The summer of 2026 was not an easy time.
2026年的夏天，不是一个轻松的季节。
The cicadas were loud outside the window. The air conditioner hummed. But Xiao Li could not focus. He was sitting in his small rented apartment in Shanghai, staring at his phone. The news was full of war. The headlines were loud. The comments were angry. Everywhere he looked, the world seemed to be falling apart.
窗外的蝉鸣声很大。空调嗡嗡地响着。但小李无法集中注意力。他坐在上海那间小小的出租公寓里，盯着手机。新闻里全是战争。标题很响亮。评论很愤怒。他目光所及之处，世界似乎正在分崩离析。
He was twenty-eight years old. He had a good job at a tech company. He was paid well. But he felt lost. He felt like the ground was shifting under his feet. He could not sleep well. He could not stop checking the news. Every time his phone buzzed, his heart raced.
他二十八岁。在一家科技公司有一份不错的工作。收入不错。但他感到迷茫。他感觉脚下的地正在晃动。他睡不好。他不停地刷新闻。手机一响，心就狂跳。
"Xiao Li, you look exhausted," his colleague said one afternoon.
"小李，你看起来好累，"一天下午他的同事说。
"I haven't been sleeping," he said. "The world is too much right now. Every day there is something new. The war in Ukraine. The Middle East. The trade war. AI taking people's jobs. What is happening to the world? Where is this all going?"
"我没睡好，"他说，"现在这个世界太疯狂了。每天都有新事。乌克兰战争。中东。贸易战。AI抢人饭碗。这个世界怎么了？这一切会走向哪里？"
His colleague shrugged. "I don't know. I think about it too. But what can we do? We just have to keep working. Keep going."
他的同事耸了耸肩。"我不知道。我也在想。但我们能做什么？我们只能继续工作。继续往前走。"
That night, Xiao Li scrolled through his social media feed. Everyone was anxious. Some talked about moving abroad. Some talked about "lying flat." Some talked about giving up on the future. The comments were full of fear and doubt.
那天晚上，小李刷着社交媒体。每个人都很焦虑。有人在谈论出国。有人在谈论"躺平"。有人在谈论放弃未来。评论区充满了恐惧和怀疑。
Then he saw something different. A video of a talk between two scholars. One of them was Wang Wen. The title was: "China's New Strategic Opportunity: The Great Power Compound Interest and Individual Effort."
然后他看到了不一样的东西。两个学者对话的视频。其中一人是王文。标题是："中国的新战略机遇：大国复利叠加个人奋斗。"
He clicked on it. He was skeptical. He had heard too many optimistic speeches that turned out to be empty. But something in the speaker's voice made him listen.
他点击了它。他持怀疑态度。他听过太多最后证明是空话的乐观演讲。但主讲人声音里的某种东西让他听了下去。
"Everyone is anxious now," Wang Wen said in the video. "And that anxiety is normal. It is a happy anxiety. A growing anxiety. We are anxious because we are growing. Because we have become bigger and stronger. We want to go out and see the world. We want to invest abroad. We want to try new things. That is the anxiety of growth. Not the anxiety of decline."
"现在每个人都很焦虑，"王文在视频里说，"那种焦虑是正常的。是幸福的焦虑。是成长的焦虑。我们焦虑是因为我们在成长。因为我们变得更大更强了。我们想走出去看世界。我们想去海外投资。我们想尝试新事物。那是成长的焦虑。不是衰退的焦虑。"
Xiao Li paused the video. He thought about what Wang Wen had said. He had been treating his anxiety as something bad. Something that meant the world was ending. But what if it was something else? What if it was just growing pains?
小李暂停了视频。他想着王文说的话。他一直把自己的焦虑看作坏事。看作世界末日来了的信号。但如果它是别的什么呢？如果它只是成长的烦恼呢？
He kept watching.
他继续看了下去。
