The Zhou Family's Second Daughter

"June third."

"I turned back to the page about New Year's. That was the most unforgettable New Year of my childhood."

"Every household began stocking up for the holiday, and you could hear pigs squealing at the village entrance every few days. But our home was quiet and bare."

"Our family depended on my second sister to farm and pay the rent, but she also had to take time to come home and help Mama use the toilet. Sometimes Mama soiled her pants, and my second sister never complained about the smell. But with all those trips home, the harvest was poor. We didn't even have rice, flour, or firewood for New Year's."

"I was hungry and craving meat. As I walked along, I could almost see pork floating before my eyes."

"That day, I wandered past the home of the village head, the landlord Liu Fu. His door wasn't locked."

"I spotted meat hanging beneath the eaves, and my mouth watered. I don't know what I was thinking. I dragged over a little stool, climbed onto it, and stood on tiptoe."

"I only wanted to smell it..."

"What happened next is a little hazy. Someone dragged me home by the ear. Someone called me a little thief. My second sister slapped me twice, and I cried so hard I didn't know which way was up. Then someone held me in their arms."

"The next day, the landlord Liu Fu's wife came to our house with filling for New Year's buns. She even rounded up a bunch of women from Liu Family Hamlet to help us make buns and prepare for the holiday. Liu Fu's son with the bad leg kept grinning, his two yellow-stained front teeth showing the whole time..."

This diary entry was fairly long. After Bai Xiaowen