The First Stirring of Awareness

Awakening from Ignorance is a soft science fiction novel interweaving real-world entanglements with the mysteries of deep space. Li Xiang, a core engineer at Xingyu Aerospace, reaches the peak of his career with a simulation project for capturing asteroids. Beneath the glory of the celebratory banquet, however, a lawsuit suddenly drags him into turmoil. His ex-girlfriend, Wang Yidan, accuses him of giving her a meteorite pendant that exposed her to radiation and caused her cancer. Public opinion erupts, conflating an old meteorite sample with a new aerospace project. Meanwhile, his secret relationship with his assistant, Gao Yuting, results in an unexpected pregnancy. If the secret comes to light, both his career and the project could be ruined. Looking back, Li Xiang, who grew up in the mountains, gazed at the stars as a boy and studied hard to leave his hometown, but he and Wang Yidan sadly broke up over their differences in outlook. In court, the evidence shows that the meteorite passed inspection before it was given to her, and that Wang Yidan had the raw stone processed and modified herself. The plaintiff loses the first trial. Wang Yidan later chooses to withdraw the lawsuit, but their love and resentment do not simply fade away. Bound by workplace rules governing relationships between superiors and subordinates, Li Xiang is forced to resign. Invited to work at an aerospace company overseas, he continues to pursue his dream of spaceflight.