Lin Yan, the Watcher of the Year

"The Shou Sui Man" is a suspenseful and emotional novel based on the traditional Chinese Shou Sui culture. It tells the story of the protagonist Lin Yan, who returns to his hometown of Luosongping after the death of his grandfather, gradually uncovers a series of mysterious events related to the Shou Sui Shou, and eventually becomes a new generation of Shou Sui Shou. At the beginning of the story, Lin Yan received a call from her cousin Lin Hao and learned that her grandfather had passed away. She hurried back to Luosongping. During the wake, Lin Yan discovered a series of anomalies, including the old carpenter's square left by his grandfather, mysterious pine needles, and the village's strange rules. Through her grandfather's diary and the villagers' narrations, she gradually learned about a series of tragedies that happened in the village thirty years ago, including the death of a foreign woman Su Hong and the villagers' superstitious behavior. As the story progresses, Lin Yan experiences many supernatural events on the night of the wake, including meeting in the mirror, footprints in the snow, and discoveries in ice caves. She gradually uncovered the truth about Su Hong's death and the sacrifice her grandfather made to protect her and the village. In the end, Lin Yan completed the traditional ritual of letting go of the past and making a commitment to the future. Through Lin Yan's growth process, the novel shows the profound connotation of the custom of keeping the year old in traditional Chinese culture, as well as the importance of family responsibility and memory inheritance. The work has a compact plot and sincere emotions. It has the tension of suspense reasoning and the warmth of family and love. It is a deeply touching masterpiece.