The novel opens with a description of dried flower bags. The narrator tells us that his mother used to send him flowers whenever she went away on business trips. When she came back, she would write to him and tell him all about the places she had been and the flowers she had brought with her. He asks his father to read the letters to him. He tells the story of his mother's love for him. Her aunt had said that her mother was the best person she'd ever met, and that she would have a much better life if her mother hadn't been married to the family. He also tells us about how his aunt and mother-in-law were both "arbitrary parents" and that they suffered a lot when they were children. The two of them have a picture of each other right here on the page. He says he didn't realize they were going to call each other that same day, but then he saw the picture of them on the web. He calls his father and tells him that he brought his daughter to his house for the spring festival that day. He apologizes for bringing her there without telling him, and says that he's sorry he brought her in the middle of the night. He adds that they're in a relationship, but that they haven't talked about it yet.