This is a story about a pure and pretty country girl, Xiangxue, fragrant snow in Chinese. Xiangxue lives in a village in mountains. Every day, a train from the outside of the mountains stops at the village just for a minute. Xiangxue and other country girls take a small basket of eggs to the train when it stops and exchange them for things because they can't get what they need within the village. Xiangxue carries the basket onto the train, and when she sees a pencil box beside a city girl of her age, she dreams to have it without hesitation. she offers her full basket of eggs for it and receives it. It opens up a door to the outside world for her.

Tie Ning is a Chinese author who was born in 1957 in Beijing, China. Her ancestral hometown is in Hebei province. Her works include short stories, "Ah, Xiangxue" , The Red Shirt Without Buttons, "June's Big Topic", Wheat Straw Stack, Cotton Stack, "The Village Road Takes Me Home", Rose Door , "How Long is Forever" and Da Yu Nü (Big-Bath Woman).