City of Illusion

City of Illusion marks Xin Yiwu's turn from campus youth fiction to urban marriage and romance, subtitled "The Post-Youth Era." It was first published by Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House in 2011 and reissued in 2014 under the title Re-Youth. The protagonist, Zhao Xunxun, is twenty-eight and, having had a unsettled childhood, lacks a sense of security; she makes "stability" the ultimate goal of her life. She marries Xie Pingning, whom she met through a matchmaker. Their marriage lacks passion but gives her the sense of order she wants: she sets aside a "nest egg for having nothing," stockpiles emergency supplies at home, and even photocopies her documents in advance. She firmly believes that as long as she does not stir things up, life will go on blandly as it is. The calm is torn open by two forces at once. One is her husband's long-unseen distant aunt Shao Jiaquan—a young, fashionable woman who once had a history with Xie Pingning. The other is Chi Cheng, who appears alongside Shao Jiaquan and, by generational reckoning, should be called "uncle-in-law." This man, three years younger than Zhao Xunxun, shows her from the moment he picks her up at the airport an enthusiasm impossible to tell apart from goodwill or calculation, borrowing money and following her and deliberately drawing close, step by step pushing her life into disorder. The novel's suspense lies in Chi Cheng's true motive: he returns bearing both love and hatred, using an almost maddening scheme to leave Zhao Xunxun with no way out, because her only way out is in his arms. When cracks appear in the fortress of her marriage, Zhao Xunxun must choose between the "safe but stagnant besieged city" and a "dangerous but vital love." The work continues Xin Yiwu's delicate psychological portraiture and sharp, witty dialogue, exploring security, the nature of marriage, and self-rebuilding in the post-youth era.