“Those who depend on the mountains collapse when the mountain falls; those who depend on people are abandoned when people leave”

“Those who depend on the mountains collapse when the mountain falls; those who depend on people are abandoned when people leave” is a concise statement of Shen Tang’s survival philosophy. In the novel, it is not presented as an abstract proverb but as the conclusion of a childhood shaped by insecurity: Shen Tang grew up in the Orphanage, where even children formed hostile groups against one another, and she learned early that dependence could become another form of vulnerability.

Meaning and Personal Origin

The expression contrasts two kinds of supposed security. A mountain represents an apparently solid external support, while a person represents emotional or practical reliance on someone whose presence may change. Both supports are exposed as temporary. For Shen Tang, the saying therefore means that self-reliance is safer than placing her future in another person’s hands.

The principle has a distinctly defensive force because it grows from experience rather than detached wisdom. Shen Tang had known hardship at the Orphanage since childhood, including the experience of children ganging up on one another. When the saying is articulated, it reaches a part of her that no one had previously addressed so directly. Her immediate response is not an explanation of her pain but a forced, carefree denial that anyone is bullying her, revealing how thoroughly she has converted vulnerability into independence.

Relevance to Shen Tang’s Public Life

The saying also explains Shen Tang’s attitude toward the entertainment industry. In her present life, she is a Z-list celebrity whose company repeatedly pairs her with male celebrities to exploit publicity. Online rumors and insults never cease, and she is branded with hostile epithets ranging from a loose-tea scandal figure to a plastic-surgery fraud and a troublemaker. Her company’s public-relations strategy turns her into an object of constant attention while making her widely avoided within the industry.

Against that environment, Shen Tang prepares to leave show business rather than continue treating celebrity status as a dependable mountain. Wang Brother challenges the decision by reminding her that bad publicity is still publicity and that many people never receive even the opportunity to become known. He also recalls her earlier goal of earning enough money to buy a house and improve her siblings’ living conditions. His argument exposes the tension within the proverb: self-reliance does not mean she has no obligations to others, but it does mean that she cannot safely assume the industry will protect her or reward her fairly.

The Proverb in Daily and Institutional Life

The novel repeatedly places Shen Tang’s independence beside systems that attempt to regulate her. Her marriage agreement includes a rule requiring her, except in necessary circumstances, not to approach Party A within three meters, as well as a prohibition on physical contact. Such terms turn intimacy into a measured distance and make reliance on another person subject to explicit contractual boundaries.

The same pattern appears in the tightly managed production environment of the film crew. Closed management forbids news from being leaked during filming, and mobile phones are generally prohibited except in special circumstances. The restriction shows how institutions control information, movement, and access, reinforcing the precariousness of depending on an organization whose rules can determine a person’s daily conduct.

Even ordinary routines carry this tension. Tao Sister prepares Shen Tang a sumptuous low-fat meal intended to support weight loss, but the food is so delicious that Shen Tang eats too much and fails to achieve the hoped-for result. The episode is comic rather than tragic, yet it preserves the proverb’s broader contrast: assistance from others is welcome, while the final outcome still depends on Shen Tang’s own restraint and decisions.

Resistance, Performance, and Consequence

Shen Tang’s self-reliance does not prevent her from working within systems; it determines how she survives them. During the agricultural livestream, black fans flood the room, causing the popularity count to rise sharply. Shen Tang maintains a constant professional smile as though the abuse is aimed at someone else. She recognizes that the stream will earn her money through the company split, and she continues because the mission is intended to help farmers sell agricultural products from remote mountain regions burdened by fruit surpluses.

This performance turns dependence into an exchange rather than surrender. The company benefits from scandal-driven traffic, the livestream gains visibility from hostile viewers, and Shen Tang receives income while carrying the emotional burden herself. Her smile is therefore both professional labor and a form of resistance: she refuses to let the commenters decide whether the opportunity belongs to her.

The proverb’s logic also clarifies why Shen Tang’s independence can coexist with moments of care and cooperation. Guests on the farming program eventually devour the rice she prepares, abandoning their attempts to eat politely for the camera; Ao Ziping even sheds a tear. Their reaction confirms the practical value of her work, but the scene does not erase the underlying lesson. The guests can appreciate what she provides, while Shen Tang remains the person who must act, prepare, and endure before anyone else can benefit.

Narrative Significance

As a recurring principle, the expression gives coherence to Shen Tang’s guarded relationships and her refusal to mistake attention for security. It explains why she is prepared to abandon a scandal-ridden career, why praise and companionship do not automatically soften her defenses, and why she responds to humiliation by maintaining control over her own conduct. The novel does not treat self-reliance as simple isolation. Shen Tang accepts contracts, performs for audiences, works with others, and supports her siblings, but she resists the belief that any one person or institution can become an unquestionable foundation.

The expression thus functions as both characterization and thematic counterweight. Around Shen Tang, the world is full of unstable supports: public-relations alliances, closed-set regulations, contractual boundaries, online approval, and promises of professional opportunity. Against them, the proverb names a sturdier but lonelier posture. Its significance lies in the way it transforms abandonment from a purely passive fate into a warning: external supports may fail, but Shen Tang’s own judgment and capacity to act remain hers.