"Peach Leaf Ferry" is a novel about summer, but it is not about the excitement of summer, but about the long years of swimming alone after summer ends. It draws on the narrative soul of "Call Me by Your Name" (how a brief encounter can become a mark of a lifetime), but it deeply penetrates the roots into the soil of China: the wisteria in the south of the Yangtze River, the ferry in the ancient town, the sound of the piano in the study, the father's silence, those unspeakable love and being loved.
The estimated volume of one million words is not to "lengthen" a story, but to make this encounter truly "live" a lifetime - from the ignorant heartbeat at the age of 17, to the anger and waiting at the age of 20, to the pain and choice at the age of 30, to looking back and understanding at the age of 40, until in old age, sitting under the same wisteria, using the sound of the piano to tell the story of a lifetime to the wind.
Creating a story like this takes courage, but also patience. But as the novel wants to express - what really matters is not the ending, but the encounter itself. The wisteria blooms every year and the ferry is always there. And the only thing you have to do is start writing.
Go write about that summer.
The wisteria is blooming. Someone is playing the piano. The wind from the ferry blows from Taihu Lake, carrying water vapor and the smell of distant places. The two teenagers walked side by side on the stone road, not knowing what was waiting for them ahead, or what kind of people they would become in twenty years. But they knew – today was good. This dusk is good. It's good to have you by my side.
Concept: restrained and beautiful Chinese love. . . . .