One sentence is worth ten thousand.

"One Word Worth Ten Thousand" is a seminal work by renowned writer Liu Zhenyun, and also his most mature and ambitious work to date, having won the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011.
The novel is divided into two parts. The first part, "Leaving Yanjin," describes the past: Yang Baishun, the second son of tofu seller Old Yang, experiences a lifetime of misfortune. He changes his name three times: to make a living, he is baptized by Catholic priest Old Janner and renamed Yang Moses; when farming for the county magistrate, he offends the magistrate over a urinal, and in his anxious state, someone arranges a marriage for him, leading him to marry into the family of Wu Xiangxiang, who owns a steamed bun shop, and change his name to Wu Moses; Wu Xiangxiang cuckolds Wu Moses, who then takes Wu Xiangxiang and her daughter Qiaoling (from a previous marriage) on a false search for his wife who eloped. On the way, he loses Qiaoling, and in his despair, decides to leave his hometown and spend the rest of his life using the name Luo Changli, a funeral crier. The second part, "Returning to Yanjin," describes the present: Qiaoling is sold to Shaanxi, becomes Cao Qing'e, and marries into the Niu family. Her son, Niu Aiguo, also falsely searches for his wife who eloped. He then thinks of his former lover and remembers his mother's hometown, so he returns to Yanjin... A hundred years pass in this cycle of leaving and returning.

2022-08-01

花城出版社

Yangtze New Century

620

9787536097261