In Part I, Min Deren and his two older sons set out on a cold winter night together to go to the neighboring East Village where they would meet with Min Deren’s friends and discuss poetry. But before they got very far, Min Deren discovered that his eldest son, Ziqian, was dressed in a coat lined with grass—and was suffering from the bitter cold. Min Deren sent his middle son, Yingge, off to fetch his wife’s father, while he and Ziqian turned home, where Min Deren meant to argue with his wife. She had dressed Ziqian, who was her step son, in a reed hair coat, while dressing Yingge, the son she bore Min Deren, in warm silk cotton.
Grandpa said, “Son in law, why did you bring me here?”
“My family has everything good, only one thing worries me.”
“You are living well. What worries you?”
