Liu Yulin (left) directs the upcoming film, Someone to Talk To, adapted from her father Liu Zhenyun's (right) novel, A Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For nearly 20 minutes, novelist Liu Zhenyun dwells on all the marital scandals in Chinese history at a recent Beijing event.

The message he wants to convey is that finding your life partner is not easy.

In a forthcoming movie, Someone to Talk To, based on Liu's best-selling novel One Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words, the story is told through the eyes of locals from rural Henan province.

Hailed as one of China's most financially successful writers, Liu has seen a series of his novels used to make movies and TV series, ranging from the dark humor drama Cell Phone (2003) to the Oscar-winning Tim Robbins and Back to 1942 (2012), starring Adrien Brody.

But, in a writing career spanning three decades, Liu regards A Word is Worth Ten Thousand Words as his best work, as it depicts the loneliness that lies deep in human hearts.