Sui Zhu

Fu Yanxiu’s younger sister was still growing, his mother lay half-paralyzed on the kang, and he still had to study for the imperial examinations. For all seven years of our engagement, I worked his family’s fields. The day he passed the provincial examination, Fu Yanxiu came to break off our engagement, his face grim. “Sui Zhu, the capital isn’t a place for someone like you,” he said.