In the autumn of 1934, Chen Huaian, a student from Lili Province, and Shen Youtang, a girl from Yantai, met at Xijiang Normal School. A class on the Book of Songs and three secret letters arriving in southern Xinjiang made two young people who were supposed to receive diplomas embark on a lonely journey to the foot of Kunlun Mountain.
After crossing the windy and sandy post road, they arrived at Gushi Township, Chigu County—a place with only Camel Thorn, thirty-seven children, and a sick teacher. The Diwozi classroom, the paintings on the sheep dung board, and the distant imagination of the "sea" became the focus of this education. But they don't know that deep in the ground beneath their feet lies a mysterious granary from Zuo Zongtang's time, as well as an unfinished mission that spans half a century.
This is not only a love story, but also a civilizational expedition spanning centuries. About how roses are grown in salt-alkali soil, about how moonlight illuminates the words in textbooks, about how two ordinary people spend their lives answering: "Teacher, what is the vastness?"
This novel and its characters are purely fictitious. Any similarity is purely coincidental and should not be imitated.
