It’s the weekend again — a moment where I can set aside all the work, the metrics, and the data for a while.

Unlike usual, today I don’t want to talk about anything related to “making money.” I just want to talk about something slow, but deeply meaningful to me — reading.

A few days ago, a friend asked me: “You’re busy every single day — do you still have time to read? And what do you read?”

I said: “I do read, not a lot, but I keep at it. Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly working my way through the Records of the Grand Historian and the Four Books.”

He was surprised: “You read those ‘old relics’? What for? Isn’t everyone reading those practical books about business models and personal growth these days?”

I smiled and gave him a very personal reason: “For lifelong growth — and to set an example for my son.”

A Practice Begun in the Name of “Cheng”

My son’s name is “Chengcheng,” taken from a line in the Doctrine of the Mean: “Utmost sincerity is like the divine.” I hope he grows up to be a person of genuine sincerity and steadfast character. And I know that kind of quality can’t be instilled through slogans — it needs deep cultural grounding and the power of example.

So, I made a pact with him, a long time in advance.

When Chengcheng grows up — when he picks up a history book and asks me, “Dad, what really happened at the Hongmen Banquet?” or points at the Analects and asks, “What does ‘to know what you know and to know what you don’t know — that is wisdom’ mean?” — I don’t want to brush him off with “just Google it yourself.”

I want to sit beside him like a friend and slowly tell him the stories I’ve read, my understanding of them — the ambitions and frustrations of the heroes in those books, the wisdom and reflections of the sages.

For me, this is a practice begun in the name of “Cheng.” For the weight of that name, and so that one day I can speak to him about the meaning of sincerity with full confidence, I have to walk into these classics myself first, and experience the process of “making the will sincere and the mind upright” firsthand.

Example speaks louder than words. I want Chengcheng to grow up seeing a father who loves reading and keeps growing — not a “phone addict” lost in his screen all day. I want him to see with his own eyes that beyond short videos and video games, there’s a deeper, more lasting joy hiding in those yellowed pages.

Reading Is Lifelong Growth — and Staying Steady in the Fog

Of course, reading gives me far more than that. It is, in itself, the best form of lifelong growth.

These years with the Records of the Grand Historian, the biggest feeling is “clarity.” You realize there’s truly nothing new under the sun. The power plays, the scheming, the dilemmas and choices we face today in the workplace and the marketplace — Sima Qian, with his calm yet deeply felt pen, wrote it all out in vivid detail more than two thousand years ago.

When you see Xiang Yu’s stubborn arrogance and Liu Bang’s knack for using talent, when you read about Han Xin enduring humiliation to achieve greatness and Xiao He’s far-sighted strategizing — your understanding of human nature gains a whole new dimension. Looking back at the people and events around us, many of the problems that make you agonize, rage, or despair suddenly find their historical counterparts, and slowly, you let them go.

Reading the Four Books, meanwhile, is like building a stable “core” inside yourself.

From the Analects, you learn “benevolence” and “propriety” — how to get along with the world, with others, and with yourself. From Mencius, you cultivate “the vast, flowing qi,” so that when faced with temptation and pressure, you have a little more resolve and integrity. From the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, you cultivate “sincerity of will and uprightness of mind,” understanding that everything is rooted in your own cultivation.

This wisdom can’t be directly converted into income, and it can’t help you write a viral copy. But it seeps into your words and actions like water, keeping you clear-headed in chaos and steady as you walk through fog.

The Best Legacy Is the Spiritual Wealth I Accumulate for Him

Parents of our generation always want to give their children the best. We work hard to provide better material conditions and better educational resources.

But I’m increasingly convinced that the best gift for a child is a thick cultural foundation laid for their life — and the spiritual companionship and guidance of their parents.

I won’t claim I do it perfectly, but I’m willing to work at it. I’m willing to spend a little time each day stepping away from the noise of reality, reading those classics, and having conversations with the ancients.

I believe that every page I turn and every question I ponder today becomes a part of my life. And one day in the future, they’ll pass to Chengcheng through my words and my company — becoming a light in his inner world, an inexhaustible spiritual inheritance.

That, perhaps, is the simplest and truest meaning of why I keep reading.