In the 1980s, the college entrance exam was the only way for young people from the countryside to change their fate. Failing meant repeating their parents’ backbreaking life in the fields and losing the chance to leave the mountains and realize their potential.
A rural boy, rejected by a secondary teacher-training school because of his height and left behind academically after dropping out from homesickness, has only two years to catch up with the top high school in the county, get into college, and become the hope of his entire village.
After graduation, should he stay in the city and pursue a brighter future, or return to his impoverished hometown and use what he has learned to give back to the land and to children whose lives resemble his own?
The protagonist, Liao Wenhao, known as Wenzi, has an obvious weakness in his abilities: his knowledge base is shaky due to limited educational resources and a difficult early environment. He also has an emotional Achilles’ heel: a heavy sense of responsibility toward his family and a fear of, and difficulty adapting to, unfamiliar surroundings. Together, these challenges seriously threaten his dream of teaching. What will become of his dreams of nurturing talent, becoming a teacher, and standing at the front of a classroom?
What a down-to-earth story! ! 👍👍👍