This World Is Both Cruel and Gentle

📆 Published on: 2/20/2026

🚄 I finished reading Brother Sun's book This World Is Both Cruel and Gentle on the train.

Part 1: Active Choices Bring Us Closer to Dreams

If You Never Rebelled, You Never Had Youth

The book opens with a question: why did people like Brother Sun and Han Han once rebel publicly, but now integrate into the commercial world, seemingly far from their former images?

Rebellion Is a Mark of Excellence Brother Sun writes that rebellion represents the awakening of self-awareness, marking the beginning of one's gradual maturation. Student rebellion is not universal—many harbor rebellious thoughts, but only a few actually act on them.

Since elementary school, I came across articles, promotions, and novels related to the cybersecurity scene—like reading various masters' bug-hunting techniques and exploit analyses on Freebuf. I never sought deep understanding; I was just along for the thrill, feeling like I was already part of the "hacker" community.

By the second year of junior high, my rebellion peaked. I saw a cybersecurity conference held by 360, which featured a promotional video about white-hat hackers. The protagonist was a middle school student who had no interest in academics but thought hackers in novels were cool, and eventually made a name for himself by self-studying "hacker" techniques.

I also read The Painter and the Hacker, which criticized modern education and explained why bookworms are often unpopular. At that time, I was in eighth grade, didn't understand the point of textbook knowledge, and was going through teenage rebellion. I had also read many stories—like Bill Gates dropping out to start a business in his garage—not to mention domestic security conference promos that glorified dropouts who achieved success.

I thought if I didn't start learning these "hacker" skills immediately, I'd miss my chance. So I attempted to drop out—by refusing to do my winter homework.

When my deskmate heard about this, he suggested I do something bad to get myself expelled. But I had neither the malice nor the courage.

When my homeroom teacher called me to her office, I didn't lay out my plan as I had imagined. Instead, I just cried.

My teacher told me the story of "Shang Zhongyong" (a prodigy who lost his talent due to lack of education), but that didn't change my mind.

It wasn't until I watched an American TV show—Scorpion—about a group of genius hackers using computer science, physics, chemistry, and psychology to solve problems, that I realized knowing so many different subjects was way cooler than just being a computer hacker.

I figured I could never learn all that on my own, so I'd better stay in school and learn from teachers.

Reconciliation Is Not a Betrayal of the Past Brother Sun believes that reconciliation is a way to consolidate the gains of rebellion. He was rebellious in his sophomore year of high school, didn't want to take the college entrance exam, and had poor grades. But after entering a state of reconciliation and putting in tremendous effort, he eventually got into Peking University.