Growth

Su Yun was born in a county-level city. From childhood, she and her half-sister Su Yan, who was four years older, lived with their grandparents. To the adults, Su Yun was a good, sensible, obedient child, while Su Yan became a cautionary example because of her poor grades and tendency to talk back to her elders. Their already limited resources had to be divided between them, so the sisters inevitably found themselves competing, often without meaning to. Su Yun got more resources because she was compliant, but she also bore all the expectations and pressure. Both sisters had their own unhappiness.

A few years later, Su Yan was taken away by her birth mother. As time passed, the sisters went down different paths in life.

Su Yan was often out of touch. When she did get in contact, it was usually because something major had happened and she needed these people. She unexpectedly got pregnant and had a child, repeating her parents' pattern of marriage and beginning the second half of her life amid chaos.

Su Yun realized that everything that had caused her pain had been done by the people closest to her. Her family treated her as a means of securing their comfortable old age. Yet they had only provided her with basic educational support, not enough to help her reach a higher rung in life, and she couldn't give them the returns they wanted. Su Yun was often painfully clear-eyed, though sometimes she immersed herself in an illusory world of her own making, pretending to be happy and content.

Su Yun was unwilling to return to the stifling home that had oppressed her, so she continued to make a living away from it. With no one to help, she went through plenty of hardship, but thankfully she never gave up. Little by little, she had the chance to meet benefactors. With their guidance, her life improved greatly. Su Yun didn't know what the future held, but she knew she would keep drawing nourishment from every source, like a tree. Even through wind, frost, thunder, and lightning, she would never stop growing upward.

Theme: The pain of childhood cannot be erased, but as adults, we must find a way to take charge of the life we want.