Zhao Xiaoman, the Mountain Girl

Eighteen-year-old Zhao Xiaoman, a girl from western Hunan, gives her whole heart to Zheng Yuanhang and follows him to the city after he gets into a college. The night before they leave, he paints a dazzling picture of their future. She believes him and stakes her whole life on him. But the first cold shower the city brings is from Yuanhang himself: he thinks she is too country, is afraid she'll embarrass him, and brushes her off with, “Go back for now.”

After crouching by the curb and crying her heart out, Xiaoman wipes away her tears and thinks, “You think I can't survive without you, Zheng Yuanhang?”

From washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen to selling chili sauce at the market while running from the city inspectors, she's been shoved, trampled, and spat on to her face. But every time she hits the ground, she can grab a handful of dirt and get back up. If nobody thinks she's worth anything, she'll make herself someone no one dares look down on.

This isn't some miraculous tale of changing one's fate. It's the story of a mountain girl gritting her teeth and forcing a flower to bloom through a crack in the concrete. No golden finger, just sheer stubbornness: You look down on me? I'll show you I can make it.