short series

Eldest Sister Like a Torch: Holding a Family Together in the 1980s

share time: 2026-01-22 00:30:26

In a rainy 1980s small town, 19-year-old Zhao Xi’s college acceptance letter is still in her hand when she learns her parents died in an accident—left with three young siblings, 300 yuan in medical debt, and neighbors whispering, “This family will fall apart.” She soaks the letter in a teacup: by day, she sells mended old clothes at a stall; by night, she knits sweaters under streetlights. When her brother secretly sells his textbooks for 5 yuan, she snatches the money back: “Books are your future—you sell them, you’re out!” But when her sister gets a fever with no money for medicine, Zhao Xi runs through the rain holding her—until Yuan Keqian, a retired soldier, bursts out with an umbrella, wrapping his army coat around the girl and shoving 20 yuan into Zhao Xi’s hand: “I’m not pitying you. I want to hold this with you.” Staring at his mud-stained boots, Zhao Xi remembers her mother’s words: “When life gets hard, let others’ lights in.” Will this man, who always appears when she’s at her lowest, become the “second pillar” holding up her family?

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