The Wildflower’s Guide to Saving Herself

Chen Zhaodi had two secrets hidden in her heart, like mountain mist that had clung to her for many years. The first secret was the things she could see that no one else could. Those glowing captions, flickering in midair. She was illiterate and thought they were useless ghosts. They could neither get her a full meal nor keep the night wind at bay. It was only much later that she understood: they were the script of a life already written. And she was nothing more than the doomed white-moonlight supporting female character in a melodramatic novel, destined to die at thirteen at the hands of a man from a neighboring village, her final drop of blood buying her family betrothal money and compensation. The day Chen Zhaodi learned the truth, she neither cried nor made a scene. She simply tightened her grip on the rusty sickle. To hell with the plot, and to hell with being anyone's white moonlight! She was no lamb waiting for slaughter. She was a wolf, fangs grown in the mountains. Everything that failed to kill her would ultimately help her tear apart this life book that devoured people. Later, Chen Zhaodi became the first girl to leave the mountains. The second secret was about names. She would not only change her own name, but tear apart the curse laid upon thousands upon thousands of girls named Zhaodi. Born as wildflowers covering the mountains, why should they bow to the names they were given? They were meant to bloom across the mountains and fields, in a grand and resounding profusion. No one could imprison them, and no one could define them. Theme: Optimism and positivity never fade