Book One, Pages 39-73 Summary and Analysis

In "Marriage, 1881-1887," Lao arrives at her husband's home and finds that the wife of his cousin is also living there with a small son, Fats'ai, fathered by Lao's husband, Liu-Yi-tze. Lao says that she is relieved to have the woman there to help soothe her homesickness and fear. Lao regularly visits her parents, as is the custom. She says that her sister, Yintze, always cries when her visit with her parents comes to an end, causing them grief though there is nothing they can do, and so Lao is careful that her parents don't see her cry. Lao describes several stories of "exceptional" events and people of the village of her husband, but says that the village for the most part is very ordinary. The wife of Liu-Yi-tze's cousin stays with them for two...