Student Question
Budget of 4–5 million RMB for self-use in Shenzhen’s Bao’an district — what residential developments are worth considering? Preferably close to the Bao’an central area, with school enrollment rights included. Resale properties are also acceptable.
Master Chi’s Response
First, clarify whether this is your first essential home purchase, or whether you already own property and are looking to upgrade.
Also assess your overall asset allocation. Don’t over-leverage on real estate — and absolutely avoid ultra-short-term debt. Monthly mortgage payments should not exceed 70% of your income, and short-term borrowing should not exceed three times your annual income.
There is one secret to life: never scramble for answers just because you see others turning in their papers.
Because each person carries their own life pattern (格局) and its own cycle — entirely their own.
Some find success at twenty and show their decline by fifty. Others wander lost at twenty and achieve greatness late in life.
There’s nothing more to say about it — everything is fate, a script written for you by the heavens.
Today’s article is written for your children — and it’s important.
I deeply understand the helpless anxiety parents feel when they don’t know how to guide their children’s development. Because if a child simply won’t open their eyes, no amount of energy or effort poured in will make any difference — the child remains like a stubborn stone, impervious to all persuasion.
So I’ve long since lost count of how many times, on some perfectly ordinary day, a friend has reached out to me — pleading, reminding me over and over — to please, please help wake their child up.
Fortune keeps turning. If you want to strengthen your own luck, there is one simple method: every year, three or four days before the new year, reach out to as many of your old colleagues as you can — especially the younger ones. Send them early new year greetings.
Don’t use those hollow, copy-pasted messages that carry no feeling. Use your own words. Lower your posture just a little. Chances are, they’ll write back. Take the opportunity to ask what they’re up to these days. I’d also recommend that everyone does a yearly audit of their social circle — so you always have a clear picture of where your people stand.
The greatest tragedy in life is toiling your entire existence only to find you never enjoyed a single moment of it.
Don’t wait until your final years, looking back on everything, only to realize the only thing you can remember is relentless struggle — not one sweet memory to show for it. That would truly be pitiful.
So my life philosophy has always been this: know how to strive, but also know how to live.
Foreword
I have always believed that the quiet hours of late night are the perfect time to settle the mind and sort through one’s thoughts. Why squander those hours on meaningless short videos and idle entertainment, when you could find genuine joy in even the smallest forward movement?
Tonight surprised me more than most. As my thoughts wandered, they shaped themselves into something worth writing down — a short essay I’d like to share with you.
I’ll be honest with you — when I was young, I too was driven into a state of utter destitution by forces beyond anyone’s control.
At my worst, I was truly grinding through the dirt — facing debt disputes in the hundreds of millions every single day, dealing with both the legitimate and the shadowy.
I was barely in my twenties then, with none of the wisdom or foundation I have today.
Student Question
Hello, Master. I recently started at a new job. Perhaps because I want so badly to get ahead, I’ve pushed myself to become something like an ascetic monk. Every day I’m up at six in the morning and in bed by eleven at night, no exceptions. My phone has almost no games on it — I mainly use it to search for information online. But lately I’ve lost my sense of direction again. I’m starting to question what the real value of all this is. I’d like to ask for your guidance.
At work, we often encounter good fortune in our daily professional and personal lives.
For example, your manager, in high spirits at a dinner gathering, leans over and quietly tells you: “Son, keep up the good work — I’m saving that supervisor position for you.”
Or perhaps you’ve just arrived in an unfamiliar city, and a close friend, seeing you without a place to stay, says: “I’ve got a one-bedroom unit sitting empty — just move in.”
Student Question
Master, I’m currently working as an English teacher at a key city high school. The school has a small contract opportunity — essentially logistics work: maintaining the multimedia classrooms, repairing desks and chairs, heating systems, that sort of thing. My family has solid experience in this area, and I’d like to bring them in for the job. I’m planning to take the relevant school leader out to dinner to discuss it, but I’ve never done this before. I’d appreciate your guidance.