Zhao Qingchu has to make a choice between "reason and emotion", and she can't have both. If she chooses one, does it mean that she will lose the other forever?
Qian Xiaoyang pays a painful price for pursuing "individuality and freedom", but is she really wrong? After she gives up her self and chooses to take on responsibilities, does her ideal drift further and further away from her?
Li Pilu struggles hard to break free from the growth model her mother has built for her. She tries to find the direction her heart truly desires between "worldly success" and "self-fulfillment", either by compromise or rebellion.
Each generation has its own youth. The youth of the three Yang sisters bears distinct marks of their era. Thirty years ago, the slogan "educated youth go to the countryside" changed the course of their youth. The three sisters went separate ways and each started their own families. Thirty years later, the second generation of Yang cousins are in their youth. Like most young people of this era, they are not satisfied with the vision their mothers had for their youth. They want to draw their own blueprints for a completely unique youth according to their own will.
The eldest sister, Yang Yi, settled in Shanghai. Her daughter, Zhao Qingchu, is the most academically excellent and outstanding among the cousins. Accompanied by superior growth, she inherited the legal expertise of her grandmother, Lang Xinping. After graduating with a master's degree from Peking University Law School, her mother, Yang Yi, was at odds with her grandmother, Lang Qinping, over whether she should stay in Beijing or return to Shanghai. The two previous generations were in a tug-of-war. Qingchu, however, chose her own path without being swayed by others. She stayed in Beijing to apply for a job and became a professional lawyer. She has ambition, ideals, and even an ambitious nature. With all the factors for success, opportunities indeed came as expected. Due to a litigation case, Qingchu met real estate developer Zhou Jin. Their relationship gradually shifted from the initial plaintiff-defendant dynamic, intertwining their careers and feelings inevitably. Qingchu adheres to principles. Her non-profit-driven nature made Zhou Jin firm in his feelings for her. However, after the two established their love, Qingchu discovered a truth hidden behind Zhou Jin shrouded in mystery: Was he really the culprit of the injury case 10 years ago? Did his selfishness lead to another person being wrongly imprisoned? Should she expose or conceal the truth? Between emotion and reason, which should Qingchu choose? If she follows reason and conscience, she would surely lose love; Zhou Jin also faces a sharp issue related to life and death. Should he thoroughly redeem his guilty soul? Would revealing everything mean losing everything? Can there be rebirth after despair? This originally simple love must undergo such twists, hardships, and tests. When feelings eventually become the inescapable fate of modern women, what role can reason still play in Qingchu's life?
The second sister, Yang Er, with superior economic conditions, sent her 16-year-old daughter Li Pilu to study abroad in the UK, forcing her to grow step-by-step according to her educational philosophy. The future designed by her mother was not what Pilu wanted. Pilu struggled between what she wanted to do and what her mother made her do. For this, she told a whopper lie, weaving a dream of "studying at Cambridge" for her mother. While Yang Er thought her daughter was studying at a prestigious university in the UK, she never imagined that Pilu had always stayed in Beijing. However, lies are like soap bubbles, ready to burst at any moment. Pilu lived in fear while still striving for her small unextinguished ideal. What made her more painful was that her parents' marriage, where the wife was stronger than the husband, could not be maintained. The truth about their already-divorced status was revealed to her. Determined to prevent her family from falling apart at all costs, Pilu even fantasized about reversing the situation and rebuilding her three-member family. Could she successfully break through the encirclement, deviate from the trajectory set by her mother, and achieve her small goal that defied worldly success? Or could she stop her parents from leaving their marriage and bring them back to the family? Finally, all suspense reached the time to reveal the truth. After Yang Er discovered that Pilu had always been in Beijing, she fell into despair. All the efforts she had made for her daughter’s bright road were regarded as dirt. Her education model was declared a failure. At this point, Li Bo's remarriage caused another storm. This pair of dull parents discovered a fact that they had always ignored: Pilu cared so much about the integrity of the family and was so fragile. The parents began to reflect and rethink family, responsibility, and how to be qualified parents. Together, they sought ways to approach their daughter's inner world and jointly decided: remarry! When Pilu finally won the chance to have her family back, she realized: she had never lost these things. She gave up her original intention, gave her parents a way out, allowing them to freely exercise their right to live for themselves. Meanwhile, Yang Er let her go, giving her the freedom to pursue self-fulfillment. Parents were no longer just parents, and children were no longer just children. Both generations gained self-fulfillment.
The youngest sister, Yang Shan, living far away in Ningxia, married Qian Jinlai, a contented individualist. Content with finding happiness in a mundane life, she wanted to pass on this lifestyle to her daughter Qian Xiaoyang, but things did not go as planned. Xiaoyang's rebellious personality longed for Beijing, freedom, and love. She wanted to break free from her mother's constraints and strive for self-realization and success, firmly grasping autonomy in her hands! However, reality was not as beautiful as she imagined. One failure after another made her gradually realize what society, rules, and strength are. But little did she know, greater hardships and tests lay ahead. In her pursuit of individuality, she "sacrificed" her father. When Qian Jinlai became paralyzed from the neck down, Xiaoyang realized: in the face of mistakes, individuality is so insignificant. From then on, her life took a new turn: her ideal was no longer for herself, achievements were no longer fame and profit, and responsibility became her greatest goal. With weak yet resilient courage, she supported her father's survival. At the same time, love faced a dilemma: Fang Yu, whom she liked, provided zero help to the family; love cannot replace bread. On the other hand, Gao Qi, a new good man, could be the best partner supporting her in every aspect. How should Xiaoyang choose? Should love become a relief item for reality? Is there still a chance for self-realization in the ordinary and down-to-earth life? Can love burdened by responsibility still hold out under the heavy weight of reality?
These three sisters, full of confidence when they first entered society, never expected that real life would be like this, nor did they expect that growing up would come with such pain. They experienced confusion, struggle, contradictions, made mistakes, regrets, and even extremes, but they finally learned to combine their idealism with their parents' experience, forging a mature path with personal characteristics.
They are young, have time to correct their mistakes, and the future is full of hope!
My youth is determined by me, and also by you!
Director: Zhao Baogang
Starring: Lu Yi, Zhao Ziqi, Wang Luodan, Zhu Yuchen
Year: 2009
Type: Idol drama
Region: Mainland China
Duration: 45 minutes
Dubbing: Mandarin