Saren Mandula on the Grasslands in the 1970s

After being dropped off by a liberation truck, Xu Xunzhi carries his father across the vast grassland. His father's wound has become infected, and he is burning with fever. The journey seems endless. Xu Xunzhi can only feel that perhaps he hasn't been sent here for reform, but abandoned to fend for himself.

Just then, another sound mingles with the wind roaring through the grass.

A girl reins in her horse and stops. Sitting atop the tall horse, she looks over at him with clear eyes and asks in halting Chinese, "Are you the new shepherd?"

Behind her, the moon hangs high in the darkening sky.

Xu Xunzhi can hardly explain the complicated feelings he had then, but he remembered that scene for decades.

Only later did he learn the girl's name, Sarin Mandula. In the local language, it means "the moon rising."

Later still, Xu Xunzhi would do everything in his power to lift his "moon" into the sky, so she could reach a wider world.

Sarin Mandula's world is vast: a broad sky and endless grasslands. And yet Sarin's world is small, with only her mother, her horse, and the two sheep at home.

Later, several educated youths arrive in the banner, one after another. One of them patiently corrects her accent and tells her the names of the stars, that snails have thousands of teeth, and why the heart beats. He teaches her physics and math... Sarin thinks she might like him a little, and feels that he might like her a little too.

But then he says, "Sarin, don't marry me. Don't marry anyone else yet, either. You need to go out there, leave these grasslands, and see the wider world."

[Content Warnings]

1. The male lead sees himself as a supporting character, simply a tutor helping the female lead get into college.

2. The female lead's growth is the main focus. She's an innocent young girl at first, but she'll gradually grow into a bold, confident woman of the grasslands. She won't be love-struck.

3. Sarin won't be with any man before getting into college. Since the male lead turns her down, there may be a little chasing-her-after-the-breakup drama.

4. Sarin Mandula is at the center of this world.

Theme: Set out for a wider world.