In the summer of 1975, Chen Ling received her admission notice from the county's No. 1 High School. She had ranked third in the entire county.
She thought she could finally leave Chenjiaba.
But her family had no money. Her eldest brother was getting married, and the 120-yuan bride price had emptied the household's savings.
"What's the point of a girl going to school for so long?"
Her mother scolded her. Her father stayed silent. Everyone in the village thought she should accept her fate.
Chen Ling folded the admission notice into a tiny square and tucked it into the deepest pocket of her trousers.
"Fine, I won't take the exam. I'll study here in the village."
But she had fooled everyone.
By day, she attended classes at the village middle school. At night, she studied under the covers by flashlight. With no English teacher, she clung to the radio and struggled through the broadcasts. With no study guides, she borrowed every old textbook she could find across the county.
The girls in the village laughed at her for aiming too high.
Her mother would lose badly at the mahjong table, then come home and call her a money-losing burden.
Everyone said that Chenjiaba had never produced a university student. What made her think she could do it?
Chen Ling said nothing.
She simply got up at four every morning and memorized vocabulary by the light of the stove.
Everyone said she was crazy. A girl wanted to go to university?
But she was determined to show them all what she could do.
This is the story of a girl taking on an entire era. It is also the story of countless girls who were once trapped in the dirt, yet fought with all their might to blossom.
1. The writing is smooth and delicate, the pacing of the plot is well-handled, the characters are vivid and three-dimensional, and the immersion is incredibly strong—it gets more and more addictive the more you read! 2. The plot is novel and unconventional, the foreshadowing is cleverly laid out, the logic is sound, the characters are likable, and it's definitely worth following along. 3.
I haven't read such an engaging novel in a long time. The entire novel is brimming with a sense of the era, creating a vivid and immersive reading experience. The author has clearly put a lot of effort into it; the character descriptions in each chapter are incredibly detailed, and the plot is gripping. It's definitely a book worth reading.