Library

Thirty-eight years old, divorced, sent to a remote county in southwestern Shanxi. I met Axiu in the night of Puyang River. She is twenty-six years old, a mother of two children, and a pawn in the fraud den who is forced to "follow" me. That night, she borrowed my fire and the most tender time in the rest of my life. I bought her freedom with 30,000 yuan, took her and my eldest daughter north, taught her literacy and skills, and hugged each other to keep warm on rainy nights in Beijing. I thought this was the beginning of love, but I didn't expect it to be the countdown bell. The reality of household registration, the little daughter left behind, the quagmire of the original family... Will we pull each other towards the abyss, or towards the light? This is a story about "letting go". Some love is not for possession, but for fulfillment. I fished you out of the darkness, washed you away from the mud, and sent you to a place where the sun shines. Then, I retreat to my loneliness, guard my empty city, and watch your peaceful years