In the summer of 2005, the blazing sun scorched the earth, and cicadas called tirelessly from the branches. Wang Lin, a country boy who had just graduated from middle school, carried a shabby travel bag and left his village deep in the mountains for the county town, his heart full of hopes and anxieties about the future.
Standing on the streets, he gazed at the streams of traffic and rows of towering buildings, his eyes wide with wonder and amazement. He had seen the bustle of big cities on an old black-and-white television, but standing here in person, surrounded by surging crowds and flashing neon lights, everything felt so vivid and real that his heart raced. “So this is the world beyond home...” Wang Lin murmured, his voice quickly swallowed by the city’s clamor.
