At around 6 o'clock every morning, you can always see a woman selling daily goods from a cart in front of the vegetable market in Lianglong Town, Yuyao, Zhejiang Province.
Her name is Chen Hui. She is 44 years old, and her hometown is in Rugao, Jiangsu. In April 2021, she published her second book. Her first book came out three years ago and was ordered for a second printing due to its success.
"I set up my stall at 6AM every morning, return home at 11AM, take a two-hour break, and then start writing," Chen Hui told the correspondent. Compared with her peers, her life story is somewhat complicated.
"I spent my entire life before the age of 26 in Rugao, Jiangsu. I was adopted as a child and returned to my birth parents when I was a teenager. After graduating from high school, I suddenly contracted a chronic disease and was homebound for many years," said Chen Hui. At 27, she married a man in Yuyao and opened a corner store in Lianglong Town. However, she got pregnant after about a year and had to close the store.
"When my child was nine months old, I assembled a simple trolley and began selling homeware on the street to cope with the increased financial pressure of family life," Chen Hui continued. "In 2010, I started to use my spare time to write essays for personal enjoyment."
Now, Chen Hui lives with her son, who is in high school. Once, her son asked her, "Mom, do you regret coming to Zhejiang?" Chen Hui answered, "You lose some, and you gain some—that's life."
Chen Hui often writes about marginalized individuals. Some characters are based on the people from her hometown, some on neighbors and acquaintances, and some even on herself.
Chen Hui said that she would continue to write, as writing has become a part of her life, all the while carrying on with her street vendor business, which is her most reliable source of income.
放大
缩小
默认