The 8-episode TV series《To the Wonder》is adapted from Li Juan's collection of essays of the same name and is the first film and television adaptation of essays.In the original work, the author panoramically recorded the beautiful and shining moments of the northern frontier with delicate and bright strokes, surrounding the rural life in Akhara Village and Kawutu, showing the far-reaching and rich living landscape of the nomadic people, which has become the basis for manyReaders’ first window into Altay.

Li Wenxiu (played by Zhou Yili), a Han girl who grew up in Altay, is determined to pursue her literary dream in the big city, but she repeatedly encounters obstacles and is forced to return to her hometown to live with her mother (played by Ma Yili) who runs a canteen.After getting acquainted with the Kazakh boy Batai (played by Yu Shi), Wenxiu gradually discovered the beauty of the place.

《To the Wonder》Excerpts from original prose

The road to Dishui Spring

Text/Li Juan

Earlier, the only way to the Dripping Spring was the Usman Trail.Usman was the famous Altai bandit leader a hundred years ago, and was once called the Kazakh King.

Earlier, in this vast Gobi desert, all roads only went around its edges.Those roads travel intermittently and weakly among the folds of the mountains, remotely connecting the oasis of Altai and the grassland and snow-capped mountains in the south.No one can pass through the heart of this wasteland.There is no water, no grass, horses are hungry and people are thirsty.This is a land of death.The only ones who know the source of water are the goose-throated antelopes and wild horses running in the desert, but they cannot speak a word.They have crystal-clear and deep eyes because they contain the breath of water.

Around that time, there was the legend of the Dripping Spring, right?At that time, there was a silent and mysterious saying circulated only among the herdsmen: In the heart of the Gobi Desert, the driest part of the world, somewhere in a corner, there was a miraculous spring hidden deeply.Water seeped out from the cracks in the stones and fell drop by drop into the puddles on the ground. Night and day, the cold and heat continued.There was a small patch of green and quiet grassland with a few lush shrubs.Water flowed through the grass, and the shallow swamps were edged with moss.It's a small but determined desert oasis - something some claim to have witnessed.He was lost at the time and had not had any water for several days and nights. He was already unconscious and on the verge of death.However, at that moment, he stepped into the damp grass around the dripping spring and burst into tears of gratitude.There he drank from the clear sweet spring, with tears streaming down his face.

Every herdsman searching for a lost lamb in the depths of the wilderness firmly believes that the dripping spring is nearby.Maybe on the backside of the ordinary sand dune ahead?He shouted in all directions, walking hungry and thirsty from highland to highland in the desert, standing on tiptoe and looking into the distance.The wilderness is vast and empty.But he still believed in the Dripping Spring.

The dripping spring is like a god on this land.Its water falls drop by drop from an extremely high place, beating the pulse of all traces of life that exist here. Drop by drop, it infinitely penetrates into the lonely real life and beautiful and innocent legends.

However, the war has made quiet corners no longer exist on the earth.The Dripping Spring finally emerged from the secret passed down by herders from generation to generation.Its exact location is circled in the mundane remoteness of the Gobi Desert.Usman's fierce horse walked out of a flickering road and headed straight towards the dripping spring.During those years of war and smoke, Usman held a dagger in one hand and a horse rein in the other. He went alone to this small and hidden oasis countless times to replenish supplies and recuperate.Then go north and south, traveling through the war.Did the secret of Dripping Spring invisibly create the elusiveness of “Kazakh King”?At that time, in addition to the official road on the edge of the Gobi, there was actually a road that allowed people to travel freely in the wilderness - this is the legend of Usman and the legend of Dripping Spring.

When I was very young, there were no current national highways 216 and 217, and there were no fixed shuttle buses from Fuyun County to Urumqi (but at that time, there were not many people who needed to go to Fuyun County, and lifePeople in Fuyun County don’t seem to have much to leave for).To get to Urumqi, you can only take a truck transporting ore or timber and go far around the Gobi Desert along the mountains in the northeast.The journey was bumpy for several days.I will never forget those nights where I stayed on the way, those lonely hotels on the empty, snow-white salt flats - low, dilapidated adobe houses, and the brilliant starry sky above the roofs.

Time and time again, I was carried out of the carriage by adults and led there.A strange excitement surged in my heart, as if I knew that I would live in this place forever from now on.However, my destiny has not stopped until today.

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The long road known as the Eastern Route is only open in the summer.In winter, heavy snow blocks roads in the mountainous areas, and the only way to Urumqi is through Dishuiquan.

It is undoubtedly a happy thing for drivers to pass by Dripping Spring.No matter how early or late it is, we will stop and rest for the night.Get water for washing, light a fire to make tea and make dry food.After passing the Dishui Spring, the remaining journey will be days and nights of endless desolation.

Later, a couple came to Xinjiang from the mainland, and after going through all kinds of twists and turns, they came to Dishuiquan.They pitched a tent by the spring and opened a simple restaurant. All the vegetables, grains and oils they needed were delivered by passing drivers.Such a small shop is a paradise for drivers.So, during the long journey to and from the Gobi Desert, I was finally able to live a human life for a day.

However, for this couple, it is not only hard for them to make a life in such a place, but also probably lonely, right?Often for several days in a row, not a single car would pass by on the dirt road at the door.Men also often take a passing car and leave for a while.

Later, something happened, and the woman followed a young driver.The man didn't wait and left soon after.The dripping spring returned to deep silence.

I don’t know how much time passed and what twists and turns happened, but the woman and the driver appeared again in Dripping Spring.The tent was put up again, and a pit was dug (a pit in the ground with a roof for people to live in).So the restaurant reopened.A few chickens were raised beside the spring, and eggs and chicken appeared on the simple dining table.

Here, drivers no longer have to sleep in a cramped cab at night.The new small restaurant also provides accommodation, although it is just a big shop in the diwozi.

There will always be some moments, as everyone has agreed, and suddenly many people will come to Dishuiquan at the same time.At that time, there were not enough benches in front of the dining table, so everyone squatted all over the room in darkness during the meal.There are not even enough places to sleep.The hostess gave up her bed, put together the dining table, and spread plastic sheets and felt on the floor.The room was filled with sleeping bodies.

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In the spring of that year, the shuttle bus from Urumqi to Fuyun County was officially opened, with one departure every week.When the shuttle bus passes by Dishui Spring, all passengers on the bus will also get off to eat and rest.Their business is booming like never before, and the Dripping Spring is noisy like never before.So the two decided to expand the store.

Throughout the summer, when vehicles were diverted through the mountains on the eastern front, the Dripping Spring was silent.The two decided to use this time to build several new houses.

They dug the puddle under the spring into a deep pool, and dug an aqueduct all the way to the door of the store.

The spring was very small, and they spent a whole summer patiently waiting for the pool to fill up again and again, using the water to mix with mud and make adobe bricks.After the adobe dried, the adobe wall was quickly erected.They drove a carriage and pulled wood from hundreds of kilometers away, built purlins and rafters.Finally, hay and thick mud were laid on the roof.

After working so hard all summer, the house was built, a new dining table was built, and two new beds were added.They sat down and waited for winter, waiting for the first car to honk and brake at the door, waiting for the door curtain to be suddenly opened violently, and waiting for the noise of the world to ignite the dripping spring again.

But, they waited until now.

The same year they built their house, a new highway was opened to traffic on the other side of the Gobi Desert.The road to the Dripping Spring was abandoned.

All of them, along the edge of the mountains, along the undulating terrain of the Gobi Desert, along the spring and summer cold and heat, along the ancient passion, along the ancient sadness, along the long time, along the deep fear and majesty...…and the rugged and winding road to this point has been abandoned.They lay empty and open in the wilderness, hungry and thirsty.The rutted dreams left over from long ago are usually imprinted on it.These roads are more desolate than the land where no one has ever passed.

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The new road is like a sharp knife cutting straight into the heart of the Gobi.Taking this road, you can reach your destination in just a day or two.Everything passes by quickly without stopping for a moment.The center of gravity of the world shifted smoothly and subtly along an axis that was nameless and understandable, to the abyss on the other side.

Is the story of Dripping Spring over?Can any meaning be given to the water drops of the Dripping Spring that are still dripping quietly in the distance?Is there no longer any need for a road to it?No longer need to trek hard and struggle in life in exchange for a little bit of moisture?Is everything we get now taken for granted?

There are two people who still stay in that little oasis.Still working day and night by the spring to make adobe, and while waiting for the adobe to dry, he raised his young smiling face to the sky.Only they are still waiting endlessly, and their dreams are not disturbed at all.When I was walking alone in this wilderness, I unknowingly walked on the old road leading to the Dripping Spring.In the wilderness, the traces of the road are so clear.I couldn't help but hear the woman's voice clearly.When she and her lover had nowhere to go and no place to stay, she bravely said to him: Let's go to the Dripping Spring!% said while shedding tears over this.