Nikita Amin’s Reviews > City of Fiction > Status Update

It is very sad that Xiaomei and her daughter didn’t get to meet when Lin was in the village, how Lin didn’t see that Xiaomei had frozen to death or see her grave. They were always so close but so far

Aquiang’s mother dying and asking for Xiaomei is an interesting concept - considering how poorly she treated her. It really doesn’t sit right with me that they both just lived off of Lin Xiangfu’s money and Xiaomei never tried to make things right by her abandoned daughter. You could argue that she was also abandoned herself as a child bride so there’s a wound there that’s being repeated

We really needed the backstory of Xiaomei but I don’t think what’s described here really is filling the gap. Is it the translation but a lot of the narrative here feels thin. I can’t really empathise with Xiaomei, I’m not sure why she kept following Aquiang, did she have feelings for Lin Xiangfu, her decision to leave her baby wasn’t really explored properly. I was a bit annoyed with Aquiang and Xiaomei

However, trying to link it back to the earlier story on how she meets Lin Xiangfu, it’s clear that Aquiang doesn’t do the same for her. Effectively he leaves her with Lin, so she is discarded once more. I’m intrigued to see how it links back because Xiaomei is such a mystery. Where did she go after she fell pregnant? Why did she leave?

Aqiang has never really travelled or managed his money so this runs out quick. They’re now looking for his uncle in Beijing, which for all we know could even be a lie, something his mother boasted about for clout. He’s a little chop and change - I can feel Xiaomei’s anxiousness at not knowing what’s going to happen. Though she seems committed to doing what she needs to do to help them survive

It’s cute watching Aqiang and Xiaomei explore Shenidan, then Shanghai and now Beijing. You can see how the more cosmopolitan the city, the introduction of westerners- we see men with briefcases, opium sellers in French restaurants, blonde blue eyed men in rickshaws. Both of them are so wide-eyed and bushy tailed as they walk through the city but this doesn’t last long

I’m glad Aqiang came back from Xiaomei. I feel for her, taken from her home as a child bride and then discarded so frivolously, the honour of her whole family rests on her shoulders. The 7 rules of divorce is crazy, barren being one of of them. Her MIL is a product of misogyny but the way the household is run by her is fairly progressive for the time. Still she upholds these values and reminds Xiaomei regularly

The descriptions of Xiaomei’s family, and the village, the way poor people behave around the affluent, the feeling that wealth means purity- really reminded me of life in Bangladesh. Being called “esteemed” because you’re middle class like Aqiang, and being excited that someone of this status would even step foot in your village. Feeling embarrassed by being a labourer with dirty feet from grafting

Such a satisfying death… one Axe Zhang is finally gone