"Under the Rules" is a long realist novel that shows the grassroots ecology in the late 1990s. The story revolves around Yi Wei, a normal graduate. He was originally full of ideals but encountered the cold reality during his graduation assignment. He was "suggested" to go to a remote village because he had no background connections. Unwilling to be at the mercy of fate, he fell into the undercurrent of county politics under the fiddle of the old fulcrum at the grassroots level. From school to towns, from watching indifferently to being passively involved, Yiwei struggled to learn another set of survival rules in the cobweb of documents, relationships and power. This is not only the growth history of a young man, but also a vivid animation depicting the complex game between inside and outside rules, ideals and reality.
