Dear Iris

The novel tears apart the stereotyped label of "third party" and tells a female growth epic about deception, awakening and rebirth. The story does not fall into the cliche of "the head wife fighting the mistress", but instead allows the two "victims" Xia Lu and Wang Yiqun to go from the initial confrontation and suspicion to the later counterattack side by side. This alliance that breaks the shackles is the most powerful interpretation of "female mutual assistance". Xia Lu's transformation is particularly poignant: from the embarrassment of holding on to a broken design dream during the rainy season, to the sinking when she was coerced by Liu Bo's gentle lies, and then to fighting back from the trough of despair after the truth was exposed - her determination when collecting evidence, her sobriety when she refused to make things difficult for her clients, her relief when running on the seaside, and she stepped on the pain but became brighter every step of the way. Wang Yiqun's growth is equally touching, from a forbearing housewife who endured cold violence, to her determination when breaking a crystal vase, to her transparency in building a flower shop into a "healing space". She lets readers see how much energy the courage to get out of an unhappy marriage can generate. The plot design of the story is both tense and realistic: Liu Bo's wedding ring mark, the same style of iris umbrella and other foreshadowings echo back and forth, making the collapse of the lie more impactful; conflicts such as the hospital encountering a prenatal check-up and the ex-husband's entanglement with the police truly restored the difficulty of the victim to escape the predicament; and moments such as Xia Lu's surfing award and Wang Yiqun's receipt of the divorce decree were full of the warmth of healing. In the end, when Xia Lu pressed the delete button on the beach and ran towards new life against the sea breeze, the story had already transcended the category of "emotional entanglement", allowing everyone who had fallen in the darkness to see the hope of living in the sea.