"From Summer to Autumn" uses delicate and cold writing to outline Xu Zhixia's long journey from youth to marriage, from ignorance to awakening.
The story begins in the midsummer of Nancheng No. 1 Middle School. Xu Zhixia, a top student, and Lu Jingming became friends because they were at the same table. The ink marks, umbrellas, and confessions under the carport weaved a green first love, but in the end they were defeated by reality and ended without any illness.
The two reunited many years later and entered into marriage under the realistic consideration of "knowing the root and cause". However, life soon revealed its rough undertones: the mother-in-law was strong but indifferent, the husband was insensitive and evasive, and the two gradually drifted apart in awkwardness and silence. After Lu's father passed away, the two decided to have a baby, but they were hit by the failure of the embryos after artificial insemination. Xu Zhixia went to the doctor and had surgery alone, but her mother-in-law was not only indifferent, but also ridiculed her on the day of her miscarriage, saying, "I had a miscarriage in the morning so I could work in the afternoon." The relationship between the couple was even worse.
Then the natural pregnancy ended in a biochemical pregnancy. After examination, Xu Zhixia was diagnosed with balanced chromosomal translocation. Lu Jingming blurted out "Don't let me cut off my descendants" which completely chilled her heart. After going through many hardships, she finally gave birth to a son, but the journey of raising a child was still lonely: her mother-in-law was like a bystander and never reached out, the child had diarrhea due to illness and antibiotics, and kept fussing at night. As a first-time mother, she fell into deep self-blame. Lu Jingming was either absent due to work or sleeping in a separate room, and never provided emotional support.
In the abyss of postpartum depression, Xu Zhixia was on the verge of collapse several times, but had no one to turn to. In the end, she decided to save herself, took the initiative to seek psychological help, and gradually realized that she did not need to expect others to change, and did not need to be obsessed with the "perfect family". She learned to take off the shackles of the outside world and rebuild herself from the brokenness.
