On the Road

A Journey Through Life is a realistic novel set in the 1980s. It tells the story of Su Xinxin, a country girl who fights against her fate.

Su Xinxin has loved reading since childhood and dreams of a different life. She doesn't want to spend her days bent over the fields, so after graduating from junior high, she goes to learn tailoring. There, she meets Ye Chufei, a tall, handsome man who becomes her boyfriend. Later, Ye Chufei gets a job at the post office and breaks up with her. Unable to pull herself out of the pain of heartbreak, Xinxin marries in haste, hoping to forget Chufei. She chooses Wu Yongji, a factory worker she doesn't love, but whose job means she won't have to farm.

After they marry, she discovers that she and her husband are mismatched in personality and outlook on life. Their days are as stagnant as a pool of water. Naturally rebellious, she leaves him and takes a job in Qishan City, a fast-growing place at the forefront of reform and opening up.

In Qishan City, she meets Chen Yuhe, a handsome, witty man who pursues her. But Xinxin understands her own situation. Her thinking is still rather traditional, and she has no intention of divorcing her husband, so she politely turns Chen Yuhe down.

When she goes home for the Spring Festival, she hopes to mend things with her husband and make the best of their marriage. But unbeknownst to her, he has already fallen for someone else. She hands over all the money she has earned so he can build a new house...

Later, Xinxin returns to Fengcheng and starts selling clothes from a street stall. She also divorces her husband. Leaving the marriage with nothing, she is encouraged and supported by her close friends Zhu Lijun, Xiao Yingzi, and others. She rents two shop spaces at a shopping mall, builds a thriving clothing business, and makes her dream come true.

Theme: Kind, sincere, and undaunted