Out of Aotai, On My Way to You

To escape the suffocating reality of her life, Lin Lan set out on the deadly Aotai Trail.

Burdened by her family’s expectations and other people’s judgment, she was sinking deeper by the day in a gentle cage.

She thought it was a solitary act of self-exile,

until she met Zhou Mu in the wind and snow, a man with a gaze as steadfast as rock and a presence calmer than the mountain breeze.

The ginger tea he offered was the only warmth in her desperate circumstances.

He saw through every crack and every trace of resentment hidden beneath her strength.

When her teammates fell one after another and even the most thorough preparations were crushed by reality,

he took her cold hand and carved a path to safety through the blizzard and boulders.

She once thought the wilderness was the end of the road,

but with him leading the way,

she gradually found her way out of the storm within,

and rediscovered her own backbone and direction.

“You don’t have to be anyone’s pillar,” he said. “You just have to stand firm as yourself.”

The wilderness is never gentle, but between life and death,

she found her true self.