The [Axis] and Its Echo Beneath the Scorching Sun

Lu, a top student in the accounting department of a prestigious university and an all-around star, enters the furnace of grassroots real estate brokerage with an impressive graduation record behind him. From his hasty retreat from the Taiguang Stationery Store in Taiyuan, to the brutal screening at the Zhonglian Real Estate sales office, and then to years of hard work amid the bustle of the Yingbin branch in Yuci, he sheds the label of “excellent” and is tempered into a “good-for-nothing” amid jangling key rings, endless phone calls, and customers’ cold stares. With the tough yet caring store manager Sister Li, the network of his fellow veteran Zhao Zhe, and the support and friction of his diverse coworkers, Lu searches for a balance between high-end sales and the foundations of rental work. He finds direction amid the incense at Mount Wutai. Later, by his own choice, he leaves the brokerage industry, returns to his hometown, and begins a different chapter of his life. Spanning eight years, the story draws on the author’s own experiences to offer lessons that college students about to enter, or already in, the working world can learn from.