In the more than thirty years between the late Qing Dynasty and the Anti-Japanese War, the situation in the Jiangnan water town changed day by day. From the wailing bells of the Gongyuan, to the roaring machines in the factory, to the cannons and sirens supplementing the noise of the people. Shen Yicheng, the son of a Jiangnan gentry who returned from studying abroad, set up a cotton mill between Shanghai and Suzhou with the idea of "helping the world with technology" and intervened in the intersection of banks, the army, schools, workers, and the police. He is both a victim of the times and one of its promoters; he longs for clarity and order, but he also inevitably uses gray means to find a way out. Xu Ruyan, a new-style female school teacher, has clear eyes and a strong will. She runs between classes, night schools, and the streets, trying to open a crack in the heavy life. Liu Ziqing is a young man who ran away from the barracks and became a warlord's staff. He knows the rules but also breaks them. He has blood on his hands and a desolate heart. Bao Sheng, a man born as a worker, shouted out his fate in a hoarse voice, and suffered repeated setbacks and rises. People meet, get to know each other, diverge from each other, and shape each other. Caught between revolution, warlords, financial turmoil, industrial unrest, famine, bombing and occupation, they were pulled between interests, favors, and dignity, and made unglamorous choices again and again. This book uses plain writing to describe the connection between people's hearts and the undercurrent of the times, showing how individuals are swelled and dragged by the tide, and how those small kindness and strength are repeatedly ignited and extinguished in the sound of wind.
