> 2030, the mountains of northwestern Guizhou.
>
> The day Hou Mingxuan was born, his father said, "Only when everyone prospers can a family prosper."
>
> Then his father left, and his mother left, too. The month-old baby was abandoned in an empty earthen house.
>
> From then on, his world consisted of his grandmother's back, the stones at the village entrance, and the busy signal on the other end of the phone.
>
> Called a "bastard," bullied, forgotten. He had no one to rely on and nowhere to turn, only a fierce streak that had grown from his very bones: if you dared insult him, he'd fight you to the death.
>
> From a left-behind child to a soldier in the barracks, from confusion and inner turmoil to finding his faith.
>
> This isn't a wish-fulfillment story. It's the story of a real person who struggled in the mire for half his life, and ultimately became a ray of light.
