This is an unclaimed cafeteria card, stuffed into a wad of toilet paper above the air conditioner by an older student who used to date its owner. It always has only three yuan on it, yet somehow lasts a whole month. The power struggles among the schemers, ambitious people, and capitalists behind this card give rise to one fascinating story after another, weaving together storylines that flicker between light and darkness. Everyone struggles endlessly within their own cage...
Thinking aloud: Looking back on my student days, I wonder if choosing computer science, once hailed as the king of engineering, should have been as fantastical and colorful as it is portrayed in this book. The story I want to tell should unfold slowly, with multiple threads of foreshadowing. Every character should feel vivid and fully realized, and the story should lean more toward “spiritual redemption.” Something like the Completion Plan. I started this around my first year of college, and even now, I’m still trying to heal the wounds I suffered as a child.
