The story outline of this novel is as follows:
Kicha, a poor shoemaker, has a happy family: a beautiful young wife Anna, two children, and her mother-in-law helps with housework. But Kicha was unwilling to live in poverty and decided to move her family to a desolate ravine-Geely's mill to open a shop.
Kicha's shop business has been booming, and they have time to sit down and check out every Saturday when the shop is closed. On Sunday, Kicha took her mother-in-law to church in a double carriage, and then went out for a walk with her wife and children to enjoy the beautiful scenery of nature.
The grass on both sides of the cave is full of pigs. Each group of pigs is looked after by a shepherd and two children. These people live in the forest all the year round and raise pigs for generations. People who manage many pigs are called "leaders".
One day, a guest in his thirties came to Kicha's shop. He is tall and thin, calling himself the leader Rick. Kicha is a famous Rick, and he has been scared out of his mind for a long time. Who doesn't know, Li Ke has 23 pigs, named Chief, but he is actually a bandit leader who kills people without blinking an eye and dominates one side. When he first came to Kicha, he asked the shopkeeper to report the passing guests to him at any time. The whole family had a hunch that Rick's arrival was ominous. That night, Kicha went to town to buy two pistols and two puppies, and hired another person.
Rick and his pig often pass by here, and people never pay for food and drink. Kicha understands that if you want to look forward to it for a long time, you must become Rick's person and his partner, and the money will continue.
In order to get in and out of Kitcha's house conveniently, Rick secretly tamed Kitcha's dog. Once, Rick sent all kinds of skin marks and told Kitcha to be warm to the pig driver when he met a pig with this mark under his right ear. Then in the name of "borrowing money", Kicha was forced to open the till. Ricky watched Rick put the accumulated money into his pocket bit by bit, and his heart ached, but he had to hold back his anger to avoid being killed.
Li Ke's visits are more and more frequent, and Kicha is hospitable. Anna felt uneasy, and Kicha denied any hook-up with Li Ke in front of his wife. With more and more money, Kicha is not only happy, but also afraid. He even wanted to report Rick, but he was afraid that he could not escape the other side's revenge. Over time, Rick teased Anna in front of Kicha, and Anna began to give up on herself. Kicha always leaves angrily when she sees this.
Soon, the bodies of a young lady and a little boy were found not far from Kitcha's house, and the money lender was robbed. Kitcha and Rick are under arrest. There are signs that Rick is the culprit. Because he has a big shot as a backer, both of them were released because of "insufficient evidence". Kicha is determined to wash his hands of it and kill the man who ruined his happy life. However, when Rick piled piles of gold coins, silver coins and banknotes in front of him, he gave in.
Before Christmas, my mother-in-law was busy making preparations to go to Enyi's other daughter's house for the New Year. When she left, Kicha suddenly said no.
Anna decided to stay and let her mother take care of her two children because she didn't trust her husband. When Kicha saw that his wife insisted on staying, she flew into a rage and didn't drive her away without a fight. In the evening, Rick came to the hotel with a bag full of jewels. He first arranged for the clerk to send Kicha into town to deal with the stolen money. Kicha knows that Rick has ulterior motives, but he believes that his wife will not entrust herself to others. Worried, he rode to Enniy to expose Rick's crimes to the authorities.
On the way back with the military police, he found that Rick's plot had succeeded, and the military police immediately pursued him. Kicha ran straight back to the inn, broke into the room, pulled out a dagger with crazy jealousy and killed Anna. Before he pulled out the dagger from the dead man, Rick sneaked back to get the jewelry bag, broke into the house and killed Kicha. Rick ordered his men to search the house and then set it on fire. During the gallop, Rick suddenly fell down because of the overwork of the horse. Seeing the gendarmes following him, he couldn't escape the law, so he ran to the tree. The gendarmes rushed under the tree, and the head of the evil thief had exploded.
At noon the next day, the fire in the inn gradually went out, only the wall stood alone, and the old woman and two children sat on the stone and cried sadly.