because he would be the successor of his father, Yuxi. The young boy was cosseted, over-supervised and beaten so that he was weak and morose. Lute was often ignored and had more freedom to do what she wanted. She was given to those of no consequence. Lute grew up around servants, the sprawling, extended family existed in a sea of gossip, scandal, jealousy and fear. They were bound together by their need for money, and the terror of destitution. They lived on the family's ever-diminishing wealth and tarnished prestige, pretending loyalty while pursuing their own survival and pleasure. Through young Lute's child clear eyes, those adults sometimes were hypocritical; even her parents were relentlessly selfish. Characters Lute Lute () is the main character in this novel. The whole story tells about the young girl's childhood. She was left to the care of servants, and the companionship of her sickly brother. Unlike her brother, Lute was placed in a place of no consequence but also was given more freedom to do what she wanted. She was born in a fading aristocratic family in Shanghai. Around her, contradictions and aberrations are normal in Lute's family. Lute grows up watching the adults around her, and there is much to see. The sprawling, extended family and their ever-present servants exist in a sea of gossip, scandal, jealousy and fear. This is a household immersed in a decaying grandeur amid the intoxicating smell of opium. For Lute, the family was like a pagoda imprisoning her which she spent all her life to escape, albeit reluctantly. It was hard for her to give it up and terminate her memory of the family completely. People most think her father hurt Lute more. But in this novel, you may find out a truth that her mother actually was the person who hurt Lute more. As Lute said to Dew (her mother), not father: "He never hurt me because I never loved him". Hill Hill (), Lute's young brother, was sickly and infected with tuberculosis by his step-mother. As the only boy of the family, he would be the successor of his father. Compared to his elder sister, the boy was cosseted, over-supervised and beaten so that he was weak and unsociable. Most of time, he kept silent to everything around him and no one knew him, even his only elder sister who got along with him every day.