Chapter 5 Summary

Winnie pretends chest pains so Pearl will visit, then fixes her soup with pickled turnip and begins the story of her life.

Her own mother had disappeared when Winnie, then known as Wieli, was only six. She has few memories: her mother's long blue-black hair, a painting of her looking sad and lost, life in a fancy house in Shanghai with her father, Jiang, who owned cloth factories. He had other wives and children. All of them had fine things and servants.

Winnie recalled the beginning of the end, an argument between her mother and father. She remembers very little, just her mother saying "double second" and her father responding, "You can never change this." Winnie's mother returned to their rooms and told her they were going out for the day. She called her "Syin Ke," a term of great love and affection...