Drift
by Han Xueli
About This Novel
This work focuses on the later life of Jiang Daming and Li Huilian, and unfolds multiple family narratives around "drifting" and "belonging". The old couple never left the county town, but because their son and daughter had settled in the north and the south and were in urgent need of help taking care of their grandchildren, they had to reluctantly separate. One went to his son's home in the south, and the other went to his daughter's home in the north, starting a wandering journey of supporting each other in different places. Before Jiang Daming retired, he was the technical backbone of the workshop and was used to living a free life. When he first arrived at his son's home in Shanghai, he felt alienated by the unfamiliar urban rhythm, his finicky daughter-in-law, and his days of leisure and confusion. Finally, he fell in love with his fellow villagers. After retiring, Li Huilian was willing to take care of her children, but at her daughter's house in Shijiazhuang, she had to deal with trivial matters such as favoritism of her in-laws, filial son-in-law, and weak granddaughter, silently managing the housework and mediating conflicts. The work simultaneously unfolds the life dilemmas of the children's generation: son Jiang Bo is working hard in the workplace in Shanghai, caught in the conflict between his powerful wife Tao Jing, his father who misses his hometown, and educational concepts; daughter Jiang Tao and son-in-law Su Jianyuan are struggling with real-life pressures such as mortgages, school district housing, and the burden of their original family. They also have to deal with the troubles and entanglements of their brother-in-law Su Jiancheng's family. The educational difficulties of grandchildren, the collision of ideas between husband and wife, and the ties and support of the original family are intertwined into a realistic picture of contemporary families. From the long-distance care of an old couple, the workplace and family struggles between sons and daughters, to the interest entanglements and emotional ties between relatives, the work delicately depicts the wandering states of different generations in the process of urbanization - some people leave their hometowns for their children, some stick to their foreign lands for life, and some struggle to move forward under the pressure of reality. In the end, whether it is the old couple's attachment to their homeland, the children's desire for stability, or the warmth that grows among family members, they all point to the deep pursuit of "home" and "belonging", and illustrate the normal life of ordinary families who have no choice but to drift and watch each other in the tide of the times.
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