永恆的幻滅 Eternal Disillusionment

Have you ever chanced upon someone unexpectedly, only to watch them vanish from your sight despite knowing they reside nearby every day? Indeed, I have. At the tender age of seventeen, I lived through an indelible experience - a night etched in my memory, where rain poured relentlessly from the heavens. The genesis of this tale lies in our middle school's evening self-study regimen. Obliged by this rule, we dined at the school canteen each evening. On that particular day, I hurried to the canteen as I had a physics contest class after dinner with limited seating. Despite the looming clouds, I neglected to carry an umbrella. As I savored my meal in the canteen, a torrential downpour commenced. The rhythmic pattern of rain echoed like waves crashing against the shore. "Oh, no. I won't make it in time," I mumbled to myself. Standing at the canteen's entrance, I faced a difficult decision - to sprint back to the teaching building without an umbrella. I plunged into th...

The Duke of Cai Zhengyuan (Far-reaching), my grandfather, hailed from a distant land. Born in the year of Guiyou (1933), in Lujiang County, Anhui Province, China, he experienced the turmoil of his early years with war and adversity entwined, losing his father while still in the cradle. Fortunate was he, for his elder brother took pity and together they struggled for existence. Orphaned in youth, the elder brother assumed a paternal role. At that time, his elder brother, an official in the government, secured prosperity with vast fields and numerous laborers, a household not devoid of wealth. The Duke studied in a private school, mastering the Six Classics and delving into ancient history. Even in his youth, he displayed exceptional talent, pondering the rise and fall of the world, empathizing with the suffering of the people, and lamenting, "The vicissitudes of the world, both ancient and modern, are inevitable. How can the indulgence of those officials and the privileged threaten...