The dog was picked up in the county's drainage ditch, nearly drowned, seemingly just past the full moon stage, looking truly pitiful. She took it home and nurtured it carefully for a month before it recovered. It was a small brown-haired wolfdog, and she named it Nut because it was female.
Her house was located at the western end of the village, in a relatively remote area. Next to it stood a hundred-year-old locust tree, revered as the sacred tree of Liujiatun. Many opposed her building there, but the government made the decision, and the village measured the dimensions, allowing a five-meter gap, which led to a compromise.
Liujiatun used to be a big village with hundreds of people, but during the war, young men went to fight, women were taken away, and those who survived were elderly, weak, sick, or disabled. Now, there are hardly a hundred people altogether, and restoring its former vitality will probably take another twenty years or so.
