The full text adopts the dual time and space interweaving narrative of the real-life memory line of the elderly Yuan Wangchun in 2021 + the main line of the escape from the troubled times of 1930-1949. It takes the small town of Yuanjiachong in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiangxin Miaozui (Xiba), Mojishan Laojiao, Xiazhongshan Road, and Xiba Wharf as the core geographical stage. It spans more than eighty years and connects the fates of two generations of families, refugees in troubled times, foreign priests, and dock people. The fate of ordinary people in troubled times is ups and downs: war crushes stable lives, ordinary people have no choice but to flee, separate, and be separated. Individual love and family bonds are vulnerable to the torrent of the times.
The full text is based on the first-person perspective of the memories of the elderly Yuan Wangchun. The text is realistic and restrained, with local fireworks intertwined with the sadness of the troubled times. There is no intense sensationalism. It relies on the environment, details, and utensils to set off the regretful and desolate atmosphere. The time and space switch back and forth, and the past sufferings are contrasted with the current peaceful old age, highlighting the powerlessness and tenderness of ordinary people's lives under the changing times.
