Don't Let Time Kill You

He is highly inconspicuous. Born in an ordinary family, he lived a regular life as his peers--going to school, studying, playing, and growing up day by day in plain times. If you want to find anything special about him, it is his obsession with history. In his primary school, when the other boys were running around the streets holding transformers and simulation pistols, he was alone squatting in the dim light of the kitchen to read one thick book of history after another voraciously.

Time flies and how fleeting it is. After the college entrance examination, he entered an ordinary university. University life was not as colorful as he imagined--a lot of spare time and the uncertain future made these “children of fortune” helpless, not knowing how to live. As a result, most people spent their time in love and online games, muddling along. But he was an alternative, never falling in love, playing games, or strolling along the streets with classmates. As long as he had time, he would plunge into the history books, never getting tired of it.
　　
Time passed quickly. Four years of college life soon ended, and he was successfully admitted to the civil service, and began the boring life from day to day, year after year.

His office colleagues chose to pass the time reading the newspaper and chatting once they had time. However, in the eyes of all he, an introvert person, was still an alternative, writing quickly in excitement to record some interesting historical stories when there was no work. Everyone laughed at him in private, and then went on their aimless conversation, loosing their imagination.
　
After work, he had few recreational activities. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t, but he really hated those meaningless entertainments of eating and drinking. He was more willing to shut himself in the narrow room, immersed in the history of the past where flashed with knives and swords, and regarded honour and riches as floating clouds. He always felt that his life could not be spent in such frivolous hours, and one day he was determined to write a book. Over the next few days, he began to interpret an ancient history in his own language. However, the great loneliness also let him suffocate, and sometimes, he stopped writing, and rode a bike to stroll around at a night market, buying nothing, just because he was too lonely, he just wanted to dispel loneliness in his heart in the crowd.

In this way, he completed in his on-and-off spare time a network novel of hundreds of thousands of words—“What Happened in Ming Dynasty”, which became popular quickly in a short time. His unique view of history and rich historical knowledge, and the playful ridicule language caused a great sensation in the readers, and publishers were scrambling to sign contracts with him. The small civil servant, whose net name was “Bright Moon That Year”, got popular overnight all over the country, shocking all his friends and colleagues who stayed together morning and night with him.
　　
When it came to his success, he laughed and said,"I work harder than those more talented; I am more talented than those who work harder; those people who are talented and work harder than me can not endure like me. While they are killing time, I keep on trying."

Now, his classmates and colleagues are still unknown, and he has been a great success, the mystery of which makes people ponder.
　　
Killing time is just another way of saying that time kills you. People with high aspirations will cultivate their dreams in plain, trivial times, seize the time to enrich themselves, and create opportunities. In the end, they will reap success when others lament that life is too dull. Don't let the idle time kill you. If you seize the time, you will surely succeed.

Translator: @bring