Mu Yu, a young teacher, transfers from the city to a primary school in a town to avoid further conflict with her mother. Strangely, she always feels as though someone is watching her on campus, though she can’t explain why.
Halfway through summer vacation, after an argument with her mother, she returns to the school dormitory. The principal and the elderly gatekeeper come to find her, asking her to help handle the affairs of Qiu Yang, a reclusive teacher from the same school who died suddenly of an illness.
While sorting through Qiu Yang’s belongings, Mu Yu finds an old photograph and a diary. After seeing them, the gatekeeper invites her to sit at his home for a while. When the old man brings out a small wooden box that has been sealed away for years, a story from the past is revealed…
There’s no larger-than-life protagonist here. This is the story of the lives of ordinary people in the Republic of China era, told at a somewhat leisurely pace…
