This is a realist masterpiece spanning forty years, telling the tragic fate of two low-level characters from struggle to fall in the tide of the times.
In 1993, migrant worker Zhang Guoqiang squatted on the cinder floor of the labor market. His biggest wish was to "become an individual." He is hard-working and hard-working, and attaches great importance to love and justice. However, in the cracks between power and capital, he gradually embarked on a path of no return - bribery, bid-rigging, and illegal mining. He turned from a mason to an entrepreneur with a net worth of over 100 million, and was eventually sentenced to death in 2025.
At the same time, another line of fate is intertwined: Chen Guoliang, a township cadre, was once a flood-fighting hero and devoted himself to the people. However, due to obstacles in his promotion and lack of connections, his mentality gradually became unbalanced. From staying up all night after accepting bribes for the first time, he later became Zhang Guoqiang's "protective umbrella" and eventually became a prisoner.
The two people who climbed out of the mud thought they could control their own destiny, but they both lost their way in the maze of power. This is a warning work about choices, costs and redemption, and it is also a profound reflection on the underlying ecology over the past 40 years of reform and opening up.
