Waiting for the Wind, Waiting for You

"Waiting for the Wind Is Waiting for You" is a youth coming-of-age novel that takes the timeline from college to the workplace. It tells the story of Lin Wan, a finance girl from a working-class family, and Cheng Xu, a genius from the computer science department, spanning four years of their misplaced youth and their respective growth stories. Lin Wan has been burdened with the expectation that "the whole family is counting on you" since she was a child. She has "excellence" engraved in her bones and uses extreme involution and flattery to gain a little confidence in being recognized. When she entered her freshman year, she saw Cheng Xu for the first time in the interview corridor of the student union - the young man wearing a white T-shirt and quietly reading the competition manual. He had a relaxed and dazzling personality that she could never catch up with. From then on, she silently looked up behind him, secretly casting her eyes on him in the library, teaching building, and playground, but she never dared to get close because of her inferiority complex and cowardice. During her four years in college, Lin Wan hit rock bottom when she was blamed by the student union. She was completely awakened by the beatings she received from her internship at a large factory, and she transformed into a sober and independent self through her deep cultivation in the postgraduate stage. And Cheng Xu saw it from beginning to end - he had seen her most clumsy efforts and her most embarrassing collapse. He understood her cowardice and uneasiness under the disguise of strength. But he chose to restrain himself and wait until she was confident and determined enough before he could confess his feelings. However, two people who are not in the same time zone eventually drift apart amid misunderstandings and silence. Cheng Xu went overseas to further his studies, while Lin Wan stayed at home. From undergraduate to graduate school, from banking to resigning and changing careers, they grew up silently in their respective life tracks. On graduation night, Lin Wan toasted to him and wished him a bright future, and he only replied, "Me too." There was no grand confession, no heart-wrenching efforts to stay, but two sober and restrained people bid farewell to their entire youth in the most honorable way. The wind stops here, in midsummer. They grew up separately in a misplaced time, waiting for a well-matched reunion at the right time. Concept: "Waiting for the Wind Is Waiting for You" takes "dislocation" as its core and explores three propositions that contemporary young people commonly face as they grow up: Regarding self-identity and value pursuit: It took Lin Wan twenty years to understand that excellence is never a tool for comparison. The meaning of hard work lies in broadening one's horizons, settling one's mind, and having the ability to live an empathetic life. She grew from a "doctor king" who tried her best to please everyone and used involution to gain recognition, to a sober person who dared to resign and change careers and follow her heart. The greatest confidence in life is never recognition and fame from the outside world, but self-acceptance and precipitation. Regarding the relationship between love and growth: The relationship between Lin Wan and Cheng Xu was not spectacular, but at the most embarrassing and dazzling moments, it became the gentlest footnote on each other's growth. Cheng Xu's restraint and waiting are the deepest respect for Lin Wan - he does not take advantage of the situation or save her, but waits for her to grow her own armor. The best love is not dependent on each other, but two independent people working hard to grow in their own time zones, and wait until the day when their minds are on the same wavelength and their strengths are equal, and then meet at the top. Regarding the anxiety of the times and individual awakening: the novel accurately depicts the collective plight of young people in the era of "involution" - kidnapped by "excellence", coerced by "comparison", and domesticated by "stability". Lin Wan's decision to give up a big factory and quit his iron job in a bank is the most powerful response to this anxiety: Instead of running on someone else's track, it is better to find your own rhythm and go slowly. The wind stops when it meets the mountains, and the boat stops when it reaches the shore. "Waiting for the Wind Is Waiting for You" is written for everyone who has grown up awkwardly in a misplaced youth - you don't have to be number one forever, you just need to be yourself.