The Clothesline on the Balcony

Cheng Maolin, a country boy, lost both parents at a young age and lived with his grandmother. Through hard work, he got into an ordinary university in a prefecture-level city. In high school, he had a secret crush on Sun Di, the class beauty, but she liked Li Hu. At university, he met another girl named Sun Di. This time, love seemed within reach, but after seeing how bare his home was, she quietly slipped away.

After graduating, a chance encounter led him to marry Zhao Xiangkui, Sun Di's cousin. He started a real estate agency, and life gradually settled down, but then the storm of a midlife crisis hit. His high school classmate Li Hu and his college classmate Yu Hui also faced midlife crises, their marriages and love lives in disarray. Meanwhile, after two divorces, the Sun Di from high school married Ma Yishan, their former classmate who had become a real estate tycoon.

Just as Cheng Maolin's latest business venture succeeded and his career was at its peak, his wife, Zhao Xiangkui, became critically ill. To pay for her treatment, Cheng Maolin sold his company and immersed himself in books on traditional Chinese medicine, teaching himself acupuncture. With clumsy yet deeply loving hands, he extended his wife's life bit by bit.

As the years passed, the once-youthful man grew grizzled with age. The clothes-drying rack on the balcony still stood, bearing witness to the half a lifetime of storms that had taken him from an inexperienced boy to a white-haired old man. In the end, Cheng Maolin and Zhao Xiangkui weathered life's hardships hand in hand, turning their ordinary days into the most moving story of lifelong companionship.