Warm and trivial life in the south

Cai Xinglong's collection of essays and life reflections.

Ten years ago, Cai Xinglong and his wife moved from the capital to the small town of Kluang and opened a cheesecake cafe.

In the past ten years, he has organized two "The Wind Rises in Kluang" and three "Light in the South" Lifestyle Festivals, found the most intimate distance between family and career, accumulated many stories, and got to know many people in the stories.

Ten years later, he stood at the crossroads of middle age. "From time to time, I could feel the wind of the past lingering around me, a milligram of wind, a kilogram of wind, oh no, at least a ten-thousand-ton wind like Mount Tai, blowing in my face."

The wind, whether gentle or swift, blows against our faces. It represents daily life and the trivialities of home, the encounters with new and old acquaintances and neighbors, the vast landscapes between the pages of books, the alluring flicker of light and shadow in films and television, the lingering echoes of human emotions in songs. It represents the evolving state of affairs, a sense of rebirth amidst a pandemic.

There is light hidden in trivial life, and Cai Xinglong's writing is guided by life - once you walk into it, you will feel warm and soothing.

Cai Xinglong

He used to be the deputy editor-in-chief of Sin Chew Daily’s supplement. In 2013, he moved back to Kluang in the south and opened a cafe with his wife, called On The Road Cafe, where they started a new life amidst the aroma of cakes and coffee.

While making coffee and writing, I wrote down fragmented but heartwarming stories, and slowly promoted several community arts and cultural activities over the years, including "The Wind is Blowing in Kluang" and "There is Light in the South in Kluang".

He has published five books, namely "The Loser's Counterattack" (mystery novel), "Middle-aged Cowardice" (essays), "You Say the Small Town is Sunny" (essays), "Cheesecake and Our Poverty" (essays), and "Sweet Life" (life articles) co-authored with his wife Anna.

Volume 1 Life is short, a moment is long, and abundance is like the sea. From the end of Li Yongping's river to Qifeng's secret base, we met briefly during those lunar years, interesting people. Today's sun is like a paralyzed truck. At forty-two years old, I suddenly heard Simon and Geffinger singing. Walk twenty thousand steps a day. Spring is warm and flowers are blooming, and the small town's incessant rain seems to be bright in the south. News never dies, just panting. I feel out of place. I often buy a morning paper here. Hao Xiaozi said let's have a can of Irish stout. Walking trees, and the stories of returning home that I know. Strolling in your city. Literature has dreams, and we are less depressed. Standing at the bar and chatting for a few words, our life's long journey ship has sailed away. Everything has quietly entered a state of silence, but don't be afraid. Life is too short, a moment is long. I thought I would live in the real distance.

Volume 2: Girls with Well-Shaped Breasts and Beautiful Scenery in Books; Passing Scenery; Hemingway said the sun will rise as usual; Take the next bus and leave; Another year of green spring grass; Lawrence Block's Eight Million Ways to Live; Girls with Well-Shaped Breasts; The Wind Never Lasts All Morning; Where Will I Wake Up Tonight?; Even though I'm lazy about traveling, I still deeply love these two books; Brilliant Spring in the Small Town of Kluang; Good Books; You've Come a Long Way, Too; Maugham's Razor and Claw Machine; Writing Alone, Living a Lively Life

Part 3: People I Met by Chance in a Café: Hong Kong Senior, Erudite Mr. Huang, Sandakan Youth, Bara, My Classmate, Girl Fish, Iron Man, A Jian, Returning from America, Farmer, Poet

The four rains are coming,
It's nice to extinguish the resentment within me. Sometimes, on rainy nights, you can ask me out for a drink. My son said, let's celebrate Halloween too. What does his dancing world look like as he approaches fifty? The rain in Kluang and Macondo. We seem to be witnessing an eternal landscape. Dragon swims along the shallows in the teahouse. The black hole in my mind. Hong Kong is unparalleled. People's hearts are scattered, but I don't intend to listen to what Jack Ma says about the warm book. My son told me about the circus performance. The young man asked if I was an artistic youth.

Chapter 5: Go forward, there is no road behind.
Steady step by step, we are content with it. Our life: The heart of a small town, the light of young writers, shallow people, ten thousand birds in the sky, the journey of a literary uncle, coming from far away, but no one asks us for help, Clay's Bridge, Mo Yan, and Red Sorghum, an arrow piercing the clouds, a broad mind that can accommodate all things in the world, a small cultural wave. Is literature a bad business?
Art is an oasis in the desert. Art is within our reach, not just on the horizon. A valuable nostalgia. The Malay tapir has begun its wanderings. Mr. Dong handed me an olive-scented tree. The wind of the times.

Six major epidemics, like rebirth. When the snow comes, the golden bell covers the strong winds. Ten thousand tons of wind a year. The world has not left us.

Postscript: Thanks for your patience ◎ Cai Xinglong