Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: Rice-and-Salt Days: Winter Summary & Analysis

The winter wears on in the mountains. It takes a month for Lily's feet to heal. When they do, she begins searching the groups in the mountains to find family. After two weeks she finds a family who knows Elder Sister, and they tell her that someone who sounds like Lily’s husband came looking for her. Lily never hears a story like that again.

Snow Flower's husband, as a butcher, becomes a hero. He's willing to do the necessary things for survival like hunt, cook meat, and carry heavy loads. Snow Flower’s mother-in-law, however, remains nasty. One day, when they reach the bottom of their rice sack, she declares that Snow Flower's first son, who is still thin and sickly, should be allowed to starve. Snow Flower remains fixated on her second son, but Lily cannot stand for allowing an eldest son to perish. She shares her food with him.

The butcher punishes Snow Flower and her son one day for eating Lily's food. Snow Flower's mother-in-law wants to turn Lily away, but the butcher says that Lily's husband may reward him if Lily returns alive. Lily tells him that if she doesn't receive more food, she'll tell her husband she received no hospitality. She shares her resulting large amount of food with Snow Flower, Snow Flower's eldest son, and Spring Moon.

Snow Flower's eldest son begins seeking out Lily. Lily notices that he's not stupid, just uneducated, and she starts to teach him Uncle Lu's lessons. When she runs out of lessons, she tells him a didactic story and changes it to fit the boy's circumstances. Snow Flower's mother-in-law sneers at the story, but Lily sets the stage for her husband to later become the boy's benefactor.

As supplies become even scarcer, people continue to die. Lily observes Snow Flower's children. Snow Flower’s second son is very bright and adores the butcher, while Spring Moon is beautiful. Lily struggles to tell the reader that despite the hunger and the cold, Snow Flower and the butcher continue to do bed business. She gets pregnant again.

Snow Flower notices that Lily likes Snow Flower’s eldest son, and asks if she'd agree for Lily’s daughter Jade to marry him. Lily refuses, but the two again discuss matching their daughters as laotongs. Over the next weeks and months they celebrate Snow Flower's second son's fifth birthday, and begin to pay more attention to her eldest son. They teach him the few poems they know. Snow Flower glows and seems to have remembered her old independence.

After ten weeks in the mountains, Snow Flower's second son dies unexpectedly. The butcher is distraught and holds his son for two days, lamenting his loss. He buries his son in the woods but when Snow Flower asks where, he beats her so baldy that she miscarries. Lily and the other sworn sisters tend to Snow Flower as the beatings continue daily. Lily says she couldn't stand up for Snow Flower because both she and the butcher knew that she had no power alone.

Lily realizes how much she needs her husband, and vows to actually earn the title of “Lady Lu.” She continues to care for Snow Flower, but Snow Flower remains depressed. Daily, Snow Flower walks as though in a dream to the edge of the cliff. Lily follows her, afraid that she'll jump to be like her birds. After eleven days, Snow Flower finally speaks and tells Lily that her husband beat her after every lost child. Lily is hurt to discover that it's been going on this long and that Snow Flower never told her. Snow Flower says she's wanted to die for a long time.

Snow Flower continues, saying that she and the butcher have been punished for not following the pollution laws. Lily greets all of Snow Flower's laments with traditional platitudes (“girls aren't meant to live”; “sons are a woman's worth”), and Snow Flower tells her that while Lily has everything, she has nothing. She asks Lily to leave her alone. Lily thinks that a woman should never outlive her children, and realizes she never understood Snow Flower's grief at her stillborn daughters.

Snow Flower mentions Lily's aunt and says that thinking of Aunt makes her want to keep living. Snow Flower then seems to snap out of her reverie, and she and Lily return to the camp to write on their fan. The butcher and Snow Flower do bed business that night, and afterwards Snow Flower whispers to Lily that the butcher does love her.

The next day it's deemed safe to return to the villages. The butcher carries Snow Flower’s mother-in-law while Lily, Snow Flower, and the children follow. Bones litter the path, and Snow Flower stops once when she sees a mother collecting the bones of a child. The butcher comforts Snow Flower and promises to bring their son's bones home.

When they reach the butcher's home, he runs on to Tongkou to notify Lily's husband. Snow Flower pulls Lily upstairs and helps her wash and dress in some of Snow Flower's clean clothes. Lily is concerned about what Snow Flower told her, and tries to tell Snow Flower that she has never thought less of her. Lily hears her husband arrive before she can finish. She runs outside and bows at his feet. He lifts and embraces her, and for the first time, she says his name (Dalang). Lily thinks that she had deep feelings for her husband that day. He pays the butcher for keeping Lily safe and she bids Snow Flower goodbye.