-grain porridge." This is a family that performs prosperity while carefully managing every yuan. The house, the food, the work points—all of it is part of a carefully maintained appearance.
Amazing story
Please treat Izzy like an adult
cool work...
Great Book. I would recommend reading it
I love this book!
Nice story but grammar needs some work.
very good story