Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, Blooming Brightly
Set against the lives of rural college students, this story follows two ordinary young people from the countryside. Through the male protagonist's love life and job search, it conveys the author's reflections on the value of life and one's outlook on life, while showing how young people today view their careers, love, and the meaning of life.
There are many kinds of wild chrysanthemums. The flower the author first had in mind was a different one, the kind that grows by the roadside. Even now, its name remains a mystery, so the author settled on wild chrysanthemum by chance. It grows in the wilderness, and its flowers are small, symbolizing an ordinary, resilient, and optimistic attitude toward life, which fits the author's intentions perfectly.
Lu Yang, why did we go to college?
Then why did we go to college? Lu Yang asked Li Xiaoyu in return!
Lu Yang, after all these years of hard work, wasn't it so we wouldn't have to go home and farm?
Xiaoyu, you and I were both good students in middle and high school, especially you. You were one of the top students in the school. But did we work so hard just to end up living in this tiny ten-square-meter room? Saying we did it to make great contributions to our country would just be big talk. Didn't we go to school all these years so people would think more highly of us and we could live better? But what have we actually accomplished? Where is the value of our lives?
The story follows them from meeting in middle school, getting to know each other in high school, and falling in love at college, all the way through graduation and starting work. Although they ultimately fail to make it in Beijing, they gain a lasting love. Isn't that happiness, too?
This book is dedicated to all the college graduates who have served or are serving as village officials, as well as the millions of rural college students in China.
