Blurb:
[Small-Town Fiction + Ensemble Cast + Mutual Healing + Heartwarming + Happy Ending]
Resilient working-class girl VS depressed genius composer
*
Huo Manxi's eighteenth year ended with a ticket to a job far from home. She dropped out of school and left her hometown.
She eventually landed in remote Qiyun County. Amid the roar of machines and the bustle of a soy milk stall, she scraped together enough to get by, along with a lingering sense of resentment.
Then a phone call from her best friend, Qiao Dongyun, pulled her back to her hometown.
"Manxi, I'm getting married. They want to use my bride price to secure my brother's future."
So that winter, nineteen-year-old Huo Manxi did something big. She "stole" an eighteen-year-old bride, whose tears had yet to dry, right out of her wedding.
Huo Manxi: "Come with me. Let's get out of here. No matter how hard things are out there, at least we can fight for our own lives."
*
The green train on the return journey carried the runaway girls. In its dim carriage, they met two equally down-on-their-luck young men.
Across from them was Meng Duchen, a once-famous genius composer who had been widely covered by the media. Now his inspiration had dried up, he could no longer write beautiful music, and he was mired in depression.
Beside him was his friend Rong Zhengyue, carrying a camera and a guitar, watching over him every step of the way, afraid he might shatter in the wind.
Four young people, eighteen or nineteen years old, each carrying dreams and the need to survive, were thrown together in a small county town called Qiyun.
*
From then on, the breakfast shop that opened at four in the morning had two more girls wolfing down their food and two more boys scrambling to keep up.
In little Qiyun County, they fought and cried. They also supported one another.
When the girls' escape and fight for a new life collided with the boys' first glimpse of the world...
Huo Manxi asked, "Meng Duchen, have you found the sound you were looking for?"
Meng Duchen: "I have. That sound is us."
Qiao Dongyun: "Rong Zhengyue, your camera is so small. How can it fit all four of us inside?"
Rong Zhengyue: "Silly, it doesn't hold us. It holds freedom and a new beginning."
That's right. Qiyun County may be small, but it's big enough to hold their freedom, their new beginnings, and their dreams.
Butterfly Rearing Plan: Reader's Guide
1. A realistic ensemble story about ordinary people in a small county town. The focus is on the four of them struggling, helping one another, and growing. It includes friendship, family, and a slow-burn romance. The pacing is slow, too.
2. Healing and redemption. Couples: Huo Manxi and Meng Duchen, Qiao Dongyun and Rong Zhengyue.
3. No characters are based on real people. Everything comes from things I've seen and heard.
4. The author isn't misogynistic. Isn't misogynistic. Isn't misogynistic!
5. The characters and plot aren't perfect, so please proceed with that in mind.
6. Finally, I hope you enjoy the story.
Theme: Break free from society's shackles and be yourself.
To the "breeders" and the 128 days and nights accompanying "Dyeing Winter": The "dye" in "Dyeing Winter" is the color soaked by suffering over the years. It is also the unique color dyed by Huo Manxi and Meng Duchen for the cold season with their warmth, laughter and singing. Winter will eventually be dyed through, penetrated, and passed through. Huo Manxi and Meng Duchen use each other's warmth to dye winter with the color of hope, allowing spring to sprout under the frozen soil. When the last full stop fell, I vaguely heard Meng Duchen say, "That voice is us", and when I saw the "freedom and rebirth" frozen in Rong Zhengyue's lens, I knew that their winter was over. As readers, a certain frozen corner in our hearts seems to have been knocked open by the green train bound for Qiyun County for the entire spring with a "bang". You said, "Being a breeder is actually quite tiring," you said, "I'm often mentally and physically exhausted," and you said, "I feel guilty." These words are so real, as real as the cold air at four o'clock in the morning in Qiyun County, getting into the bones of everyone who has tried to create something. Creation is never a romantic fantasy, it is a real exertion of physical and mental energy - word by word, plot by plot, and close combat with self-doubt in the middle of the night when no one is watching. But it is this "tiredness" that gives "Dyeing Winter" its weight. You said that the new article died due to "hard work" but not "intention", so you apologize for "Dyeing Winter". But what I read was a different story. Careful attention does not necessarily mean that it is carefully crafted to be flawless. Intention means that you still choose to let this story be born in the midst of anxiety; it is you who still do not give up on the four young people hugging each other for warmth in Qiyun County even when you have self-doubt; it is you who still light up a light for them on time even if you feel that "not many people are looking forward to it." Huo Manxi said to Qiao Dongyun, "Come with me and leave here. No matter how hard it is outside, you can still earn your own living." Isn't this what you said about this story? It may not be perfect, but it is fresh, sincere, and full of body heat. This determination to "take them away" despite being uneasy is the most precious intention. You built a bridge and we walked on it. You said that creation is "self-expression". After publishing, it becomes a bridge. Readers have the right to choose whether to walk on it. I want to tell you: the bridge "Dyeing Winter" is not only strong, but also beautiful. It leads not only to the scenery in your heart, but also to a habitat that many people long for - where losers can be accepted, lonely people can find echoes, and the injured can bandage each other. What you built for us is not an illusory utopia, but a real world with the roar of machines, the steam of soy milk, tears and laughter. We walk on this bridge because we recognize ourselves, or the selves we aspire to be, on the bridge. You asked, "What is the purpose of writing?" In "Dyeing Winter", I saw the answer: it is to send a sincere signal in the vast world, and then I discovered that there are really other souls resonating with the same frequency. About tenderness and severity, about all that is left unsaid. You said readers are gentle, but you didn't point out the problem, you just complimented them. I think maybe it's because what we receive in the story is first of all great kindness and understanding. You gaze at everyone you write from an equal perspective, without criticizing their weaknesses or exaggerating their brilliance. The gaze itself is a demonstration of tenderness. And all growth takes time. You slowly learn from each story, and we slowly understand from reading again and again. This is good enough in itself. Spring is coming tomorrow. You used 128 days to dye a winter with the color of hope. So next, please allow yourself to be blank for a period of time to feel the spring of your own when you are truly doing nothing. You give us stories, and we repay you with long-term companionship and trust. This is called reciprocity. I wish the breeders a bright life and a happy Tai Sui. I wish the breeder's creations will finally find their place. I wish the breeders can have a happy life besides creating. Next story, see you next year. Wait for the butterfly to emerge from the cocoon, wait for the next one, the world that belongs to you. [Spread flowers]
Oops, it's still so cute. The sound of reality and ideal colliding hahaha˙ᵕ˙ᰔ[Orange Candy] is here
Chuchu was particularly great, We will also be happy until the end o(o･`з･´o)ﾉ!!! [Orange Candy] is here
Happiness ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭*
Finished spreading flowers [spreading flowers] Goodbye by fate 🤗
It's the beginning of spring. May the breeders be as warm and bright as the sun this spring. Everything you encounter is beautiful, and everything you travel is smooth. May your spring be as you wish, with warm spring and flowers blooming [Spreading Flowers]