 Their son, Kangsheng, is now nine years old and is working in the streets selling newspapers.To her mother-in-law's consternation, Sufen decides to find work as a maid, a job that her mother-in-law considers beneath people of their status, but it is that or starve.By coincidence Sufen finds work in Wenyan's household, though she is there for two days before she realizes that her husband is staying there also.