Reflections on Returning Home

An excerpt from the Chinese text:

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Translation:

“An excerpt from the Chinese text:

A high school friend and her boyfriend moved to Shanghai together; he even bought a house in Shanghai with his family’s money. That was a world far away from me. All I saw were mountains of papers, piles of students’ test papers.

I was on the other side of the earth for so long that returning home felt like being beaten by floodwaters. The pandemic is actually just an excuse. Originally, I didn’t want to go back; I miss my family, but I wanted to be with a place that has never existeda spiritual homeland. I’ve lost that sense of weight and elation from past lives where my family used to look after me, needing me no longer, leaving me far behind.

I live in a free realm, a vacuum, and it’s also lonely. I wander within the realm of symbols, looking at time passing through gigantic windows outside; I can foresee some emotions wanting to touch me through the glass but hear only whispers from the outside. People say that times are surging upon us. Maybe so; they seem to be surging over me, and I’ve heard their noisehow is that? I never lived in this time in the first place.”