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In a small town in western Sichuan, twelve kinds of life fragments tell the story of a trivial and ordinary life. The protagonists are all ordinary people who have taken root in this small town and are trying to survive: the grandmother who yearns for the warmth of her relatives in the lonely evening scene, the girls who were once inseparable in the Liangpi shop and then went their separate ways, the teahouse owner Wu Shusheng who is looking for a happy life in paralysis, the fifth sister who has a beautiful singing voice but is ridiculed by the world, the silent and rebellious young man Xia Pan... Living on daily necessities, food and drink, the short story series presents a rough and warm texture of life. The author's love, hate and nostalgia for his hometown town are revealed in his indifferent narrative. The last new chapter, "Reflections of New York," forms a reverse reflection of the story of the small city. "You will not find a new country, nor a new coast. This city will always follow you." There is a small city in everyone's heart, which is the starting point and retreat of your destiny.

This is a story that explores fate and choice. Many times, when life unfolds in a way that deviates from expectations, we are always lazy and attribute everything to fate, but in this story, half of your destiny is written by your own hands - at least half. Those who are lazy to make choices will be unable to correct the direction of their destiny, and there will be an endless cycle. This is a story about love, but it is not just a story about love, because love is like this, life is like this, and everything is like this.

In the era of silence, life flows as usual, and individuals strive to go retrograde. The book contains eight gripping stories, asking from different angles the choices young people have to make today: Compromise with the world, or remain angry? Whether we want freedom or safety, entanglement and hesitation make people weak, and weak people are often swallowed up by the times. Ahua's story is rich in layers: from politics to love, from the world to people's hearts, but the only thing in common among them is human weakness, struggle and hesitation.