The novel opens with a description of a family that was involved in "peking." The narrator explains that the family lost all of its wealth when the powerful members of the family offended them. The family's second brother has not been heard from for ten years, and the narrator wonders how he has been. He is healthy but guilty of "involving his family," which causes one to run around, and he has disappeared. The narrator tells her brother's niece that she will be her "aunt from now on" as well. The niece tells the narrator that her mother has been ill since giving birth to her, and her stepmother has been pregnant with twins; her uncle has been stabbed to death, but the police have closed the case. When she first arrived at the family, she was bullied because she was from the countryside, the narrator explains. She has five children now, including her elder daughter, who studies in a public school, and two of her youngest sons, who are playing outside.