"Return to the original text, all other Chinese text is translated into English: The Pursuit of Rice and Grain (Upper and Lower) -- Confusion of the Age of Forty"

Author: Xi Yue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The Pursuit of Livelihood is a novel crafted by young writer Xi Yue, who has accumulated over three decades of life insights. After six years of meticulous effort, it is the second long reflecting reality and focusing on the lives of the lower-middle class in society, following Shadow of the West City. The story unfolds in a coastal city called Yi Zhou, where a group of young people on the brink of their forties face life's bottlenecks in career, love, and daily life. They grapple with thoughts of negativity, heaviness, confusion, and uncertainty. After experiencing the vicissitudes of the world, they gradually move past life's missteps, gaining clarity, awakening, and a true understanding of the richness and beauty of life. The novel employs intricate psychological portrayals like micro-engraving to depict the protagonist Li Ting's various life encounters and his emotional journey from sensuality to rationality with Yu Hong, a female reporter from the newspaper. It also focuses on and reveals the reconstruction of a person's character for the sake of livelihood (the pursuit of livelihood), as well as the intrinsic relationships between human nature, environment, survival, and development.