He Will Only Understand When He is Old
by Xiaoliang
About This Novel
The novel takes "obsession and disillusionment" as its core and revolves around the absurd journeys of a group of people such as Wang Guangtian, Ke Hongfeng, and Liu Agen who are obsessed with "the unfreezing of national assets" and underground treasures. It is intertwined with human greed, the absurdity of the times, and the uncertainty of fate. Seventy-year-old Wang Guangtian stood on a high-rise building and wanted to jump off the building. He recalled his half-life obsession: in the 1990s, after the restructuring of the machinery factory, he was unwilling to make a living by running a street vendor with his wife. He was seduced by an old acquaintance, Ke Hongfeng, with the lie of "hundred billions of dollars of national assets being unfrozen." Armed with forged red-headed documents, he embarked on a "treasure hunt" across many provinces. They traveled south to Guangxi, traveled to Fujian, and went deep into the Qinling Mountains. While making up the false identities of "Prince" and "Pavilion Elder" to paralyze themselves, they encountered dilemmas such as fortune-telling scams, farce treasure hunting in sinkholes, and being investigated for forged documents. They were also involved in the illegal trade of hunting wild animals, but they were always chasing the dream of "pie in the sky." Liu Agen and his nephew Deng Zhuzhu, who were traveling with him, were also fascinated by wealth. They traveled from Shandong to Shaanxi in search of warlord treasures and asset deposit certificates, and were eventually involved in the wildlife smuggling chain. After more than ten years of running around, this group of people exhausted their savings and betrayed their relatives - the "gold ingot" Wang Guangtian sent to his wife was actually a fake alloy, and his wife immigrated to Australia with their children; Ke Hongfeng's dream of exchanging "gold and silver" was shattered. The story connects plots such as false document fraud and illegal hunting, revealing the absurd behavior driven by greed, and finally ends with the disillusionment of everyone's dreams. It illustrates the reality that "the obsession with getting something for nothing will eventually devour life", and also reflects the loss and struggle of ordinary people under the temptation of wealth in a specific era.
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