Preface: One More Act of Willfulness

Page 1 of 3

At last, at long last, a new book begins! My apologies for keeping everyone waiting so long.

This time, I took a break of nine months, the longest hiatus since I began my writing career. The reasons are complicated: partly the exhaustion that followed the completion of my last book, and partly a series of objective circumstances.

After finishing my previous novel, I simply rested, played, and prepared for the next story. But this time, after finishing, I first took my wife on a trip to Jiuzhaigou to fully unwind. Then, we made time for a health check-up—I hadn’t had one in three years. The last time was back in 2020 when I bought critical illness insurance and was randomly selected by the insurance company for a medical exam.

That’s when I was diagnosed with diabetes, and naturally, my insurance application was rejected. Overnight, I became a “sugar man.”

Living with a chronic illness, I was more anxious than most during the three years of the pandemic. In fact, throughout the serialization of "The Forbidden Zone Fox," my wife was constantly worried about my health and urged me to get checked, but I always brushed her off with, “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have time.”

But really, how could I not find half a day? The truth is, it wasn’t a lack of time, but fear—fear of discovering something terrible.

Why did I feel this way? Perhaps because, while working on "The Forbidden Zone Fox," I could sense something was off with my body. Staying up late to write had become second nature after two decades of this lifestyle. There were even years when I lived entirely out of sync with the world—sleeping at dawn, waking in the afternoon.

But while writing "The Forbidden Zone Fox," there were several occasions, past three in the morning, when a sudden palpitation and a cold sweat down my back forced me to stop writing for the night, no matter how far I was from my daily target.

I never used to worry about my health or about collapsing at my keyboard, but now I was afraid.

It’s like that old joke: “I really do have a cow”—meaning, I truly realized that I could die.

And if that happened, I’d leave behind a child not yet grown, a wife who’d spent over a decade as a full-time homemaker to support me, and four elderly parents.

Why was the last year of "The Forbidden Zone Fox" such a disaster in terms of updates? Because my body simply couldn’t keep up—physically, and mentally as well. It wasn’t that I’d tired of telling Hu Lai’s story; I still had so much to say. But my body and mind could no longer match my desire to write.

Thankfully, the check-up results were decent in the end—no major illnesses, just a collection of minor issues and a few nodules I already knew about.

Over Chinese New Year, I drove my parents and child to Yunnan for a holiday.

In April, I finally resolved to have my gallstone—nurtured for over twenty years—removed, along with my gallbladder. The stone had reached 4.6 centimeters in diameter; keeping it any longer risked gallbladder cancer.

Because the stone was so large, they had to stitch me up with three sutures, unlike most who get minimally invasive surgery. My recovery took longer, too. Now, there’s a scar on my stomach that looks like the character for “king.”

Does that make me a king, perhaps?

Since the gallstone removal, my appetite has decreased, I’ve lost ten kilos, and my blood sugar readings look better. But I have no idea how long this good fortune will last, especially now that I’m back to serializing a new novel…

Page 2 of 3

Aside from health matters, I used this break to renovate my in-laws’ house, a project that stretched from last December to June before it was finally done.

Renovation is truly a tormenting ordeal; if I had a choice, I’d never do it again in my life. But the last time I renovated my own place was ten years ago, when I lacked both money and experience, so now the house has developed all sorts of problems. In another couple of years, I’ll have to renovate it again—I’m already planning to do it after I finish this book.

Just a few days ago, I took my mother for cataract surgery, and soon I’ll need to bring her in for the other eye, not to mention taking my father to get dental implants.

This is the trivial, everyday life of a man in his forties.

I’m no longer as free as I was a decade or two ago, when I could focus exclusively on writing and ignore everything else.

My parents are aging; the burdens they once carried must now be borne by me.

My child is still growing—this is the stage when a parent’s care is most critical.

So the launch of the new book kept getting postponed.

The idea for this novel first began to stir in my heart at the end of 2022. As time passed, that feeling grew stronger and more insistent, until finally, I resolved to write it.

Yet, before I actually started, I was hesitant. The structure and style of this story are unlike any of the football novels I’ve written before, and vastly different from the mainstream online football fiction now. I worried readers might not accept it.

When I was wavering, my friends encouraged me—or rather, egged me on.

So, with their prodding, I ultimately decided to follow my heart and write the story that once made me restless in the middle of the night.

Just as, after finishing "Glorious Green Fields," I once hesitated about inventing an entirely new world, and a friend told me: “If that story excites you and you want to write it, then you should.”

And that’s how I ended up writing "The Forbidden Zone Fox."

Time has proven my friend was right—as that book gave me a new lease on my writing career.

In the preface to "The Forbidden Zone Fox," I called it a willful decision.

Writing this new novel, "Reversal," is just as much an act of willfulness.

I know it’s risky and could result in a dramatic drop in success.

But at my age, after more than twenty years of football fiction, writing what I want is perhaps the most important thing.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about results—who wouldn’t want their work to do well? My dream is to write something I enjoy and have it succeed, just as "The Forbidden Zone Fox" did.

But if I have to choose between success and personal fulfillment, I’ll likely choose the latter.

If, by chance, I also win your affection, that would be a happy surprise—I’ll bow in gratitude!

Like my last book, this new one is set in a world of my own making, though not entirely detached from reality. You’ll find echoes and familiar archetypes from the real world.

After all, I can’t conjure hundreds or thousands of characters from nothing—I’m bound to draw on reality for inspiration. Reality is the wellspring of my creativity.

But don’t get hung up on who a character might correspond to in real life, and don’t overthink or argue over real-world feuds.

A character’s essence depends on how I shape them, not on their supposed real-life prototypes.

In other words: the final say belongs to me, the author.

Page 3 of 3

If you’re fixated on how things are in reality, then why would I bother inventing a fictional world? Why not just write about real football?

Isn’t the point to escape the constraints of reality? Isn’t it to create a vessel that can hold my own thoughts and ideas?

"The Forbidden Zone Fox" showed me that this is possible. Thank you all for your tolerance and understanding.

Over the course of more than seven million words, I hope that book fostered a tacit understanding between us:

I write stories, I write about the people in those stories—their joys and sorrows. And you read the stories, witness those people, and feel their joys and sorrows.

That’s enough.

If you like it, I am honored.

If not, then let us part amicably.

Finally, after nine long months, thank you to everyone who waited.

Let us meet again in a brand-new world!

※※※

A word about the update schedule.

I intend to make a change: instead of two updates a day, I’ll switch to one. Each update will be at least five thousand words, with no upper limit—much like when I wrote "Champion Father."

This way, the plot won’t be chopped up by frequent chapter breaks, and I can better sustain my own emotional continuity while writing.

As you all know, with age, I face more objective limitations—flagging energy, the demands of daily life, and the concern of my family (my wife is genuinely afraid I’ll pass before she does... My struggles during "The Forbidden Zone Fox" left a deep impression on her—verging on PTSD).

So, perhaps, just maybe, moving to one update a day will ease my burden. I hope so.

After all, I really do want to keep writing for as many years as I can, right up until the day I truly can’t do it anymore. But I don’t want to burn myself out too soon.

In any case, I hope you’ll understand the update schedule.

Another bow—sorry to keep you waiting!

※※※

P.S. Since this is the first chapter of the new book, it requires approval for listing. Although I’ve scheduled the release, when you’ll actually see it depends on when the review process is complete. I don’t know the exact time—it could be eight o’clock, or nine.

Whenever the preface passes review and becomes visible, I’ll promptly deliver today’s main story update.

And since it’s the first day, with a prologue included, there will be two chapters today: one in the morning, and the other, as you’re used to, at six in the evening.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll revert to one update a day.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.