Actress Dong Jie, who stars as a middle school teacher with a painful past, gifts her two most favored students a cherished pen that holds special meaning for her. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Several supporting characters in the drama also stand out for their quiet nobility.

One such example is Zhou Yun, the wife of a construction factory head. She helps Wen Yuxiu, a woman fleeing a violent and abusive husband, obtain a new identity so she can realize her dream of becoming a teacher. Wen is later captured by her peasant husband and imprisoned in a cellar for 17 years. She is eventually rescued, thanks largely to Ren and Ren's mother — Wen's best friend from their school days.

Although the original novel is set in Southwest China, Yang reveals that during her train journeys — a slow-paced way of traveling that she deliberately chose to scout for the most ideal locations — Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, came to mind.

"The natural environment of ice and snow, along with the traces and remnants of a once-major industrial town, immediately excited me. I felt that all the characters should live right there," she says. From the old, worn railway tracks to the historical buildings with their peeling, mottled walls, Yang says that she sensed the tone of the drama had been found.

During the filming process, the creative team constantly came up with ideas, one after another. For example, Ren's family, due to their financial situation, doesn't own a television set. On Chinese New Year's Eve, as the sound of the Spring Festival Gala — the country's most-watched TV program on the eve — drifts over from the neighbors' homes, Ren's mother comes up with her own uniquely warm way to celebrate; organizing the children to soak their feet in hot water together and sharing a 30-yuan red envelope, turning it into their family's own festival celebration. The scene became one of the most heartwarming and tear-jerking moments in the drama.

"We have many female creators in the cast and crew. Perhaps it is the sensitivity and unique understanding of life that women possess that bring about the creation of such details," says Yang.