Summary

Chapter One opens in 1345 in the village of Zhongli four years into a drought that the peasants blame on the barbarian emperor whose unworthiness curses the lands. The Zhu family’s 10-year-old unnamed daughter travels with the village boys dreaming of food after living a poor life. She rushes to gather parts of the once beautiful elms for food and thinks about how she is the only girl left in the village, for no parent would waste limited food on a useless daughter. She, however, had learned how to catch her own food. In the distance, the Prince of Henan’s army marches by.

The girl collects what little water remains in the well before returning to her family hut where only she, her cherished brother Zhu Congba, and their father lived after losing seven other family members to the drought. She...