Born in the barren countryside of southern Sichuan in the 1990s, Zhou Yang grew up amid the tides of a changing era.
Half a lifetime of hearth and home, and chaos strewn everywhere.
Rooted in the everyday ties of the lowest rung of rural life, he was swept along by trivial concerns, tugged in all directions by fame and fortune, bound by family, and repeatedly battered by the warmth and coldness of human nature.
He rose from the mire, struggled through tangled disputes, and pressed onward, step by step, amid worldly scheming, fickle relationships, and the hardships of life.
There were no lucky breaks from heaven, no smooth road through life, only an ordinary country boy who bore the trials of the years and endured a lifetime of upheaval.
In the mundane years strewn with life's endless messes, he broke free of fate, trampled hardship underfoot, and forged a life of his own through all its ups and downs.
Half a lifetime in hardship, half a lifetime searching. The mess may be light, but it is hard to lift the weight of half a life.
