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they still regret having let me go far away to study. I owe so much to my elder brother Weijie for taking care of our parents in our hometown and for helping me fulfill my share of filial responsibility. Of course, it is to my wife Yan that I wish to express the deepest gratitude. She did nearly all the housework in my busiest days, which allowed me to focus on writing. Although she always mocked me or even yelled, “stop—please,” every time when I tried to tell the stories from this book, it was still a pleasure for me to know that I should find a more attractive way to narrate my tales next time. As the book was finally completed, my baby boy, River, just learned to walk. I enjoyed every moment with him, even though this youngest “reader” of my book often showed no interest in his father’s work, even peeing on the manuscript! “You don’t need to be a historian in the future, but you should not follow the way of Wang Yan (the last ruler of Former Shu).” Believe it or not, that was my advice to my toddler.