Era background: From the late 1980s to the mid-to-late 1990s, Chinese society experienced a specific period of profound change.
· Core location: Datong City, Shanxi Province and surrounding mining areas.
· Main character: Zhao Tiezhu (nicknamed "Er Goudan").
· Theme of the novel: Through the rise and fall of a small person at the bottom, it shows the struggle of human nature, the sinking of desires and the inevitable victory of the legal system under the torrent of the times. It explores the intertwining of power, money, violence with human nature and destiny, and warns that any order established by illegal means will eventually collapse.
