That summer was indelibly imprinted in Cheng Zheng’s memory. It had been swelteringly hot and seemed to go on forever. Standing on the cusp of senior high graduation and preparing for the starting of university, it felt like metamorphosis. But to Su Yun Jin, what left the deepest impression was the struggles and confusion preceding the transformation; she did not know if the caterpillar fresh out of the cocoon would turn into a colorful butterfly or if a dark and gloomy journey awaited.
Su Yun Jin was born and raised in a county near the provincial capital. Her father was a biology teacher while her mother was originally an accountant in a textile factory who was eventually forced to step down during the “enterprising revolution” and become a homemaker instead. Due to her father’s poor health and constant admissions to the hospital, the family was not rich. However, her parents were extremely doting on their only child so Yun Jin never had to experience what it felt like to lack something. After completing her junior year in the high school her father taught at, her parents lamented the fact that the local schools’ standard was behind. For their beloved daughter to stand a good chance of attending a quality university, they utilized whatever savings and connections they had and transferred her to a better school in the provincial capital.