The novel is set in a small town beside the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and paints a meticulous picture of contemporary marriage and emotions. Lin Yan, a senior engineer, was trapped by her alcoholic and prodigal husband Liu Yuchun. She gradually fell in love with Sha Feng in a dull marriage in Canal Park. The novel does not stop at the narrative of extramarital affairs, but focuses on depicting the repeated tug-of-war between desire and morality - when Sha Feng gives Yan'er a milk foot bath, his passion almost bursts but he finally withdraws, revealing the profound truth about love that is cherished but cannot be possessed. This work creates a real image of a woman who is torn between responsibility and desire. Together, the three of them form a miniature landscape of middle-class emotional dilemmas. Compared with "Anna Karenina", Yan'er's choice to stick to her family reflects the spiritual orientation of "relationship" rather than "individualism". The novel is embedded in the background of the epidemic era, using realistic and cold writing to record all kinds of life in the small town, adhering to the belief in kindness and family affection in the darkness, and illuminating the subtleties of human nature with fine textures.
Concept: Some love becomes more pure just because it cannot be possessed.