A young woman told me: she and her boyfriend had a three-hour phone call going over the specific challenges they might face in marriage.
She had prepared a memo in advance.
They reached no conclusions.
The topics included: how would they share the responsibility of raising children? What specific educational path would they take? If one parent needed to sacrifice their career, whose would it be?
I understand her anxiety, and her need to nail everything down before moving forward. She wants to live her life with intention — which is why she wants plans, contingencies, and fallback options.
Dear brothers and sisters: I’ve never been one for filling every last day of a long holiday with activity. Especially those final two or three days — I prefer to slow down, restore my vital energy (Chi), and let my work life warm up gradually.
The benefit of this approach: when you re-engage with your career, the transition doesn’t feel jarring. It’s simply more comfortable.
In life, avoid extreme swings. In action, avoid sudden rushes and abrupt stops.
Student Question:
Hello, Master. I’m a front desk manager. My daily life has a certain polish to it — even in a standard work uniform, I pair it with a refined, fitting look that gives off a calm, composed impression. I also add small accessories when I’m off duty. The work itself is genuinely demanding — handling all kinds of requests, and even complaints. My husband is a handsome, well-off local man. I fell for him the moment we first met. He pursued me relentlessly for nearly a year. My family is from a rural agricultural province — village background, only a vocational college education, with an older sister and a younger brother. Everything I’ve achieved, I’ve had to earn on my own.
The long-awaited National Day holiday is almost here — eight whole days off this time, if you can believe it. Which means there’s far too much to handle and arrange before the break, and naturally the time I have for writing has shrunk. But even in the rush, I still plan to share two longer pieces before Friday — something for you all to look forward to.
As for tonight’s piece, it’s just casual fun mixed with a bit of experience. Read it for the enjoyment. Whatever you take from it — that’s up to your own destiny.
Student Question (L茵Z):
A question for you! Was our traditional so-called “provider and reproducer” functional structure formed precisely to suppress education costs — including educational risks — within the family, the smallest unit of social division and cooperation? And is it feasible to transfer those costs elsewhere?
Looking at successful pro-natalist policies overseas — from reward systems and reduced education spending, to legislation protecting workplace rights for mothers, to policies encouraging fathers to take paternity leave — at their core, all of these transfer a portion of the cost onto society. One of the reasons these policies actually work, in my view, comes down to a difference in mindset: the question of who “owns” children.
In truth, all the problems we face revolve around a single core issue. Every problem we encounter today, the West encountered first. Social atomization pulls individuals out of their original stable, low-cost structures. Once extracted, these individuals — whether materially or spiritually — are left helpless, without foundation or support. This state of acute instability inevitably drives people to do two things: 1. seize resources through overconsumption, and 2. squander resources in their spending. Both of these accelerate the intensification of social division of labor, and more importantly, the rapid concentration of social wealth.
Frankly speaking, I am myself a living, breathing example of someone who “drew close to wealth and destiny, and in doing so, obtained it.” So I speak on today’s topic with particular authority.
Those familiar with me know that my family background was genuinely favorable — though it had its share of turbulence, it afforded me the rare fortune, from a very young age, to grow up alongside a circle of extraordinary figures.
Student Question
Hello, Master Chi. For those working in operations and marketing, and for professionals broadly who feel stuck in their personal development — how can they learn more effectively given the current environment?
Master Chi’s Response
There are essentially two points.
The first concerns today’s broader environment. Most working professionals — especially those with operations and marketing backgrounds — need to seek out new paths for personal development. But inevitably, only a small number will actually get results.
Every person — you and I included — is destined to pass through a period of profound darkness.
During that passage, your confidence will be trampled. Your efforts will be dismissed entirely. Everything you have given will be met with betrayal.
But do not be afraid. This is the necessary road of growth. Sit quietly with that pain, and draw from it the nourishment that will help you mature.
Only through this can you become truly resilient — truly formed.
Student Question: Master Chi, when facing the many choices along life’s path, how does one make a decision they won’t regret?
In elementary school, agonizing over which flavor snack to choose. In middle school, torn between devoting everything to competitions for a guaranteed university recommendation, or studying the curriculum to prepare for the upcoming high school entrance exam. After the entrance exam, torn between attending the experimental class at a nearby high school or boarding at a top provincial high school farther from home. At the start of high school, torn between joining the school’s competition track or working through the standard curriculum step by step. In the second semester of high school, torn between the humanities and sciences tracks. In the second year of high school, torn about whether to confess feelings to someone I liked. After graduating from university, torn about what kind of career to pursue.