I am not Ximen Qing.

Huang Jinshan rose from humble beginnings. He was a shrewd opportunist, a slippery eel who navigated all sides with cunning. A change of dynasty might be a catastrophe for others, but for him, it was a time when heroes emerged from chaos. He observed warlords, the Japanese, and the ever-changing officials within the established bureaucracy. His territory expanded steadily, but he chose to settle for modest wealth, fearing he might overstep his bounds. He trusted no one; in this chaotic era, a gambling mentality was unacceptable. He painstakingly saved every silver dollar, his shrewdness and worldliness making him as resilient as a roly-poly toy.

Madam Liu was a traditional woman with bound feet. She had lived a life of constant fear. When the Japanese left, she was thankful for her middle-of-the-road approach, keeping the house tightly shut for months, afraid to leave. She wondered if she had done anything wrong, if she was suspected of being a traitor. Looking back on her more than twenty years of dealing with the Japanese, she felt it was a miracle that she hadn't crossed any national lines, hadn't harmed or betrayed anyone, and had even helped some people she believed might be useful in the future.

Huang Jinshan knew that the world was unpredictable, with weather changes as quickly as the weather turned cloudy, rainy, or freezing cold. As a "nice guy," he was adept at navigating social situations and offending no one. His family's traditional approach was to play the long game, never putting all his eggs in one basket. Now that he felt at ease, looking at his own small plot of land, Huang Jinshan didn't choose to expand it further. He believed that in a chaotic world, the bigger the tree, the more the wind would blow against it.

They owned a tofu shop and occasionally used surplus grain to brew several large vats of liquor. They did some small business and had some spare cash. They were frugal and saved money by burying silver dollars deep underground for emergencies.

Huang Jinshan had a mentally challenged son named Huang Yumin, a rather unfortunate name. The son wasn't truly mentally challenged, but he indulged in all sorts of vices: drinking, gambling, and womanizing. Fortunately, he wasn't completely devoid of all vices; Huang Jinshan didn't have high expectations for his son, as long as he didn't smoke opium. He disliked his son.

Huang Jinshan was considered an enlightened man at the time, knowing that he couldn't rely on his son to carry on his family's fortune. Perhaps accustomed to a moderate mindset, he let his two daughters decide for themselves whether they wanted large or small feet. Bound feet were very fashionable at the time. Wearing embroidered shoes with bound feet was believed to make it easier to find a husband. His younger daughter, Huang Yuhuan, refused to have those dreadful bound feet, while his older daughter, Huang Yupei, wanted to have bound feet like her mother, believing them to be beautiful.

Blame it on that fickle era, which confused even the traditional mindset of the Gold Mountain. There was also a speculative mentality surrounding footwear: what if an era came that preferred large feet, or what if an era that preferred small feet?

In order to live better and adapt to the times, big-footed and small-footed sisters are the most reasonable combination.

Just as he was about to embrace a carefree and unrestrained life, his past scheming had exhausted all his efforts. He finally fell ill, and his son didn't shed a single tear. Huang Jinshan died with his eyes wide open, unable to close them in peace, without uttering his last words. It was too late. His youngest daughter held a silver coin in her hand, waving it around, crying, "Dad, is this it? Where is it buried? Tell me, Dad!" Hope remained forever. Where the silver coin was buried, and whether it was ever found, is another story.

Anyway, Huang Jinshan lived a successful life, leaving behind a piece of black soil. At that time, women valued the "Three Obediences and Four Virtues" above all else. Liu Shi, heartbroken and overwhelmed with grief, soon followed her husband in death. Huang Yuhuan, influenced by her upbringing, inherited this tradition. She found a son-in-law who lived with her family like a servant, acting as both husband and laborer. She chose a marriage that was most beneficial to herself, keeping the wealth within the family. Like her father, Yuhuan was rational; she became the head of the household, while her eldest sister became her personal maid. When her younger brother, Huang Yumin, tried to rebel, Yuhuan simply withheld food from him, starving him for several days until he obediently submitted. For her time, she was considered a heroine, skilled in managing the household; she was also literate and somewhat educated. Her sister, on the other hand, believed that a woman's virtue lay in her lack of talent, spending her days washing clothes, embroidering, and mending. The family of brothers and sisters lived a simple and ordinary life.

If there was anything the elder sister, Yu Pei, enjoyed, it was nothing more than washing and cleaning along the Yalu River. Her bound feet made walking difficult, her slender waist delicate and frail, and as an unmarried young woman, she was quite the ladies' man. Matchmakers frequently visited her home, chatting with her younger sister, Yu Huan, and when the time was right, they would approach her and try to arrange marriages with men from the Li or Zhao families. The younger sister was quite pragmatic, insisting on finding her sister a wealthy and well-off man of equal social standing. Yu Huan felt she had already sacrificed too much and knew nothing of love, insisting that her sister experience its wonders, and most importantly, finding her a rich and noble family. The elder sister was shy and let her sister decide. Aside from being a little short, the elder sister was strikingly beautiful, resembling Cui Yingying from the novel *The West Chamber*. Both Yu Huan and Yu Pei loved opera, especially *The West Chamber*, but in reality, there was no Zhang Junrui.

The matchmaker's silver tongue was truly a tool for self-interest; everything was driven by profit, and all human relationships were governed by the word "profit." Her younger sister, Yu Huan, always had a pragmatic spirit, and she would gossip about the groom's ancestors for eight generations. "No matter how eloquently the matchmaker speaks," she'd say, "it's better to go to the groom's house and see for yourself, to use your intelligence to analyze the situation. 'They're all poor bastards; the matchmaker gets all the benefits, profiting from both sides.'" Yu Huan, with a beaming smile, warmly greeted the matchmaker, but inwardly cursed, "What a scoundrel! Pushing my lovely, beautiful sister into a fire pit! Matchmakers are as wicked as shamans; so many people who could be cured by medicine have been killed by their magic tricks!" Yu Huan looked at the silver-tongued old matchmaker, who seemed to be covered in bells, swaying her fat waist, holding a small drum, shaking the bells, striking the drum, muttering incantations, and shouting.

Yu Huan: "Since the Zhao family has such good conditions, and your Gui Lan has grown into a young lady, she's 18 and should get married. It would be so good for her to marry the Zhao family's fool."

Matchmaker: "Second Sister, how can you say that? Guilan is already taken."

Yu Huan: "Owned? Even ghosts can turn into orchids now."

Yu Huan already knew the matchmaker had accepted two old hens from the Zhao family. This was a clear statement from the matchmaker, revealing that Gui Lan had become her trademark, attracting countless suitors. She accepted all gifts without question, yet none of them pleased her. Having taken advantage of others' favors with her silver tongue, the matchmaker had plenty of ways to exploit them; there were countless unmarried girls in the world who became her victims. Having said this, Yu Huan felt a chill run down her spine. The matchmaker understood that Yu Huan was telling her to get lost; she had encountered a wicked master, not a kind one.

The matchmaker, flustered and with bound feet, tripped on the threshold and fell hard on her backside, twisting her arms and legs. Filled with anger and resentment, she blurted out, "She's no good either, she's a cheater."

"What? You're swearing..."

"If you don't believe me, go see for yourself."

My older sister is quite diligent. Every day she goes to the riverbank to wash her dirty clothes, pants, sheets, and everything else that gets dirty. She's a natural germaphobe and can't tolerate even the slightest bit of dirt. My younger sister doesn't doubt the merits of her actions, but after the old man's reminder, she herself feels that her sister seems to have been washing and cleaning too frequently for a while now. The colored clothes have faded, and the light-colored ones are almost white. During this time, her sister has been radiant with spring fever and quite endearing. She never imagined that her sister could be in love.

"Furthermore, things have changed. Your family is classified as rich peasants, your class status is problematic, you are enemies of the people. I'm going to accuse you of exploiting the poor and lower-middle peasants." These words terrified the younger sister, making her tremble all over. Her father, too, had been caught in the middle of these repeated political upheavals, fearing and worrying about everything. Now it was her turn. She couldn't sleep that night, terrified of becoming a target of criticism. She had heard about this trend before, but this was the first time she had heard slogans like "women's liberation, freedom of marriage."