Started of strong but became messy an unlikely ending. The men..all unnaturally weak The woman? Either stupid or strong. ?♀️
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Good story can’t wait to finish reading it.
Very good read!
really a good book... I couldn't do reading it
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
I thought it was great couldnt put it down
Okay, I need to talk about this one line because it absolutely wrecked me. Zhou Qiong asks her kids if they go to Third Uncle's house for food, and Yang Miao just casually drops: "When we went out to work, we'd tie you to the bed with a rope. Otherwise, you'd wander off like you did today." WANDER OFF. Like it was normal. Like tying your own mother to a bed with rope was just part of the daily routine, same as going to the river to wash clothes. These kids are what, six and eight? And they've already learned that survival means binding your sick parent because the alternative is watching them disappear into the woods again. But here's what got me even more — the NEXT DAY, when Zhou Qiong wakes up early and the kids can't find her, Yang Shu's FIRST thought isn't "where is she" or "did she go get food." It's that she ran away again. After everything she did the day before — wiping their bodies with cold cloths so they could sleep through the heat, washing clothes at dawn without waking them — his default assumption is that she's abandoning them. That is a mother who has broken her children's trust so thoroughly that even acts of love can't override the trauma. And the worst part? Zhou Qiong reads this and feels disgust toward herself. She thinks about how she used to eat, drink, and relieve herself all in one room, and she's genuinely ashamed. Not performative shame — she's looking at her children and realizing she failed them during her illness. Then there's the whole Third Uncle vs. Eldest Uncle dynamic. Third Uncle is stingy but feeds them. Eldest Uncle's wife literally beat her. The kids say they DON'T go to Eldest Uncle's house. Not because they're not hungry — they're always hungry — but because the emotional cost is too high. You'd rather starve than be hit. And Feng Shi? She's the only adult who treats Zhou Qiong like a person again. Not Hua Niang, not the mad woman, just A-Qiong. When Zhou Qiong offers to wash her clothes because her back hurts, Feng Shi's eyes crinkle with a smile. It's such a small moment but it's the first time in the entire text that someone looks at Zhou Qiong and sees her competence, not her illness. The relationship between Zhou Qiong and her kids is the spine of this whole thing. They love each other desperately but they don't know HOW to love each other properly anymore. The rope is the symbol of that — it kept her safe but it also trapped them all in something horrible.
great read
I love the story. Not dragging.
10/10 good. Just the right amount of everything. Highly recommend!! We need a sequel
Loved this book and series