Guan Ying’s Wild Riches

I grew up in a small remote village in the mountainous regions of China. Despite the natural surroundings, my father had to leave for the city to find work. He sent money home every month so we could live without starving. The village was a place where people settled down and lived the rest of their lives here. We had no one who ever went to college or university, but that did not matter because there were no jobs in this region anyway.

I do not remember meeting my father until I was twelve years old. He told me that he did not want to leave us, but had no choice since he needed to pay off his debts. He looked at me sadly, thinking of how I would miss him when he finally left. I could see that it killed him to leave us. He wanted to stay but had no choice even though he knew he might never see us again. I hugged him and told him not to worry about us because we would be fine even if he left us alone.

I was the eldest daughter in our family, so it was my duty to take care of my younger sisters while my father was gone. My mother passed away when I was very young, so we were raised by our grandmother who could barely walk due to old age. Although she tried her best, she often fell down and broke her bones, leaving us helplessly crying for help as we struggled to get her onto her bed or back up on her feet again. We only had enough food for two months, after which we began eating the leaves from plants and wild fruit from trees or bushes around our house so that we would not starve before Father returned home with money from his job in the city.

My sisters and I worked hard with our grandmother, who carried heavy stones from riverside nearby so we could sell them to passing merchants who traveled through the mountain trails on their way to other cities farther away from here. We were paid only a few copper coins, but they were worth more than gold coins because they kept us alive until Father came home with money in his pocket. This continued for several years until one day I saw someone selling strange maps on the roadside near our house. They were maps of different kinds: some showed roads where merchant caravans moved their goods while others showed secret pathways where thieves hid out at night waiting for merchants carrying valuable cargo along dangerous roads so they could rob them and steal their treasures without being noticed by patrols set up by local authorities for protection of travelers' lives and property.

I bought a map of a trail that led into the capital city and became curious about where it led to because I have never heard any merchant going this way before during my time as stone seller girl with my grandmother and sisters along this same road during those days when Father was still young and strong enough to carry heavy stones with his own hands. When I went back home with the map hidden under my clothes, my grandmother told me that this used to be a well-known path hundreds of years ago used by imperial officials traveling between the capital city and their homes in the countryside after serving their terms in high offices within Emperor's Court.

"When Emperor Xuan Zong ascended power back then," Grandma said, "he issued an imperial order granting all officials permission to buy land outside the capital city so they can build mansions within these lands as a reward for their good service within his court during their terms of office." After saying this, she closed her eyes slowly and fell asleep as she waited for her bones to heal themselves over time due to her advanced age and fragile health caused by malnutrition throughout many years she lived alone without any help from anyone around here except for me and my sisters who also lacked proper nutrition during these difficult times when Father had abandoned us in order to earn money which he sent back home every month just enough for us three girls to survive on while Mother was still alive before she passed away giving birth to my youngest sister whose name is Yuxiang.

"Grandma," I said, shaking her gently and trying not to wake her abruptly. She often woke up suddenly shouting for help due to past traumas. Recently, Uncle Huo had an accident when he entered Grandma's house unannounced, falling and sustaining injuries that have made the villagers afraid to care for him. Despite this, everyone prays for his recovery and anxiously hopes for a better life for us all.

It is difficult to navigate life in our small village, but together we persevere and support one another through hardship.