Sorrow of Returning from a Campaign

冯玉奇Nov 2025

2.7

Word count: 300K words
Chapters: 31

Summary

Opening with the outbreak of the "August 13" hostilities, it depicts the protagonist's tragic experiences amid war. With fighting raging, the protagonist is forced to leave home and set out on a journey, struggling to survive under a hail of bullets, witnessing the cruelty of war as relatives and friends die one after another beside him, and himself enduring hardships until he is physically and mentally exhausted. At last victory comes, and the protagonist sets out on the road home, full of hope for reunion with family and rebuilding life. Yet his hometown is already unrecognizable: the former home is rubble, and everything has changed. Those who did evil during the war keep making trouble on the way home, and the protagonist becomes entangled in various conflicts again. Back in his hometown, he must not only face rebuilding his life but also deal with hatred and conflicts left over from the war. In pain and struggle, his life is completely rewritten by war, and he tastes all the joys and sorrows of the world.

Editor's review

Starting from the "August 13" hostilities, Resentment of the Journey Home places personal fate under the dual perspective of war and homecoming. The work's value lies not in grand battle scenes but in its persistent questioning of "after returning home": victory does not equal reunion, and on the ruins there remain hatred, entanglements, and the hard problem of rebuilding life. The protagonist's journey—from displacement to a hard struggle for survival, to watching relatives and friends die, to setting out for home physically and mentally exhausted only to find his hometown unrecognizable—creates the book's most powerful emotional fulcrum. Feng Yuqi's narration leans toward the characters' experiences and emotional twists, with the coherence of old-school popular fiction in its pacing, making it suitable for continuous reading in quiet hours. Readers may note the contrast between the details of ordinary people's survival amid war and the handling of postwar conflicts, and feel how war rewrites a person's life course. For readers interested in Republican-era subjects, narratives of the wartime rear, and the theme of homecoming, this book offers a vivid point of entry.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like war-themed novels set in the Republican era
Readers concerned with the fate of ordinary people in war and the theme of homecoming
Readers who want to understand the narrative style of old-school popular fiction
Those who need reading material on the wartime rear and postwar reconstruction

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer light, sweet, or comedic stories
Readers expecting military tactics and panoramic battle descriptions
Readers sensitive to sorrowful plots and characters' hardships

Reading tips

Read the opening war section first, noting why the protagonist leaves home, then compare with his situation after returning.
Keep pen and paper while reading to record deaths of relatives and friends and conflict events, making it easier to sort out relationships and emotional threads.
Slow down when you reach the homecoming section, focusing on how the threads of rebuilding from ruins and handling hatred intertwine.
If the emotional burden feels heavy, read chapter by chapter, reviewing the previous events during breaks before continuing.

版权信息
征
自序
第一回
第二回
第三回
第四回
第五回
第六回
第七回
第八回
归
序
第一回
第二回
第三回
第四回
第五回
第六回
第七回
第八回
恨
第一回
第二回
第三回
第四回
第五回
第六回
第七回
第八回
编后有感

FAQ

Does this book mainly depict battle scenes or life after returning home?

From the material, the work opens with the outbreak of the "August 13" hostilities; the first half tells of the protagonist's displacement, hard struggle for survival, and the deaths of relatives and friends, while the second half focuses on returning home after victory, facing reconstruction from ruins, and dealing with hatred and conflicts left by the war. Battle scenes are not the only focus; the situation after homecoming and the handling of conflicts are equally central.

Can I understand it without knowing Republican-era history?

Yes. The work is driven by the characters' experiences and emotional twists and does not rely on complex historical knowledge. Readers need only know that the story begins with the "August 13" hostilities and that the protagonist leaves home because of the war to follow the plot. A little familiarity with the social conditions of the Republican period will make it easier to feel the sense of everything having changed after his return.

Is the ending a reunion or a tragedy?

The material shows that the protagonist lives to see victory and sets out for home, but his hometown is in ruins, those who did evil are still making trouble, and he must face rebuilding his life and the hatred and conflicts left by the war. The overall tone leans toward sorrow and struggle rather than a simple reunion; the exact ending should be judged by the text itself.

Comments

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About the author

冯玉奇 Author

Feng Yuqi was a writer of popular fiction in the Republican era. Public information about him is limited: neither his dates of birth and death nor his native place are clearly recorded. Yet the 172 works held in our collection attest to the sheer volume of his output. His writing is driven by plot, and his subjects range across wuxia, modern romance, social fiction, and time-travel and alternate-world fiction. Representative works include Chivalrous Five-Flower Chart, Wen Suchen, National Soul: Blood and Flowers, The Understanding Flower, Sea of Blood and Flowers of Love: Favors and Grudges, Soul Broken at the Slanting Sun: The Strange Man of the Desert Island, and Remnant Light on Green Waves. Most of these appeared in Republican-era popular-literature journals and as standalone volumes. His language is plain and accessible and his narrative pace brisk; he excels at interweaving love and hatred, gratitude and grievance, and chivalrous adventure, while also depicting the ways of the world. His work had a certain influence among urban readers of the time. Today his writings are collected in the Feng Yuqi volume of the Republican Popular Fiction Collection, offering a useful sample for studying the generic ecology of Republican-era popular literature.