Thanks to her self-made parents who fled from the mainland to Hong Kong, CC was able to study at Oxford and learned to speak English perfectly. But most of her relatives are still peasants living in Henan Province. CC has little idea how poor her relatives are until she receives a letter from her Aunt Yuxiu, whom she has never met, asking for help. The gist of the letter is that Auntie Yuxiu, who lives in a place known as Monkey Village, wants to come to Beijing to earn money. CC's cousin, Auntie Yuxiu's eldest son, needs money to get married. Auntie Yuxiu wonders whether she can work as CC's housekeeper and CC agrees to pay her 3,000 yuan per month. Later, Auntie Yuxiu learns, to her amazement, that this salary is equal to that of a university professor.

Before moving to Beijing, Yuxiu cycles three hours to the biggest supermarket in the township, searching for a gift for her niece. She buys ten bars of Dove chocolate, the most expensive gift she can think of. But CC rejects the present politely. "Auntie Yuxiu, I don't eat chocolate. I'm afraid of gaining weight."

"My kids, my husband, and I just have enough to eat," Yuxiu once complains to me, "but she is afraid of gaining weight. I don't understand you city people."

It's the first time Yuxiu has seen her niece. She is proud of CC's success, but one thing puzzles her: in their village, people are poor, but they have enough money to buy clothes to keep themselves warm. CC wears a shirt so small it shows her belly button. Even worse, it's worn and torn. So she says to CC: "I can mend the holes and lengthen the shirt by adding a fringe. That way your stomach won't feel cold. When your stomach gets cold, you get sick easily."

"No, I don't feel cold," CC replies. "My T-shirt is designed this way. The shorter it is, the more fashionable and expensive."

Yuxiu is confused and complains to me. "Why is it more expensive? It uses less cloth, so it should cost less!"

Yuxiu has never seen cut-off T-shirts before.

In order to teach Auntie Yuxiu about city life, CC decides to take her to Starbucks. The three of us go there together. CC orders Auntie Yuxiu a coffee. Yuxiu takes a sip and almost gags. "It so bitter – like Chinese medicine!" She looks at the price and screams, "Twenty-eight yuan per cup! That's half a year's tuition for the kids in Monkey Village!"

"You might want to add some sugar and milk," CC suggests.

It amazes Yuxiu that the sugar is free, so she slips ten packets into her bag. She explains to CC that for years, her household couldn't afford to buy sugar. It was a luxury item in Monkey Village. "Do you want sugar?" she asks CC. "No. I'm afraid of getting diabetes," says CC. "What is diabetes?" Yuxiu asks. CC explains: "It means peeing sugar…"

Yuxiu has only recently been able to afford sugar, yet CC is afraid of it. Yuxiu is overwhelmed. But she soon has another big discovery. The white paper napkins are also free. "They are much nicer and smoother than the coarse toilet paper we have to use at home!" She tells us as she pockets a stack.

In the next year, Yuxiu finds there are many differences between CC's life and her own, the city person and the country person, the rich and the poor. For example, she is grateful she no longer has to forage for wild herbs in the mountains and is able to eat meat every day. CC, however, is a vegetarian by choice. CC also tires herself out at a gym, which bewilders Yuxiu, who feels fortunate if she has time to rest and doesn't need to work from dawn to dusk.

Before she leaves Beijing with bundles of money for her son's wedding in Monkey Village, Auntie Yuxiu takes me aside and asks: "In the countryside, getting married late is shameful because it means you don't have enough money to pay for the wedding. Now that both you and my niece CC have enough money for a large dowry, why are you still single?"

I search for an answer and finally tell her, "Perhaps, like wearing smaller clothing, staying single is a stupid fashion followed by city people."

Lulu asks me on the phone, "If you meet a classmate you haven't seen for ten years, what would your reaction be?"

"Thrilled." I reply.

"What if she wouldn't recognize you?"

"I was too unimportant to remember."

"What if you were her savior or benefactor."

I stop Lulu. "No more of these what-if's – just tell me what happened!"

"Have you heard of a real estate development project called GWD – Great Wall Dreamland?" Lulu asks.

"Yes. Expensive villas at the foot of the Great Wall."

"Let me tell you about an escapade at the Dreamland," Lulu says with a deep sigh.

Lulu had attended a fashion show followed by a cocktail reception at the GWD. There she ran into a stream of movie stars, TV talk-show celebrities, and high-profile singers and musical groups. Her photographers were busy photographing these people, but she was bored.

Her friend Mary, editor of Family, came to her. "Let me introduce you to a really cool woman – Jenny. I was told that she is going to buy one of these mansions here. She just came back to China from the United States and doesn't have many local friends. I think the two of you would hit it off."

As Lulu saw Jenny, she couldn't believe her eyes. She knew this woman! But she had known her as Yu Zhen not Jenny. Yu Zhen was Lulu's college classmate; actually, they were even closer, as they had lived in the same dorm room for four years. Yu Zhen was a bit older than the other girls. She had always been quiet. In her second year at college, she had started to skip classes and come back to the dorm late at night. Sometimes she disappeared for a few days at a time. She had become a woman of mystery. The only way to track her down was by her perfume.

At that time, most college girls couldn't afford to wear perfume. But Yu Zhen did. She came back occasionally, leaving wafts of Christian Dior's Poison or YSL's Opium in the room. Lulu's fashion education first began by guessing the brands of perfume Yu Zhen used.

Rumor had it that Yu Zhen might be dating a sugar daddy, but nobody knew exactly what had been going on with her until one night when Yu Zhen came back around midnight and all girls were sound asleep.

"Save me! Help me!" She begged the girls in the dorm, who were still only half-awake and confused.

Yu Zhen made a confession. She wanted to change her fate by going to the States. In order to earn money for application fees and tuitions to American universities, she had prostituted herself. But one time she had been stupid and greedy. She had stolen 20,000 RMB from her customer, Big Feet. He had been so angry that he hired thugs to watch her outside the campus. He sent out a message that he would have her fingers cut off if she didn't return the money.

"Give the money back to him," her roommates suggested to her.

"I've sent it to the American schools that I applied to," she said.

"Why don't you go to the police?" Lulu asked her.

"I'd be expelled for what I did."

At that time, Lulu was the richest girl in the room. Because her parents had been newly divorced, both of them sent her money to compete for her love. She gave Yu Zhen 4,000 RMB in cash. Others also donated some money. Together they collected 20,000 RMB for Yu Zhen. Yu Zhen cried and kowtowed to everybody, saying that they were her reborn parents. She would work like a dog from now on to repay their money.

Then Yu Zhen vanished totally. Of course, the money they had lent her was gone forever, like a rock thrown into a lake.

Jenny greeted Lulu gracefully in English and excused herself for her sluggish Chinese. Mary helped her explain. "Jenny was born to a Taiwanese mother and a Macau father. She spent most of her time overseas. So that's why speaking Chinese is difficult for her."