The World of Love Is Crowded: Written After Reading Love, It's That Simple

This novel tells the story of a genius teenager nicknamed Prodigy, Wu Shen, and his coming-of-age after entering university, as well as his love story with two girls, Zhang Yan and Zeng Zimo. Although the novel has a somewhat unfinished ending, the final outcome is still more or less a happy one for all.

At the beginning of the story, Prodigy's classmate and the belle of their department—Zhang Yan—is drawn to his unique personal charm and can't help falling for him, while Prodigy also has feelings for Zhang Yan. In this way the two gradually fall in love. Just as they are infatuated with each other, Zhang Yan's mother—then the Party secretary of Nanjing—does everything she can to obstruct their romance. At the same time, Prodigy becomes famous overnight for directing and performing several brilliant programs at an event evening, and through this he meets another girl from the architecture department—Zeng Zimo. Compared with Zhang Yan, Zeng Zimo is an entirely different style: she is breathtakingly beautiful and also strikingly talented, completely unlike Zhang Yan's little-girl princess personality. In the course of spending time with Prodigy, Zeng Zimo gradually falls for this boy who is as clever and wise as she is, even knowing that he already has a girlfriend….

During an exam, Zhang Yan, in order to help her best friend Cao Min pass, knowingly breaks the rules by passing a note in the exam hall, but is unfortunately caught by the invigilator. To protect Zhang Yan, Prodigy takes the blame for cheating on the spot and even talks back to the invigilator. Unluckily, the school is at that time cracking down hard on academic atmosphere and exam discipline, and the school decides to expel Prodigy… Prodigy is very upset when he gets this news, and Zhang Yan is even more upset than Prodigy, so even though his spirits have hit rock bottom, he still has to hold back his tears to comfort Zhang Yan… Prodigy feels as if he has fallen into a bottomless abyss, his heart like dead ashes. Watching his classmates pack up one after another to go home for the New Year, Prodigy has no heart at all to go home; he doesn't know how to face his parents…

On that night when Prodigy is at his saddest, he walks aimlessly along the road and unexpectedly runs into Zeng Zimo waiting for a bus at the station. Perceptive Zimo sees in Prodigy's eyes his helplessness and fragility at that moment. She resolutely gives up the last bus home and stays to keep Prodigy company. Prodigy and Zimo talk for a long time that night. In the end, Zimo once again confesses her feelings to Prodigy, but Prodigy's reply hurts Zimo's heart. Zimo leaves in anger, leaving Prodigy to return to the dormitory alone in a daze.

In the end Prodigy still goes home, but he still hasn't told his parents about this matter. The entire Spring Festival passes without any flavor, but he has no choice but to grit his teeth and return to school, waiting for this final outcome.

After arriving at school, Prodigy unexpectedly receives notice from his counselor that he is not on last semester's list of expelled students. Prodigy is overjoyed. He spends a brief, uneventful stretch of time at school. Right around this time, it happens that the school is selecting candidates for an exchange program in Hong Kong. Prodigy had it almost in the bag to go study in Hong Kong, but at the last moment, the uncle of Zhong Guoqiang, with whom Prodigy has a grudge—Director Zhong of the Student Affairs Office—suddenly bursts into the interview classroom, announces on the spot Prodigy's exam cheating, and cancels his qualification to go to Hong Kong as an exchange student.

After that, things develop in an uncontrollable direction. Prodigy is ultimately expelled. Zhang Yan seeks her mother's help. Zhang Yan's mother privately finds Prodigy and says she can help him resolve this matter, but the condition is that Prodigy must transfer schools and cannot have any further relationship with Zhang Yan. Prodigy of course will not compromise. Afterward, with nowhere to turn, Prodigy moves out and lives with Lao Zhao, a soon-to-be graduating senior. During this period he has conflicts with Zhang Yan and also cannot find Zimo; he can't help but be frantic with worry, and at the same time once again sinks into despair….

Finally Lao Zhao can't stand watching anymore. Under his persuasion, Prodigy finally pulls himself together, planning first to find a cram school so he can take this year's college entrance exam, sit the university exam again, and also find a job to earn some money. Prodigy finally has another relatively smooth stretch of days. But good times don't last; the cram school tells him he cannot take the college entrance exam in another locality and must return to his hometown to sit the exam… Prodigy once again sinks into despair

At this point Prodigy has no choice but to work part-time while inquiring about news of Zimo. Heaven finally rewards the persistent: it turns out Zimo, because she had used her father's name without permission to keep Prodigy from being expelled by the school, was put under house arrest at home to reflect on her mistakes after her father found out. Only then does Prodigy understand why he was not expelled at the beginning of the second semester—it had all been Zimo helping behind the scenes. At this moment Prodigy's gratitude toward Zimo is beyond words, and the feelings long suppressed in his heart also gradually heat up…

Many more such days pass. While Prodigy is accompanying Zimo on a trip to Suzhou, Zimo unexpectedly comes down with acute appendicitis. Prodigy stays by her side every moment caring for her, and in the hospital ward they happen to be seen by Zhang Yan's mother, who has come to visit a friend. Prodigy is thoroughly panicked and decides he must leave Zhang Yan. At the same time, Professor Sanuel, the author of a foreign book Prodigy had previously translated, comes to S University hoping to meet with Prodigy. But there is no way Prodigy can leave Zimo alone and go back to S University. As a result the school actually arranges for Zhong Guoqiang to take Prodigy's place in meeting Professor Sanuel. Later Professor Sanuel even helps Zhong Guoqiang apply for a full scholarship and wants to take Zhong Guoqiang as his student.

There is something fishy about all this. Prodigy is determined to get to the bottom of it, but Zhong Guoqiang obstructs him in every way, even threatening to tell his parents about the expulsion. This time Prodigy throws caution to the wind, wanting to fight Zhong Guoqiang to a mutual destruction, so he steels himself and tells his parents about being expelled. This is a huge deal. Prodigy's parents rush to Nanjing overnight. Director Zhong talks terms with them, saying Prodigy can stay at S University, but he must no longer stand in the way of Zhong Guoqiang going to study in the United States. Prodigy's parents compromise at once, and Prodigy has no choice but to compromise as well.

Prodigy finally returns to S University, and his classmates are all delighted. By a chance opportunity Prodigy joins the school's mathematical modeling team and represents the school in a competition. Unfortunately the judges of that contest do not accept the new algorithm Prodigy used at the time, but after Prodigy submits the paper to an internationally renowned modeling journal, Prodigy's small team obtains a special invitation to the Hong Kong Asian Mathematical Modeling Contest. In the end Prodigy lives up to expectations, matching wits and courage with Zhong Guoqiang to win the gold award at this international competition, and in Hong Kong he happens to run into Sanuel, exposing Zhong Guoqiang's true colors, and thus also regains a full scholarship to an American university.

Just as the story reaches this point and Prodigy's life finally sees sunshine, another twist suddenly arises. Zhang Yan's mother is suddenly under investigation for unknown reasons, so Zhang Yan temporarily cancels her flight to Australia. Zimo tells Prodigy to fly back to Nanjing to keep Zhang Yan company. In the end it is a false alarm. Just as everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, Zhang Yan decides to go abroad to study and wishes Prodigy and Zimo happiness. At this time, however, Zimo is nowhere to be found. Later Zimo sends an email telling Prodigy that Zhang Yan needs him more, and blessing him and Zhang Yan. Watching everyone around him leave, Prodigy resolutely decides to accept Sanuel's invitation and go to university in the United States.

Before starting university, Prodigy plans first to follow Lao Zhao and the others from the museum to Inner Mongolia for archaeology. Something unfortunate happens: while tracing characters on a cliff, Prodigy falls off the cliff trying to catch a watch that dropped from his pocket—that was the watch Zimo gave Prodigy. Prodigy suffers a severe head injury and remains unconscious. After learning this news, Zimo immediately rushes from the United States to Inner Mongolia and stays by Prodigy's side every moment. Finally Prodigy still wakes up; everyone is happy, and he recovers very well.

Time jumps ahead several years. Prodigy is already pursuing a graduate degree in the United States, and Zimo has already started working at a world-famous architectural design firm. They are in the same state but not the same city. Every week Prodigy drives to Zimo's city to meet her. One coincidental day, when Prodigy goes to the airport to pick up Zimo, he instead picks up Zhang Yan. The two, who have not seen each other in years, look at each other and smile, weeping with joy. Prodigy also understands that this is kind Zimo's arrangement, and his heart is filled with genuine gratitude toward Zimo….

The novel ends on just such an ending that leaves one wanting more. After finishing it I still can't help savoring it. The novel's portrayal makes the character of Zeng Zimo even more appealing. If Zhang Yan's personality is full of a little girl's willfulness, then Zeng Zimo combines mature rationality with playful, lively sensibility. Without a doubt, both girls love Prodigy, but Zeng Zimo's love for Prodigy is purer; she is willing to give more, and compared with Zhang Yan's love it is more selfless. Zhang Yan also loves Prodigy very much, but she has no restraint over her own willfulness; her willfulness has hurt Prodigy many times. Zimo, on the other hand, knows when to push and when to yield. Even knowing there will be no result with Prodigy, she still loves him without looking back. She has said that her love for Prodigy is like a moth flying into the flame: even if she ends up battered and bruised, she is willing. Zimo's love for Prodigy is different from Zhang Yan's. Zhang Yan has told Prodigy many times that they must always be together, that she doesn't want to be apart from him; but Zimo has never made such a demand. Her love for Prodigy is very pure, asking for nothing in return. Even at the end, when she has a chance to be with Prodigy, she once again chooses to leave, handing over happiness that was within easy reach…

Zeng Zimo is probably that kind of perfect girl in a guy's mind: not only is her appearance enough to topple cities and kingdoms, she is also outstandingly talented, and most importantly she deeply loves one person and is willing to give everything for him, sacrificing herself. Such girls are not few in literary works, and they are usually also the characters in a work who leave a deep impression on readers—for example, Huang Rong in Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, and Ren Yingying in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. I think the reason such girls are liked and leave a deep impression is very likely that in real life this kind of girl is exceedingly rare. Few people can love someone so purely; most love themselves more than they love others. Such pure, selfless love is probably a beautiful dream in many people's hearts.

In this novel, both the male and female leads are extremely outstanding geniuses; even "a talented man and a beautiful woman" is not enough to describe them. Probably only a title like "golden boy and jade girl" can match Prodigy and Zimo in the story. This work is titled Love, It's Actually Quite Simple, and this sentence also appears repeatedly in the text, but the meaning it conveys is that love is actually not simple. To quote a lyric from Eason Chan's "The World": "It turns out the world of love is very big, big enough to hold a hundred kinds of grievance; it turns out the world of love is very small, small enough that three people crowd it to suffocation." Prodigy in the novel is in just such an awkward predicament: two outstanding girls like him at the same time, and he discovers that he actually also loves both people at once, which leaves him in painful unrest. Whichever one he chooses, he will hurt the other girl; clearly, he cannot bear to hurt either. How many times he tosses and turns, unable to sleep; between these two girls, he doesn't know how to choose, so at first he simply evades. At the same time he himself is going through troubles within and without. In the process of constantly encountering setbacks and failures, after countless times of self-reflection, he gradually understands who his true love is, and also begins to gather the courage to confess his feelings to the one he loves most in his heart, even if doing so will hurt the other girl who loves him deeply.

I even suspect the author read The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber many times and then created this. The novel's male lead Prodigy's personality and situation are really a lot like Zhang Wuji's: likewise loved by several outstanding girls, likewise indecisive in character, and likewise growing up through setback after setback, the face of his true love in his heart gradually becoming clear, until at last he can confess his feelings to the one his heart loves, and after weathering storms they live happily together.

It is precisely in these stories that one sees the male lead's inner self is actually selfish. From the start the author places the male and female leads in an unequal relationship: the male lead holds absolute initiative, and the power of life and death over the female leads is in the male lead's hands. From the male lead's point of view, facing so many girls who feel so deeply for him, it is indeed hard to choose; but from the female leads' point of view, it is far more bleak: they have settled on this one person for their whole lives, staking all their youth on this person whether or not there will be a result, gazing until their eyes wear out waiting for the male lead to choose them… In the end this also has a great deal to do with the larger background of our society. Ours is a patriarchal society, and literary works reflect precisely this kind of culture.