In the story, the "madman" refers to Liu Shuqi, a young man who uses extreme methods to fight against the environment. Liu Shuqi became afraid of the educational environment because of the stories of school violence told by her brother Liu Mo. When she was six years old, she chose to pretend to be a madman - sometimes sluggish and sometimes manic - to avoid going to school. His "madness" is a sober struggle: using self-exile to protect his dignity, and using a twisted posture to resist twisted rules.
At the same time, Liu Yunxiu, who lost his left leg, was ostracized from the campus because of his disability, and became a "madman" in another sense - a loner imprisoned by secular eyes. The two met by the ditch and saved each other through reading and painting. Eventually Liu Shuqi's madness subsided as he grew up, and Liu Yunxiu put on prosthetic limbs and went south to study painting, completing their resistance to fate together.
Is the real madness a child escaping violence, or an environment that breeds violence? Two marginalized souls use their loneliness to illuminate each other's path to freedom.
Concept: Under the oppressive growth environment and cruel fate, individuals fight against difficulties and find self-worth through self-choice (such as Liu Shuqi pretending to be crazy to escape the world), mutual redemption (such as the companionship of Liu Shuqi and Liu Yunxiu), and persistence in dreams (such as Liu Yunxiu learning painting, Xia Qing turning to wood carving), and finally breaking free from the shackles of the environment and the past and moving towards new life.