In 1949, a baby’s cry rang out, and a boy named Qianyu was born into the most ordinary of families.
His parents hoped he would live a steady life, but the times forced him to venture out into the world.
At fifteen, he left home, full of courage but with nothing in his pockets, struggling against poverty and the contempt of others. He carried luggage and ran a street stall. He was bullied and looked down on, tasting all the hardship and bitterness of life at the bottom.
He refused to settle for an ordinary life and was determined to defy fate.
He met benefactors and made the wrong friends; he took up smoking and drinking, and learned the ways of the world. He earned a little money, then got rich overnight. He saw the most dazzling and decadent side of life and enjoyed days of carefree pleasure.
After all the twists and turns, half a lifetime of ups and downs, he had cried, gone wild, fought hard, and suffered.
Only in the end did he understand that the “ordinary life” he had fought so hard to escape was, in fact, life’s most solid and genuine destination.
This is no legend, just the true story of an ordinary man, pushed along by the times, led by desire, and worn down by life until his edges were smoothed away.
It captures a generation’s struggles, recklessness, regrets, and eventual reconciliation.
The more ordinary it is, the more it hits home.
