Thousand Pieces of Gold

A terrible winter storm hurts Nathoy’s winter harvest, leading his wife to pray to the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin. Nathoy comes home smelling of alcohol and tells his wife that he lost all of his crops. Typically, Lalu’s mother is optimistic, but she stays quiet. Lalu realizes her parents are considering selling her, and she tries to talk them out of it. She offers to work in the fields with her father, which goes against social norms in their village. He reluctantly agrees, and her mother begins unbinding her feet. Later that night, Lalu considers how her feet feel and wonders if her fate has already been sealed.

Lalu and her brother A Cai help her father in the fields. The village as a whole is struggling with its harvest. Lalu reflects on the fact that she has always worked, either in the fields or at home. She continues to do so now but struggles due to her deformed feet.

Lalu returns home from working with her father, and her younger brother A Fa tells her that her mother has decided she will eat dinner with Nathoy from now on, which is a tremendous honor that makes Lalu feel seen and respected by her family. Lalu’s mother then brings her inside to give her an undercoat that will flatten her breasts. Lalu doesn’t want to wear the undercoat because it will make it harder for her to work in the fields, which annoys her mother. Her mother says she wishes they had sold Lalu because she would have had a better life and not been the laughingstock of the whole village.

Lalu works in her father’s fields for five years. One day, as she sorts sweet potatoes, she hears the villagers carrying the Dragon King into the fields to show him how desperately their crops need rain. They have done this previously to no avail. She sees her father and some other farmers leaving the temple and goes to eavesdrop on them.

The men discuss going to get water for the fields but worry about leaving the town unprotected from bandits. Attacks from bandits—who are often former workers from the village—have been increasing and are becoming more violent. As the men argue about what to do, they hear a scream and realize the bandits have come to their village. Everyone runs to their homes, and Lalu is knocked down by a horse in the process. The owner of the horse blinded it to prevent the bandits from wanting to steal it. Lalu runs home.

When Lalu gets home, everyone is running around, trying to hide from the bandits. Her father tries to hide everyone in the fertilizer pit. Because her younger brothers are hungry and she accidentally dropped the basket of potatoes she was carrying into the fertilizer pit, Lalu offers to get more food before the bandits arrive. Her mother tells her there’s no time, but Lalu insists and tells her brothers they must stay quiet or she will not return. Lalu goes to get the potatoes, but the bandits arrive before she can sneak back into the fertilizer pit. Nathoy tries to calm the bandits down by giving them some of their potatoes, but the bandits are insulted that he would give them such weak potatoes. A bandit pulls Lalu out of her hiding spot and then reveals himself to be the family’s former laborer, Chen.

Chen tells Nathoy that he will buy Lalu, but Nathoy tells him she’s not for sale. Chen is upset that Nathoy fired him and tells him that, as a result of his termination, both his wife and children died from starvation after he sold his children and let the bandits sexually enslave his wife. Chen explains that he plans to sexually enslave Lalu. Chen then gives Nathoy a bag of soybeans in exchange for Lalu. Nathoy insists on having two bags, and then Chen picks Lalu up and leaves.

The bandits ride away, and Lalu realizes that she will not be able to escape. The bandits stop to light fires to help them make it to their destination, but Lalu doesn’t realize that and becomes scared when they run toward her. She falls off a horse, hitting her head. Chen tells Lalu that if he didn’t plan to sexually enslave her, he would kill her for almost injuring his horse. Lalu doesn’t understand what Chen intends to do with her but realizes that it is shameful for unmarried people to have sex. She wonders if Chen’s wife died because she had too much sex. She remembers how a village woman who had been raped by a bandit hanged herself, and the village agreed that it was the honorable thing to do.

The bandits arrive at the camp, and Lalu realizes that if she marries Chen, then she can be protected. She offers herself to him but becomes nervous when he feels her breasts. He tells her he will not be fooled by her, and Lalu realizes she will need to find a different way to escape.

Lalu wakes up sore in a room with the bandits‘ loot. She sees that the bandits are asleep and realizes she has a chance to escape. As she begins to leave, she notices a wedding trunk, which typically has jewelry in it. She breaks into the trunk and searches for jewelry, eventually finding some. She pockets the jewelry and begins to leave but is overcome with hunger. She leans down to take some of the guard dogs’ food, but a hairy man knocks the bowl from her hands. A soldier tells her that this is their “bear,” and the bear entertains the soldiers. He says that they will no longer need the bear now that they have Lalu. As the soldier begins to move toward Lalu, a bandit comes in and rescues her.

Later, Lalu sits with the bandits and listens to them talk about their plans. The men reveal that they have instituted a lottery system to determine who will get to have sex with Lalu first. Later that night, bandit scouts return to camp with bad news about the next camp they planned to go to. Desperate for money, Chen decides they will sell Lalu and then disband into small groups in Shanghai. They leave to go to Shanghai.

Lalu rides with Ding, the bandit who saved her from the soldiers. He looks out for her, ensuring that she gets food. The two discuss Lalu’s future as they ride. Ding argues that they both must follow the paths Heaven has given them, but Lalu disagrees, becoming more determined to find freedom despite her situation.

That night, Lalu tries to escape again. During the escape, she trips, hits her head, and falls inside a bat cave. Bats are considered to be good luck, so Lalu is relieved. She then hears the bandits come close to the cave. Then, Ding pulls her out.

Lalu arrives at the House of Heavenly Pleasure, and Chen encourages Lalu to be compliant because this brothel services well-off men, meaning she could be bought as a wealthy man’s concubine. Lalu, however, has different plans and wants to be sold as cheaply as possible.

When the madam of the brothel sees Lalu, she examines her. Chen and the madam negotiate a price for Lalu. They eventually settle on a price, and Chen leaves. Lalu brings out the jewelry she stole from the wedding trunk and tells the madam that she’d like to buy herself. The madam tells her to keep her jewelry because she may need it later. She then tells Lalu that she works for a special buyer who will take Lalu to America.