The reckoning under the lamp, in a modern society exactly like ours, there is an ordinary city - Cloud City.
There are no fantasy here, no superpowers, just thousands of ordinary people like you and me.
Chen Jianjun and Liu Mei are the most ordinary working-class couple.
The man works three shifts in the factory, and the woman works odd jobs in the supermarket. She has never worn clothes worth more than 300 yuan in her life, and has never been to a decent restaurant.
Their only hope in this life is their son Chen Yang.
In order to keep the children at the starting line, school district housing, supplementary classes, school selection fees, materials fees, activity fees...
The expenses are like mountains weighing them down.
In the eyes of others, "for the sake of the children" is the nights they have stayed up, the food money they have saved, the classes they dare not take a break from, and the grievances they hide in their hearts and dare not express.
Children's grades are up and down. The invisible rules in school, the comparisons in circles, and the light words from others that "no matter how poor you are, you can't afford education" are all heart-breaking.
They tried their best to give their children a good path, but in the rush day after day, they lived like dust under the lamp that no one could see.
This is not the story of one particular family, it is the epitome of millions of working-class families.
In the book, you will see yourself, your parents, and every ordinary person who tries their best for their children.
