On Everything of the Future
青玄
a novel by · 陈冠衡
The all-round development of people, the great advance of technology, and the supreme civilization of society.
Writing since Since Childhood · Ya Yuan
This book has been in the making since my childhood. As I grew and saw more of the world, through many twists, deletions and additions, over more than a decade it quietly gained weight — and gathered a little thought along the way.
I write this preface to say a few words to you first. This book holds many of my uncertainties about the world, and many of my beliefs. It is not perfect — perhaps even rough in places — but it is the most honest expression I have managed over these years. If you are willing to open it, I hope you read with calm and curiosity. Some thoughts here may exceed everyday experience; where I have not explained enough, I invite you to explore on your own.
This book discusses ethics, science, society, nature, philosophy, the future… and also love, freedom, solitude, and courage. It is not an answer, but an invitation — an invitation to think seriously, together, in this complex world.
Thank you for spending your time opening it. May you find some resonance here, or at least something worth questioning.
The wind rustles; it is winter again. The leaves on the deciduous trees have long fallen, leaving only two or three stubbornly clinging in the cold. I sigh, and a leaf drifts gently to my feet.
As last year, I am still on campus. Beside the red track stand rows of tall ginkgoes, and once the green laughter of youth startled the tabby cat sunning itself by the west wall. Yet we must admit we have drawn a step closer to society. We are still in school, the ginkgoes are still there — but is that tabby cat still around? Many things, like the cat, have changed.
In this book I record the voices of many young people of this era — their confusion, their longing, their most honest feelings about the world. I try, with a faithful pen, to present the thousand faces of our times: its brightness and its shadows, the complexity and tenderness of human nature, the tension between holding on and reaching forward, and every ordinary person's exploration of the unknown and yearning for a better life.
第一卷
The story unfolds through the telling of 'a patient from ten years ago.' MIT physics professor Li Jianyan finds an abandoned baby, Fang Ran, in a slum and carries the child home; Qiqi struggles through a half-life of misfortune. Countless individual fates drift apart and echo one another in an age where the wind rises.
第二卷
'How, after all, is communism to be realized?' After a profound debate, the narrator cannot find peace for days. He wants to write the shape of the world into textbooks, to make it students' first course in high school. The savior is distant, yet the seeker never rests.
第三卷
Yu Yiyi and Xu Fan — the conservative and the radical — take different roads toward the same end. When ideals meet the blood and fire of reality, who bears the sword, and who becomes the demon? An interrogation of means and ends, of sin and redemption. (In progress)
第四卷
The end and the beginning of the road to the Great Unity. Love and freedom, unextinguished, are the final vow at the end of time. May all people know good and attain innate conscience, understand reason, do good with kindness, and act without resentment. (In preparation)
Song Ke
生于满月，紫云绕月，子时三刻诞。初生轻笑未啼，三日便言，十日能行。七岁入清华哲学系，九岁大学毕业，入天山深处十八个月，写一十八篇论文为天地立心，举世皆惊，后迅速隐退。
Li Zhixia
执剑爱与自由，相信人文的意义来自善于美的事物，终生致力于为不同理念的爱与自由守候。「也许世间荆棘无数，那是不是我只要站在你与悲伤之间，你所见到的最大的悲哀，便也只是夏秋交接时卸掉的满树栀花了。」
Yu Yiyi
重塑联合国、推动世界联合治理的政治家。保守而有大才，相信以五十年之功可让社会主义站上全球首位。「我们努力地试着融入，却忘了守住自我。」与徐凡殊途同归。
Xu Fan
生在南非，长在拉丁美洲，去过最苦难的难民营。「你于一一不敢，那我徐凡来做！你不敢死，我徐凡来死！」此去南非，他要让第三世界真真正正站着和世界讲一讲道理——哪怕用鲜血和生命。
Li Jianyan
十四岁入中科院少年班，三十六岁已是 MIT 物理教授。在贫民窟的垃圾堆旁拾得弃婴方冉，从此「不再是从前那个走路都要怔怔出神的李教授，而是抱着一个孩子的归乡人」。
Fang Ran
李缄言拾得的弃婴，长大后痴迷机械。在烂尾楼天台用二手零件造出第一只机器狗，七天七夜，赋予它外壳、神经、感官与灵魂。「汪？」——它活了。
Dan Ziqing
2011 年生于法国，满岁被遗弃于美国街头，为单鸿孤所拾。「文将戎马十三载，要叫徐凡弓腰拜。」立金沙、下太平、入里海、归大漠，后大治南非。「单子卿一人，便是半个盛世。」
Qiqi
「我必须要被爱，我需要感受到爱我才能存在，我没有主体性。」她的童年寄人篱下，半生在不幸里辗转。她是这个时代无数被损害与被侮辱者的缩影。
Bai Shu
每次见到白术，总是先见到味道，草药混着仙气，总让人觉得他已经超脱了尘世。而闻到气味就觉得安心，见到就觉得平和，可能治愈比治疗来的早一些，治愈也是一种气味，味道大概混着些相信，这该是白术特意配的方子。
“给你讲个故事吧，十年前的一位病人。”
手摩挲着砂质的紫砂茶壶，上面细腻的纹路好像有着无穷的魅力。男人轻轻蹙起眉头，目光却越来越浑浊，明灭的阳光在这双眸子里晦暗不定。
“十一年前吧，那是在重庆的一个小县城里……”故事就这样在男人的口中开始叙述：
县城里的人不多，大概十几万人的样子。那年我刚刚毕业没多久，好像是毕业后的第二年零两个月，或许是三个月，因为在上海没找到工作，哪里消费太高，我就来到了那里。
记得还是一位朋友邀请，他
或者说，是到我身边哭泣过的灵魂，偶尔我不坚定的时候，我会想起她，想起那些故事。
那是一个破旧而散发着酸臭味道的房间，房间角落堆着许多空酒瓶，都是劣质的酒，瓶子里七零八落地塞着一些烟头，有些有烟嘴，大部分没有，烧到只剩个尖，在劣质酒里浸灭，焦黄与黑色的油污附着其上，为房间的酸臭叠上了一层更令人不适的后调。琪琪会在成年后的许多个日夜里记起这个味道，每次记起，她会觉得味道直冲头顶，无法呼吸、恶心、耳鸣，不能阅读，也不能理解世界正在发生什么。严重的时候，她会解离。
酸臭味道是男人身上的，总是不洗澡，浑身都是油污与酒渍，有时候他会带一个画着艳丽妆容，长得有些富态、刻薄、充满酒色财气的女人，有时候是她那个干瘦的妻子，然后在这间小小的屋子里，做那些事情。男人尝试哄骗琪琪加入这个味道，让她也为这个房间留下一些独特的难闻气息。琪琪会大叫，会哭，会跑，那个男人是个五十多岁的充满不良嗜好的身体，他并没有那样的胆量与身体条件在不造成他解决不了的后果之前完成那一切。
Afterword · To Love a Concrete Dream
The Great Unity is the wish of countless generations, the mission of this generation, the passing of the torch hereafter. Love and freedom, unextinguished, are his and her final vow at the end of time. May all people know good and attain innate conscience, understand reason, do good with kindness, and act without resentment.