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 one

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When the boy was lying in the woods and dreaming, the sunlight passed through the dense leaves and hit his face directly, forming some flickering spots, and the light and shadow entered the dream, turning into ripples on the water. He saw himself swimming in the water in the pose of a fish, paying homage to everything in the water. He greets other fish, shrimps and crabs at the bottom of the water, and even snail schools floating on the muddy bank. His heart was filled with great joy. He is free and infinitely friendly to the world.

Since he was two years old, he has been indulging in this kind of daydreaming. Every morning, he sneaks into the miscellaneous woods behind the house, and lies under an old flowering locust tree, surrounded by the sun, like wearing clothes. When I put on a robe made of light fibers, the drowsiness immediately extended from my head, chest, abdomen and limbs like tree roots, as if petrified, until I was awakened by my grandmother at dusk. Granny was a witch, and she was the only one who could walk into his dreams, drag him out, spank his ass with a branch, and drive him home.
 

"It's time to eat, my little beast." Grandma bleated like a trembling sheep, "The fish in the water are already waiting for you in the pot."
 

The boy is a mute, born with a missing tongue in his mouth, and cannot describe to his grandmother his happiness in the dream. He grabbed grandma's hand and called, grandma

Then he laughed: "Oh, you little bastard, you either sleep or shit." The boy happily ran into the weeds and took a dip in the stinking shit. After finishing, he let out another cry happily, and saw light gray cooking smoke rising from the chimney of the hut.
 

He grabbed two earthworms as shoelaces, and they threaded themselves through the rope buckles of the straw sandals, and tied a bow at the end, and then lay quietly on the sandals.

on. He ran into the house with his shoes on, sat by the firepit, and saw a fish with a big mouth and sharp teeth lying in the pot. Across the steaming soup pot, a beautiful little face was looking at him with a smile. That's his cousin Axio. She sneezed loudly and said, "What are you doing in your dream, little bastard today?"
 

The boy pointed at the fish with his finger and pretended to open his mouth to speak again. The girl said, "Oh I see, this fish bit you just now, so you have to eat it." She looked at the boy with a smirk on her face.
 

The boy didn't eat the fish. He quickly ate up the millet in the bowl, and then he went to pull the girl's braids. The girl also dropped the chopsticks and took a bite on his hand, leaving a shallow ring of tooth marks like stamps. . They started playing and fighting around the house. This is their daily homework. Grandma smiled and looked at the grandchildren around her knees, as if looking at the world in a song.
 

Boys tie knots in girls' slender braids. While dodging, the girl said to the boy: "Jie, you are so fierce to me, but I am so kind to you, even if I eat a flea, I will split your leg." The boy laughed loudly, and stretched out a flea to her. The index finger means to give her a finger. The girl added: "If elder brother Jie is a puppy, then younger sister is a small bone for elder brother to run around with."
 

The girl also said: "If we are together in the future, I will make everything come together. I will put my shoes in your shoes, put your socks in my socks, and make clothes with clothes. Pillows and pillows become husband and wife, and my hands and Jie's hands also become husband and wife." Jie became a little shy after hearing this, and stretched out his hand to cover the girl's mouth.
 

The girl pushed his hand away and stuck her tongue into his mouth again. Jie sucked the girl's little meat tongue, like a warm little fish, thinking how soft and fragrant it was, and the body fluid carried the aroma of green grass. The girl said: "Our mouths should also become husband and wife." Jie's head was a little dizzy, and he was shocked by this kiss, as if he had fallen into grandma's steaming tub. For many years afterwards, he could not forget this first kiss of the soul.

 

After late at night, when grandma and the girl went to sleep, Jie entered another state of his own—starting to draw and draw on the mud floor. The creatures of the night have been dispatched, wolves howling in the nearby spring, night owls laughing horribly, and hungry tigers roaring in the valley far away. Jie also let out his own childish howl. Like a little wolf, he sat in front of the house, leaning against the hard and cold door, and began to draw symbols on the mud. This is a technique taught by my grandmother. When the wizards practiced it, they would use ignited carbon strips to draw black runes on banana leaves or sorghum leaves. The way disappears into thin air.
 

Jie drew a talisman in the shape of a tree, and another in the shape of a bird's foot. After erasing, continue to draw the third one, and so on indefinitely. He could feel the energy of these runes, they smiled when they were drawn, but let out a slight sigh when they were erased. There is only one moment from laughing to sighing. Their lives are so short, which makes Jie a little sentimental.
 

The precocious mute boy thought in a dazed way that all these laughter and sighs should be bottled up so that they would not die of witchcraft. His sadness flowed from his fingers and fell into the dry soil.
 

But he kept doing it over and over again. day to day. Dreaming and drawing symbols, this is the only thing in his life. Even when it is windy and rainy, he oscillates between these two states. Cousin Axio sometimes came to interfere in a mischievous way. She covered his eyes with a laugh, played with the round bone on his forehead, twisted his ears, and sent a group of dark-skinned ants into him. collar. Jie is happy when he is dreaming, sad when he is drawing symbols, and happy only when he is teased by Axie. He smiled foolishly, fascinated by the smell of grass on Axie's body.

 

On this day, the witch grandmother dragged him out of the dream, took him by the hand, and led him out of the village called "Hougang" to go to a nearby village to go to the market.

 

Grandma greeted many farmers and women along the way, saying all kinds of strange words. At the market, she again haggled at each stall. In order to buy a handful of vegetables at a low price, she almost exhausted her words of flattery, and even issued a witchcraft-like threat, saying that if she refused to lower the price, she would turn the vegetable farmer's home into hell. In the end, both parties always complete the transaction very amicably.
 

Jie turned a deaf ear to this. He squatted alone by the side of the road, drawing amulets on the ground with his fingers. The villagers all knew this mute boy, and they looked at him with pity, thinking that he was not only a little mute, but also a fool. Sometimes there was a look of contempt on their faces. Yes, humans can tolerate an aphasic, but not an idiot.
 

Jie has long been accustomed to people's eyes. There is always a silly smile on his face, like a charm fixed on his cheek. He draws runes according to the things in the market (chicken, meat, eggs, vegetables, etc.), and then erases them, watching them be born and dying quickly, mourning their short life, and immersing themselves in the tragedy of the circular game of symbols. In joy.
 

After erasing hundreds of talismans, Jie raised his gaze, wanting to see where his grandma was. Grandma was missing, and the crowd was still so crowded and noisy. On a street corner not far away, an old hunchback beggar was being severely beaten. He looked as if he had stolen someone's money, his tattered clothes were covered with dust, and his knotted white beard was covered with blood. Jie was very unhappy. He felt that the old man was very pitiful and needed his help, so he walked over, uttered a cry, and stood majestically between the old man and the crowd with his hips akimbo. Everyone was stunned. The beating man also slapped Jie, causing countless golden stars to appear in his eyes. But he didn't fall down, still maintaining an angry look. Someone next to him recognized him and told him not to beat him. It was the grandson of the witch in Hougang Village. The beater was a little surprised and had to leave cursing.
 

Jie went to look at the old man, but he had already stood up, his hunchback straightened, the blood on his beard disappeared, his ragged clothes became luxurious and shiny, and he looked at him with blazing eyes, as if he had changed into a different person. "I know your name is Jie, and you are the grandson of the witch." The old man smiled, "I have been looking for you for a long time."
 

Jie looked at the old man in surprise, thinking that he was more miraculous than a talisman. He touched the leafy beard with his hand, and found that they were braided into hundreds of strands, each with hundreds of tiny knots, which seemed innumerable. He didn't know if it was a mark of age, or it represented some other more mysterious meaning.
 

The old man laughed and said, "There are 38,000 knots here, which represent my age." If you want to count them, it will take more than 300 days. The old man touched it with his hands, and the knots disappeared completely, and his sparse beard fluttered loosely around his mouth, like a pile of weeds swaying in the wind. Jie was stunned.
 

The old man said: "These are the knotting symbols taught to humans by the gods. You should understand their meaning. Come with me, and I will teach you a new game."
 

Jie followed the old man to a secluded alley. The old man handed him a piece of tortoise shell and a ox blade, and Jie was holding them in his hand to play with, when the old man suddenly stretched out two fingers, quickly inserted them into Jie's eyes, and then pulled them out abruptly. Jie felt a sharp pain, cried out, and squatted down. When he stood up and opened his eyes, the old man had disappeared. Jie felt a little panic, not knowing what happened. Eyes are cooling and seeing more clearly.

Looking around, he could actually see two hamsters making out on the chimney more than a hundred feet away. He was taken aback and quickly closed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating. When I opened my eyes again, the hamster had already escaped, leaving behind a few grains of black and shiny rat droppings.
 

Jie felt a little dizzy. He put away his strange gaze and walked slowly back to the street. Grandma was already waiting there with an anxious look on her face. He followed the grandma who had returned home with a full load and walked home. Along the way, grandma looked at him carefully and said: Why did your eyes become double pupils? What happened to you just now? Oh, you dumb little bastard. "
 

Jie ran to the river, and saw that his eyes had turned into double pupils, that is, in the original dark brown pupils, there appeared a pure black pupil, like a big circle surrounded by a small circle, reflecting the moonlight. Fantastic color. "Why is this?" He looked at grandma in a panic. Grandma was also suspicious. They looked at each other. After seeing the changes in Jie, Axie was also very surprised. She watched it repeatedly for a long time, and said in a fuss: "Brother Jie has become a monster, but I like it very much."

 

That night, Jiexiang sat at the door drawing symbols as usual, and suddenly found that his eyes could still see the nature of things in the dark. The souls of those small gravels are dancing on the ground, shining brightly; the souls of trees are sucking the sap of the earth, and even the weeds become brilliant and emit a crystal luster. A few beetles are still working, they are like some gold carved into insects, shining brightly, making the whole dark night appear brilliant.
 

Faced with this change, Jie was a little at a loss. He stretched out his fingers carefully, and saw that the fingertips were also shining, like the buttocks of fireflies. He tried to draw a "worm" symbol on his palm, and it flew up like a paper-cut, suspended in mid-air. Jie startled the boss. Now the talisman not only laughed and sighed, but became a visible entity, which he had never expected. He drew a "window" symbol with his finger, and a pane made of light appeared in front of his eyes. An old man waved to him from outside the window. He was the one he met in the market during the day. He poked his head out and smiled, "We meet again."
 

Jie wanted to say something to him, but he just let out a cry of surprise. The old man smiled: "It seems that you have forgotten the function of the tongue. Now you can speak. I am the great god Fuxi. From now on, you must use your tongue to praise me and the merits of all the gods."
 

Jie nodded with a smirk.  
 

"I want to use your hand to change the world. Make a good sign, and you will become the greatest prophet in the world." Fuxi stepped back and disappeared into the void together with the window frame.
 

In this way, Jie obtained the power of writing symbols from Fuxi God. This is not tribal witchcraft, but an unprecedented supernatural power. Jie drew a "tongue" symbol on his mouth, and something suddenly grew out of his mouth. He looked in the pool water and found that there was really a stretchable light red soft flesh in his mouth. Thankfully, based on the grace of God Fuxi, he found the lost tongue for himself.
 

Jie happily woke up Grandma and Axie, showed them his magic power, showed them his tongue, and explained its origin to them. They were all stupefied by this miracle, unable to speak for a while. Grandma lit a pine light, wrote a thank you talisman, and burned it under the statue of Fuxi. Axie sneezed and said, "Brother Jie can talk, I'm so happy."

 

Since then, Jie has the ability to create characters. He alternates his index fingers with each other and writes various hieroglyphs on the palm in turn. When he draws the character "Deng", there is an extra oil lamp in the house; when he writes and draws "鬲" symbols, there is an extra Li pot in the yard. Grandma said, I won't go to the market anymore, you can make it for me. Jie then drew the "fish" character, and live fish wagging its head and tail appeared in the basket; he drew the "melon" character, and the scaffolding in front of the door was full of melons and fruits; full-bodied crops. He also drew a "turtle" symbol for Axio, and Axio immediately got a charming green turtle. It crawled slowly on Axie's little hand, with a hard carapace and soft eyes.
 

When dusk fell, grandma started steaming rice and cooking fish, and there was a faint smoke from the chimney. Axie said, I don't want the dark, Brother Jie will bring me some light. After thinking for a while, Jie drew a "Sun" symbol on his left palm with his right hand, and a "Moon" symbol on his right palm with his left hand, and then put the two palms together to form a "Ming" symbol. Suddenly, the sun and the moon juxtaposed in the sky. The sun at dusk no longer sets, but the moonlight has risen. One of them is on the west side of the sky, and the other is on the east side of the sky, reflecting each other, making the already dim sky extremely bright. People ran out of their houses to watch, thinking that it was God descending from heaven.  
 

Axio pulled grandma out of the house, pointed to the vision in the sky and said, "Look, brother Jie did it."
 

The grandma squinted her eyes for a while, then sighed and said, "My child, you have played too much. I don't know whether this is a blessing or a curse." Neither Jie nor Achoe paid any attention to the witch's grandmother's worries. Continue to play the game of drawing symbols in front of the door. He drew the symbols of "Shui" and "Ye", and another pond appeared beside the pond; he drew the symbols of "Fu" and "Tao", and a pottery kiln appeared beside the pond. Jie took Axio's hand around the pond to the pottery kiln, touched its outer wall, and found that it was a real object.
 

Jie cried with joy, and he said to Axie: "I will draw a beautiful house for you, and put you in it like a little doll."
 

Axie also smiled: "I want to eat and sleep with you inside."
 

At this time, a loud and pleasant sound suddenly came out from the bright sky. Grandma's face was pale, and she said tremblingly: "Oops, Jie angered the gods. I'm afraid our family will be in trouble." She heard the crying of the undead around, snakes and other reptiles passed through the grass and hid in I never dared to come out of my own cave. There was heavy rain in the sky, and corn, fish and vegetables were mixed in the rain, and the people ran out to pick them up, immersed in the carnival of getting something for nothing.
Axie said, "Grandma, this doesn't look like a god is angry."
 

Grandma looked at the rainy sky, and at the rice and vegetables on the ground: "Yes, I'm confused too."
 

At the end of the day, a huge rainbow appeared in the sky. They rose from the hill behind Jie's house and disappeared in the opposite hill, forming a semicircular ribbon. Grandma's sad expression became relieved, and she sat on the threshold: "This is a covenant between the gods and Jie. They have reached a reconciliation." Only Jie knew that it was Fuxi's compliment to him. But he didn't tell anyone. He is still used to the silence of the past.

 

Axie fell ill the next day. At first she was referring to a sore throat, cough, and forehead fever, which progressed to chills and a high fever. She said to her grandmother, "My head hurts so much." Jie gave up sleeping and dreaming, and stayed by her side, seeing bruises all over her body, which turned from bright red to purple. On the third morning, she began to vomit incessantly, uttered strange nonsense, convulsed, and fell into a semi-comatose state. When she woke up, she said to Jie: "Brother, I dreamed that this room is my body. It is hot, and I live in it. My sweat turned into mist and rain in the dream. Now I want to go Now, go to a cooler place."
 

Jie started to cry and said he didn't want her to go, he wanted to drive her away the disease, he first drew the "worm" symbol, and then drew the "knife" symbol, combined them together, and wanted to use the knife to kill the insects, but Axie's His condition didn't improve at all. He imagined how his grandmother would write a talisman to pray for gods, so he drew a "begging" talisman and added a "wen" talisman to form a "save" talisman, but Fuxi never responded and appeared as an old beggar.
 

In the middle of the night, Jie suddenly fell asleep uncharacteristically. He dreamed that many black worms crawled out of Axie's five orifices, and even his mouth was full of worms. Even the tears that flowed from his eyes turned into insect. When Jie woke up, the bug was gone.
 

Axie just left quietly, like a light sneeze. Grandma caressed her small body and sang, seeing off her young soul. Jie burst into tears,

His tears flowed to the ground, forming a "crying" symbol, and the tears continued to flow outside the house and into the pond. The fish and shrimp were startled at first, and then they all cried. Plants and flowers wept, birds and beasts wept, and the whole world wept.

 

It was only after Jie grew up that he realized that his talisman magic was limited, and he couldn't even save the girl he loved the most.
 

But Jie still grew up in the unfailing sleep. His grandmother passed away when he was fourteen years old, and a locust tree grew on the grave of Axie, and every day the branch swayed in the wind, whispering to him with unclear meaning. Once, he dreamed that Axie looked at him from that world. When he wanted to hug her, she disappeared. He suddenly realized that Axio was too busy and sent a shadow to visit just now.
 

In the infinite solitude, he became a half-god, half-human talisman maker, and a priest in charge of Fuxi. In his dreams, he used his fingers to write strange lines on his belly, thus constantly creating new characters, and as he created characters, corresponding things were also born in the world. People call this symbol "character", and the act of drawing characters is called "writing". Jie calls his own creation "character creation". In this unique "character creation", he created all kinds of brand new things for the world.
 

I don't know when, Jie's character creation is no longer limited to dreams, but quietly transferred to daily reality scenes. He started generating glyphs in his waking state, and everything seemed freer. He hoped to be blessed by the gods, so he made the word "God", and as a result, a statue of Fuxi appeared on the edge of the field; he built a "temple", and a small temple appeared in the village; "" symbol and "you" symbol, a "temple" appeared at the end of the field, and the big roof covered the statue and the field, becoming a larger place for worship. Cangjie lived in the temple he built and became a priest of Fuxi, responsible for conveying the will of God.
When he made the character "che", a single wheel and two-wheeled carts appeared; when he made the character "Lv", laws appeared; when he made the character "city", city walls and cities appeared; , instruments and music appeared.
 

However, free characters will also produce some bad characters and typos, just like the self-malignant reproduction of tumor cells-"骉", "粉", "飝" and "Si Lei (pia)", or characters with too many strokes such as "䵴"wait. Jie can only create characters, but cannot eliminate them. He can only wait for those typos to rot over the years, or grow wild like weeds. Until the end of his life, Jie did not find an effective way to eliminate it.
 

Jie began to carry out his character-making activities more cautiously, because every mistake could lead to disaster. In order to prevent the bad words from spreading, he must find easy-to-access containers for the good words. He remembered the tortoise shell and ox bone that God Fuxi once gave him. These two treasures were used as funerary objects and turned into dust together with Axio. Jie first chose the ox blade, and saw that it was covered with ghosts from hell; he tried to put the tortoise shell to his ear, but he heard the faint sound of heaven, as if God was whispering.
 

Jie then chose the tortoise shell. Kunwu, a helper in the temple, was his first disciple. He collected discarded tortoise shells everywhere, cleaned and polished them carefully. Jie engraved the characters one by one on the tortoise shell, and then hung them on the beams of the temple, just like hanging shells from the ocean. The tortoise board swayed in the wind, making a melodious jingle sound like wind chimes, as if greetings from the god of water and wind.
 

The world at this time is divided into two kinds of things, one is original, and the other is produced through word creation. Characters are also divided into two categories: one is the imitation of foreign objects (pictographic), known as "mirror characters", and the other is the creation of foreign objects, known as "original characters", the latter type of characters are spiritual, Tongshen is a higher level of writing.
 

When Jie created 800 characters, the city will present a complete appearance according to his characters: palaces, temples, workshops, warehouses, roads, shops and city walls, new things emerge one after another, dazzling. Thus nations and civilizations are happily born. The people were elated by this. They went into the temple to worship and knelt down in front of the statue of Fuxi. When they saw Priest Jie, they cheered enthusiastically.

 

Cangjie became a little arrogant. He refused to see the people who asked for help, and he refused to help them, because their petty demands were not worth his time.
 

A little girl with a runny nose said to her: "Jie, my clay doll is broken, can you help me make a new one?" Jie looked at her ugly face and ignored her request.
 

Later, an old woman in ragged clothes came. She leaned on a cane and said, "Jie, I have too few clothes. I'm afraid I won't be able to survive this severe winter. Can you help me?"

Shall I make a woolen jacket? "
 

Jie smiled and said, "I don't know how to do this, so go to a tailor and make one."
 

It was a day in the depths of winter, and a thick layer of ice had formed on the ground. Jie was repairing his statue. A musician named Shi Xiang walked into the temple with a banjo on his back. He said that his fingers had pointed out the problem and asked him to treat him. Jie flatly refused him.
 

Jie said, "You should go to a doctor or a wizard, not a priest like me."
 

The luthier said, "I can show you my symptoms."
 

Jie smiled contemptuously, ignored it, and turned to leave.
 

But before he had time to walk out of the front yard, the sound of the piano had already resounded throughout the courtyard. Jie was taken aback, turned around to look, and found that Shi Xiang plucked the water sound feather strings corresponding to winter, and played the yellow bell rhythm representing November. On the roof, there is thick snow everywhere.
 

At first Jie thought it was just a coincidence, he picked up the snow, sniffed it under his nose, and said with a smile, "Sir is like a fortune teller, he can predict when it will snow."
 

Hearing what he said, Shi Xiang changed the tune, plucked the wooden horn strings corresponding to spring, and played the bell rhythm representing the early spring and February. Wild flowers are in full bloom, colorful birds are flying in the air, and swimming fish are jumping in the water. The heavy snow and solid ice melted quickly, turning into thin streams of water.
 

Jie was a little dizzy now, he knew that a more powerful character than him was coming. He immediately bowed his hands and said: "Sorry sir, I was rude."
 

Shi Xiang ignored him, plucked the shang strings corresponding to autumn, and played the Nanlu melody representing the golden autumn and August. At the place where the sad piano sounded, a chilly autumn wind suddenly blew, and the persimmon trees in the courtyard quickly borne fruit. Orange-red fruit.
 

The low-ranking priests in the temple rushed over after hearing the sound, and they were all shocked by this strange scene. Shi Xiang said: "You have to understand that in this world, not only words can create things, but music can also create things. There are other ways of creating things." Cang Jie suddenly realized that there is a sky beyond the sky. He knelt down in front of Shi Xiang, eager to worship him as his teacher.
 

Shi Xiang smiled and said, "It's unnecessary to be a teacher. As long as you understand the laws of creation of the universe and know how to treat your people with humility, you will be invincible in the world."
 

Jie nodded. Shi Xiang looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, and left in a hurry. Jie looked at Shi Xiang suspiciously, watching him gradually disappear at the end of the road, guessing that he was the incarnation of a certain god, deliberately trying to enlighten his stupidity and stubbornness. But no matter who Shi Xiang is, he has learned new truths. He begins to understand that the world is inexhaustible because it is defined by the infinity of God. He is just a worm who can build in this world.

 

Shi Xiang made Jie smarter. He became wary of worship from humans. Facing the endless stream of worshipers, he tried to hide in the shadow behind the statue of Fuxi. He was afraid of those fanatical voices. They would vibrate repeatedly in his ears. It will take a long time for this urn-like echo to fade away.
 

Jie couldn't bear the noise of the people, because he was not worthy to be the benefactor of the people, so he had to move out of the temple and hide in a more remote courtyard, where he meditated and meditated, and let new characters emerge in meditation.
 

Every day, young people come to the temple to practice calligraphy. They copied the words on the tortoise shell and wrote them on the wooden blocks they brought. Jie walked into the temple at dusk that day, and saw a young man laying down on the ground practicing calligraphy very seriously. He also made a soft brush out of pig hair, dipped it in charcoal black, wrote the words on the polished bamboo, and then used hemp rope to write the characters. Connect them in series. Jie named him "Mao Jian", and the recording tools he invented were called "writing brush" and "bamboo slip". Bamboo slips have no divinity, and cannot replace tortoise shells as a carrier for inscribing new characters, but they can be taken everywhere, and they are easy to cut, so they should be the best practice tool.
 

Mao Jian was very happy, knelt down in front of Jie, and wanted to worship him as his teacher. The twilight light outlines the boy's neat appearance and clothes, just like his own appearance in the past. A great emotion suddenly surged in Jie's heart, so he accepted his second disciple like this.
 

Because of Kun Wu and Mao Jian, Jie decided to open a school. He made some high-quality wood, expanded the apse of the temple, turned it into a writing library, and turned the side courtyard into a school building, and accepted more than a dozen disciples. They are responsible for organizing those words and classifying them by radicals for easy retrieval.
 

After the skills of his disciples improved greatly, Jie divided the school into two majors, one is character-creation major, and the other is character-recognition major. Fortune-telling with words, medical treatment with words, deformation with words, and so on. In addition to the pictographic method and the knowing method, Jie also invented the method of referring to things and the method of pictophony, which doubled the speed of creating characters and improved the function of expression day by day. He watched with satisfaction the changes that had taken place in the world.

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Excerpt from:

"Harvest" Magazine, Issue 6, 2017

"Ancient Matters" Volume One, People's Literature Publishing House, 2017

"Qingqiu Chronicle", World Chinese Publishing House, 2020

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