1.
Song Chengjian notices that Song Xuluo has been acting strangely lately.
The guy who used to love cutting corners and slacking off is suddenly following the rules. He goes to school every day and doesn't skip class, nor does he hang around with those lowlife "friends." Whatever their mother tells him to do, he does it without a single complaint...
And Song Xuluo keeps looking at him with an indescribable expression, as if he wants to say something but can't, then telling him things like, "It was my fault, Bro. I'll treat you right from now on. I've turned over a new leaf," which may or may not be a load of crap.
Song Chengjian doesn't believe a word of it. Song Xuluo is a dumb dog. A leopard can't change its spots, and he's waiting for the day that dog shows his true colors.
He waits and waits, but Song Xuluo really does treat him like a brother, year after year.
It's as if they've gone back to a long, long time ago, to the first year it snowed on Hanshan in his memories. Seven-year-old Song Xuluo held him close in the dark. His brother's eyes shone as he gently reassured him, "Don't be scared, little brother. I'm right here with you."
2.
Song Xuluo is reborn. He never thought he would get to live again.
This time, he thinks, he'll try not to be a terrible person. He'll live life to the fullest and avoid driving Song Chengjian into a blackened state again, only for things to end up in that godawful situation where the younger brother bullies the elder.
Song Xuluo does pretty well. He just about gets through school, and while his relationship with Song Chengjian isn't great, it's at least decent.
He thinks he'll always be able to keep things lukewarm and normal between him and Song Chengjian, just like ordinary brothers.
3.
"The road up Hanshan is dim and overgrown, while the cold stream below runs clear."
Thirteen-year-old Song Chengjian hates poor, miserable Hanshan. He hates the names his parents gave them, and hates Song Xuluo most of all, because Song Xuluo's name is connected to his own. He wants to leave Hanshan and get away from everything here.
At twenty-three, Song Chengjian wonders why Song Xuluo hates him, and why he and Song Xuluo are brothers.
Only later does Song Chengjian realize that he can't leave Hanshan, or Song Xuluo.
*
Bro, you said you'd always stay with me.
Bro, you're a vast, untamed lake, and I'm just a little fish in it.
A fish can't live without water. Without water, it dies.
The top and bottom are not biological brothers and share no blood relation.
Theme: Keep striving and moving forward
