In the summer of 2008, twelve-year-old Lin Zhixia walked into his sixth-grade classroom wearing shoes with holes and two different-colored socks.
The whole class burst out laughing.
He stuttered, lacked confidence, and ranked near the bottom of the class. He was the most inconspicuous student there. His mother stayed up late sewing clothes at a garment factory, his grandfather's memory was getting worse, and Lin Zhixia couldn't even manage a complete self-introduction.
Everyone told him: You can't do it.
Until transfer student Song Qinglang "dropped" a pair of socks on his desk and told him, in the kindest way possible, that it was no big deal.
Until his grandfather opened a yellowed copy of Border Town and said, "Shen Congwen stuttered when he was young, too."
Until his mother stood tall in front of his teacher and said, "His name is Lin Zhixia. He's my son."
A carton of milk, a dictionary, a handwritten reading-aloud schedule: these tiny lights shone into his dim world, little by little.
From being bullied to fighting back for the first time, from ranking near the bottom to getting into a top high school, from a boy too shy to confess his feelings to an adult who could shoulder responsibility.
Twelve years. One ordinary person's comeback.
No golden finger, no System, no miraculous stroke of luck.
Only day-after-day reading practice, late-night exercises, keeping watch by his grandfather's hospital bed, his mother's companionship amid the sound of her sewing machine, and the girl who always waited for him in the cafeteria so they could eat together.
This is a story about taking things one step at a time.
Dedicated to everyone who once felt they weren't good enough.
You don't have to become the sun. The light of a firefly can brighten a small corner, too.
