Dust in a Fleeting Life, Part One

In middle age, Bai Yan transfers to Xiangyang Middle School to teach. One of her students, Li Jiahang, is extremely rebellious. By chance, Bai Yan learns that Li Jiahang is the son of Xing Hua, her former lover, who died in an accident more than ten years ago. After learning a few things, Bai Yan is both shocked and saddened. Memories buried for twenty years seem to be slowly unfolding before her eyes...

At the end of the book, Xing Zhi's family brings Bai Yan and her daughter to the mountain where Xing Hua is buried to pay their respects. Looking at the grave overgrown with weeds, Bai Yan cannot help but burst into tears. She realizes that a person is no more than a speck of dust in this world, drifting for a time before finally vanishing into the long river of history. We are already so insignificant while alive, and once gone, we are even harder to find. A hundred years from now, you will no longer be you, I will no longer be me, and a story will no longer be a story, because no one will remember it or hold it dear. Only the sun, moon, and stars, the mountains and rivers, will remain to witness generation after generation of travelers through this world.