February was clearly a month of the chaos of war, both for me personally and for this book.
This month, I spent a great deal of time at the hospital caring for two elderly members of my family. I was busy all day, without even the time to post updates, and consequently lost my full-attendance bonus. My writing income was bound to be slashed in half; even though subscriptions kept growing, my income shrank to less than roughly a third of its usual level.
It was also this month that the new semester began. I packed my bags and traveled thousands of miles across more than half of China, from Shaanxi to my school in Heilongjiang, to prepare for life in the new semester.
It was still this same month that classes officially started and fully returned to in-person teaching. I rushed back and forth between the teaching buildings and my dormitory, busy and without a moment to spare, yet I remained in poor shape, like a patient beginning rehabilitation after a long confinement to bed, struggling with every step.
A busy first and middle third of the month, followed by an exhausted final third-that was a true picture of my entire February.
"The chaos of war" was a truly fitting description here.
Thankfully, starting today, that chaotic month was finally a closed chapter. With March's arrival, both this book and I could face you all in an entirely fresh state.
Before that, though, there were two points I wanted to share with everyone here.
First, regarding updates, I could at least guarantee the minimum required for full attendance: more than four thousand Chinese characters a day. As for anything beyond that, I would do my best to post extra updates whenever I had the time and energy.
Here, I