There is a small mountain village in northeast China. It is a village surrounded by mountains on three sides. Those mountains are not high, only 200-300 meters, like tombs of giants. The mountain did not block the entire village, leaving only one exit. Later, a small road was built to allow one person to pass through this exit. Later, it was widened many times, and finally the road could accommodate a car to pass by.One end of the road is a village, and the other end of the village is a path in the mountains. At the other end of the road is a bridge. Crossing this bridge is a wider road. As a child, Lily only knew that wider roads meant more food, newer clothes, and newer things.
Parallel to the mountain road is a small river. This small river is like a woman's menstruation, sometimes more and sometimes less. The flow rate is very high in July and August in summer, while the dry season lasts for more than half a year in winter. This river is as important as her mother in Lily's memory. The men used the river to water the little rice. Women used this water to wash the clothes of their entire family. All kinds of domestic garbage are randomly discarded in river ditches. In July and August, it rains heavily. The water in the river ditch was also turbulent, and all kinds of garbage sang songs, jolted away from the small mountain village, and disappeared without a trace. Like a child born in a the village ,he works, studies, goes abroad or wanders around the world. Some leave and never come back.
Lily's home is the second home after entering the village. Behind the house is a small vegetable garden. The vegetable garden is on a slope. To be precise, one side of the vegetable garden is as high as the house. The soil is yellowish brown. As we all know, northern China has black soil, but the village where Lily's family is located mainly has yellow-brown soil. The vegetable garden always grows eggplants, which Lily doesn't like. She and her two younger sisters like to eat coriander, but her father doesn't like it, so they never grow them. Mom likes sweet potatoes, but dad doesn't, so he never grows them. Outside the garden is grass as tall as a person. The grass seems to never be able to be pulled out. It is stained with chemical fertilizers and grows more aggressively every year. There arev always snakes hidden in the grass. Once, Lily's father discovered a snake mother who laid a bunch of eggs. Her father still brutally beat the snake mother to death and destroyed all the eggs.
In Lily's memory, her father was synonymous with terror and a symbol of authority. It is the embodiment of tobacco and alcohol, a combination of curse words and violence.
China attaches great importance to men and despises women. Lily's father had been a soldier, and his military background was somewhat violent. Lily's mother is a famous beauty in the nearby village. According to the neighbors, Lily's mother had a boyfriend then, but by chance, Lily's father fell in love with Lily's mother at a glance. He went to his future father-in-law's house every day to work: building houses, cutting grass, and chopping firewood. At that time, Lily's mother's boyfriend was relatively lazy. As time went by,Lily's mother and Lily's grandfather were both conquered.
Later, Lily's father and mother got married, and then gave birth to Lily's two sisters: Li Hong and Li Na. Lily's birth was unnecessary and brought endless suffering and disaster to her mother.