"Ironwood Prequel" is a work on the theme of rural life in Sun Li. Four young people, two different outlooks on life, in the rural areas of Hebei under the background of rural co-operatives, seem to have no feelings of throbbing, confusion about reality and confusion, confusion about ideals. The change of two families, the enduring friendship of two old people, broke down after a subtle change in economic status.
The main body of the Ironwood prequel is still four young people, the two sons of Old Man Li, the fourth son, the sixth child, fu Laogang's daughter Jiu'er, and the focus of the whole village, Xiao Man'er. Jiu'er's admiration for Liu'er began from a young age, the two small children of childhood did not guess, from the small green plum bamboo horse, so that their friendship has a hint of family affection, but the intensification of the contradiction between the two old people did not make this marriage have results, the fourth child should be the admirer Jiu'er, he feels that Jiu'er is a kind of person, will also dislike the backward Six, he can't see jiu'er's thoughts when he is in a daze, he can't see Jiu'er's worries for liu'er, blush. Liu'er's feelings are somewhat complicated, he knows Jiu'er's intentions, and he does not want to hurt his childhood feelings, and he is not in love with Xiao Man. Liu'er is a teenager who wants to make more money, and Xiao Man'er also has such subtle feelings for Liu'er, not talking about love, a little ambiguous. They are the same kind of people, so they can understand each other, and there is a feeling of pity and sympathy for each other. At the end of the novel, there is no specific explanation of the feelings of the four people, and a discussion about childhood makes the reader infinitely reverie.
Sun Li, a confucian intellectual, this work seems so outstanding that it is very different from other rural cooperative novels of the same period. Sun Li, the subtle and gentle style and the environment of the painting environment are not only revealing nor blind bitterness, but also the shadow of music. In those unsustainable days, the bits and pieces of Fu Li's two families relying on each other for their lives were coated with a layer of golden brilliance in the distant years. This is also the beauty of human nature. Despite the separation of the two families years later, these memories remain in the hearts of the characters as precious things, no matter how the world changes. In the end, in fact, bitterness is not compatible. Memories are light and heavy; faith is firm and lonely. However, there is frankness in loneliness, and persistence in helplessness.