LuLing claims that, in 1929 when she was fourteen, she became an evil person.

In this year, foreign scientists come to the small Chinese village looking for old bones. Precious Auntie hears about the scientists, who have promised to buy the ancient bones people have found as long as the bones are human and ancient. The village is known as a spot where ancient bones can be found.

As the bonesetter’s daughter, Precious Auntie had learned from her father the importance of using ground bone in medical practices. She had also learned where to find the most ancient of bones in a hidden cave. When word spreads about the foreign scientists and the money they are providing, the villagers become somewhat obsessed with digging up bones in every place they think they might find some ancient relics. Contrary to the fever for riches that is overcoming her neighbors, Precious Auntie believes the bones have become possessed with an evil energy. Becoming rich off of ancient bones is not appropriate. Precious Auntie is afraid that if she were to sell the bones her father had given her, she and the rest of her family would be cursed. She takes LuLing with her back to the secret cave and reburies the bones she has.

Not too much later, Mr. Chang comes to their house to deliver a coffin he has made for LuLing’s great-grandmother, who had recently died. While Chang talks to the other members of the family, Precious Auntie, who blames Chang for the deaths of her father and her proposed husband, stays in her room and bangs loudly on a metal pot. Although she cannot speak, she can make noise and let everyone know how much she disapproves of Chang. Many times, Precious Auntie (who speaks to LuLing with her hands) has asked LuLing to relate her story about Mr. Chang to the family. In the past, when LuLing was much younger, she did as Precious Auntie directed her to do. She told the family that Mr. Chang was a murderer. The family disregarded this story, preferring to believe that Precious Auntie lost her mind in her grief caused by the sudden deaths.

When Precious Auntie learns that Mr. Chang has made a lot of money from some bones he has sold to the foreign scientists, Precious Auntie is furious. Chang had stolen those bones from her on the day of her wedding. LuLing, in the meantime, trying to impress Mr. Chang and tired of doing what Precious Auntie told her to do, brags to Chang that she knows where more bones can be found. Chang responds by suggesting that maybe one day she will tell him her secret.

A while later, LuLing’s aunt, whom she calls Mother because she has been told to (not knowing that Precious Auntie is her real mother), receives a letter from a family relation who announces that the Chang family is considering LuLing as a prospective bride for one of their sons. After meeting with the Chang family, LuLing is approved. Later when Precious Auntie discovers that her daughter might become one of the Changs, she is totally distraught. However, LuLing has lost respect for Precious Auntie by this time. Luling blames Precious Auntie for everything that goes wrong. LuLing wants to become the favored daughter in the family, so despite Precious Auntie’s protests, LuLing looks forward to becoming a bride to one of the sons of one of the richest families in her village.