Do you have red, blue, or green memories and dreams?
In Belldo, these memories — each holding at least one glimmering or fascinating moment — exist, but they are not for sale.
What Belldo sells are yellow memories, the most ordinary kind.

To find the boy’s missing sister Thea, Simon and Laika braved treacherous currents and drifted to the island of Belldo. The island is shrouded in strange shadows, where memories are the most prized possessions — so much so that the first man Simon encountered onshore, who frantically tried to steal their boat to escape, dropped a diary from his arms.
Two gray-clad figures and two gray dogs swiftly apprehended the failed fugitive and dragged him toward the city. And so, the boy and the reindeer began their island adventure.

What kind of island makes people desperate to flee?
Belldo’s architecture is a kaleidoscope: Memory Libraries, Dream Experience Centers, Memory Shops, Memory Banks, Memory Cinemas… Yet it makes sense—memories are precious. They’re worth depositing in banks, worth the thrill of "upgrading" in dream amusement parks, and worth replaying over and over.

At the Green Café, they met a girl named Annie. Simon, annoyed by Laika’s meek obedience to her, ignored the reindeer’s warning and drank an entire cup of coffee — only to burst into tears. What did he see? Longing. A violent emotion, not born from the heart yet utterly overwhelming. The food, too, was laced with carefully curated moments: a dish that could resurrect the terror of a shipwreck, or the sorrow of missing someone.

In the cinema, they experienced even heavier emotions — complete segments and overlapping memories. But unease crept in again: muffled barks echoed from the corner of the screening room.

After escorting Annie home to September Fourth District, Simon and Laika lodged at The Broken Cauldron Tavern. That night, a thief broke in—unexpectedly, the bartender himself. Yet the encounter yielded a clue: the location of Thea’s last whereabouts, Choisy District. Annie’s mother urged Simon to abandon his search, hinting at Belldo’s darker complexities and the bartender’s unwillingness to speak. That same night, Simon felt icy eyes watching him in the dark. By dawn, the Gray Men were hunting them.

During their escape, they rescued a gray-clad boy, Alan, who later helped them evade capture. In Alan’s basement, Simon saw stolen memory orbs.
Finally, Simon asked the question haunting him since arrival — and Alan revealed the truth:
The red, blue, and green memories and dreams? The Gray Men and their hounds confiscate them by force, using them to build Belldo’s modern institutions. Once taken, these memories can never be reclaimed, not even with gold.

"Simon the Boy and Laika the Reindeer constructs a dark metaphor of reality through a fairy-tale lens. The author writes: ‘Most poor people’s memories stop at five years ago.’ What moved me deeply is its allegory about the value of life’s beautiful moments—how meaningful memories define wealth and poverty, transcending money itself."
— Douban Reader: Fufu’s Thoughts

"A profound story, eerily reminiscent of "1984". What becomes of humanity without memory?"
— Douban Reader: Hu Ayou

★A person without memories or dreams is incomplete.
★A heartwarming adventure of familial love: Young Simon and Laika the reindeer embark on a perilous yet wondrous journey to the mysterious maritime nation of Belldo in search of Simon’s missing sister. The bonds of family and friendship are profoundly moving.
★A dark metaphor of reality woven through a fairy-tale lens: This fantastical world of memories and dreams, with its unique setting and suspenseful plot, invites readers to contemplate the value of memory and the meaning of freedom. At its core, this story explores themes of freedom and wholeness.

Laika the reindeer arrives in the maritime nation of Belldo in search of her missing sister, Thea. In this peculiar country, institutions named after memories or dreams are everywhere—Memory Banks, Dream Temporary Storage, Memory Cinemas, Memory Restaurants, Memory Museums, Dream Amusement Parks, Dream Experience Centers, and more. However, shortly after their arrival, Simon and Laika encounter an unnamed boy attempting to steal their boat. Stranger still, many people on the streets wear thick notebooks around their necks, while gray-clad figures and gray dogs patrol the alleys…

Bachelor of Dramatic Literature from the Central Academy of Drama, Master of Film Theory and Practice from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and a member of the China Writers Association. She is currently a screenwriter.

Her published works include the "Youth Trilogy" (the novel " Intermittent Footsteps", the poetry collection "The Invisible Wind Blows", and the essay collection " Like a Pumpkin, Growing Silently"); the essay collection " Like Mist"; the short story collection "Whose Dreams in the Dream"; the long fantasy novel "The Young Simon and the Tamed Reindeer Lyka"; the long youth novel" Running Towards the Sun"; the picture book "The Cherry Tree"; and the "Zhang Mudi Fantasy Literature Series" (including "The Mirror in the Sky", "The Forest of Summer", "The Kite Lantern That Flew Away with the Wind", "The Night-Light Bird, Grandpa’s Secret Theatre", "Miss Qiu’s Clothing Store", and "The Bear Living on the Roof").
She has been honored with the title of one of the Top Ten Young Golden Writers by "Children’s Literature", the Excellence Award in the Fairy Tale Contest by "Oriental Children", the Taiwan Mudi Award, the Jin Jin Award by "Children’s Literature", and the Silver Award in the Hot Spring Cup Fairy Tale Contest by "Children’s Literature". Five of the books in the "Zhang Mudi Fantasy Literature Series" have been selected for the "National Hundred Classes and Thousand People Shared Reading List"; The Mirror in the Sky has been included in “Shanghai’s Good Children’s Books”; and "Miss Qiu’s Clothing Store" has been selected for the National Close-to-Mother Tongue Graded Reading List.

Chapter 1 The Traveler from Afar
Chapter 2 The Curious Restaurant of Belldo
Chapter 3 Life, Death, and Farewells in the Cinema
Chapter 4 September Fourth District and The Broken Cauldron Tavern
Chapter 5 The Gray Men Arrive
Chapter 6 A Perilous Escape
Chapter 7 Welcome to the Underground World
Chapter 8 The Audacious Memory Thief
Chapter 9 The Secret of Belldo
Chapter 10 Journey to the Choisy District
Chapter 11 The Young Lady in the Dollhouse
Chapter 12 Swimming Toward the Glowing Shore
Chapter 13 A Kaleidoscope of Dreams
Chapter 14 Secrets in the Museum
Chapter 15 Footsteps That Wake the Dawn
Chapter 16 Storming the Gray Tower
Chapter 17 Epilogue

Chapter 1: The Traveler from Afar

No one knew where this boy came from.
Belldo was surrounded by sea — a sea that appeared calm but hid treacherous currents beneath its surface. Over the centuries, countless ships had met their end here. On clear days, the blue-green waters near the island revealed the skeletal remains of sunken vessels. Eventually, seasoned captains learned to avoid these turbulent waters altogether.
And so, Belldo became an isolated island in the sea.
Yet, at dawn on this day, a small boat drifted into view from the distant horizon — a crude wooden fishing skiff, no less. Its path was erratic, veering east and west like a drunkard’s stumbling gait. But in its haphazard meandering, it somehow dodged every whirlpool and undercurrent. As it drew closer, the onlookers onshore could finally make out its passengers: a boy and a reindeer.
The boy had a youthful face, no older than fifteen or sixteen, dressed entirely in black — black shirt, black pants, and a black cloak. The reindeer, meanwhile, was pure white, the kind typically found in frigid polar regions, making its presence on this tropical island all the more unusual.
But the real surprise was this: the boy, who should have been steering the boat, sat absentmindedly at the stern, only occasionally glancing at the compass in his hand. Meanwhile, the reindeer, sweating profusely, scurried about the bow, managing the vessel.
"Do you really think Thea’s here?" The reindeer stared wide-eyed at the reddish-brown island ahead.
"Who knows?" The boy stretched out his words lazily. "Hopefully."
"And if she’s not?" The reindeer wiped its brow with a hoof, its voice tinged with worry.
"Isn’t it obvious?" The boy’s face showed no trace of concern — if anything, his grin widened. "Same six words as always: Eat well, drink well, play well."
"Can you be serious for once?" the reindeer snapped. "Do you think we’re on vacation?"
"Hard to port," the boy said casually. Though fuming, the reindeer reacted instantly, clamping its teeth around the right oar and pulling hard. The boat veered left, narrowly skirting a massive coral reef.
"That was close!" The boy theatrically wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead — though in the pale morning light, his skin was as smooth as a rain-washed sky, without a single drop of perspiration. "Come on, we didn’t come all this way for nothing."
By now, the reddish-brown shoreline loomed closer, and a small crowd had gathered to watch their approach.
Under the spectators’ gaze, the boat drifted steadily toward land.
As the shore came within reach, the reindeer — finally able to relax — turned its attention to the scene onshore, its curiosity piqued.