Chapters 6, 7 & 8

Summary

The void in Weili’s heart due to the loss of her mother cannot be filled up with anything else. Winnie stops her narration to tell her daughter that at least she has a mother to love her and take care of her whereas she, on the other hand, had been deprived of her mother and had no one to look up to.

Winnie then continues to relate her stay at the uncle’s house on Tsungming Island. The village at the mouth of the River is different in every way from the prosperous city of Shanghai, where Weili used to stay with her parents. She is ill -treated by both her aunts and even her uncle is partial towards his own daughter, who everybody lovingly calls, ‘Peanut.’ Every little whim of her cousins is satisfied, whereas Weili is forever left wanting and begging. The Aunt makes it very clear to her, from the very beginning, that she is a liability. She is the one who has to do all the odd jobs. She recalls an incident when she had to embarrass her aunt in front of guests so that her aunt would buy her a new pair of shoes. Therefore, her position in the house is even lower, than an outsider. She is constantly reminded that she should forever be indebted to their family that she is not being thrown out of the house.

Somehow fate has something else in store for Peanut and Weili. The intrusion of Auntie Miao, a matchmaker, leads to the fixing up of the marriage between Weili and Wen Fu. For Weili, all these changes come as a pleasant surprise. She starts building castles in the air, of having her own home, the much-needed refuge from her present life as a dependent. She promises to herself that she will prove to be a loving wife to her husband and a dutiful daughter-in-law to her in-laws. Peanut had chosen Wen Fu as her husband. Now that the tables are turned, Peanut is totally enraged and leaves no occasion to express it. She feels that Weili has cheated her and openly ill-treats her.

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