小金老師,

Hi, how are you? You probably get hundreds of e-mails like this every day so I am not going to be surprised if you don’t read this one. This is just a letter from a reader who was touched by your novel. My name is Kevin. I am a 19 year old college student in California. I live in Los Angeles. Sorry that I am writing in English, my Chinese typing skill is very bad and slow, so I have decided to write you this letter in English. If you don’t want to read English, that’s ok, too. Just tell me and I will write you a letter in Chinese.

I read your novel 戀戀小金門 on the internet. I spent three weeks reading all three parts plus the ending. I am not going to question how much of your story is 100% real because I think that is pointless. For the three weeks I was reading your novel, my emotions went high and low with the story of your novel. Sometimes I
hated 小金 for treating you like dirt but sometimes I sympathized with 小金 because he holds so much pressure and love given by you, his teacher!

When I was reading the last chapter of part 3, the moment I finished reading this sentence "「那．．再見了，老師！」這是我記憶中最後一次聽見小金門的聲音。"my heart was broken into a thousand pieces. I imagined that the anger and pain you felt must be greater than anything in the world. I watch a lot of movies and read a lot of books but I rarely sympathize with a character as much I did with you! Your writing made me feels as if I know you and your students by person. Your description and narrating techniques are so natural and lively I feel like I am one of your friends listening to you telling a story in front of me.

Your novel proved it is true that great writing comes when the author is instress or has no other outlet for his emotions. Although I am only 19 years old, I could feel your every desire and every thought in the novel. It is really scary that your novel has this kind of power to let its readers feel what you felt when each event happened.

In conclusion, I just want to thank you for letting me share a year of your life, a year of teaching, a year of love and hate, a year of apologies and excuses, a year of heartbreak... a year with 小金. I believe most of your readers have said the same thing to you and this is just another fan mail to you, but to me, this is

a letter that shows my admiration and respect to one of my most beloved authors,小金老師.I don’t know if you will ever reply or even read this e-mail, but if you do, please take a minute of your time to reply this e-mail. I wish to know you in person, not because I want the story to continue, but because after reading yournovel, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time and that makes me want to know the real you, that passionate teacher of 小金門.If you have read it to this point, I want to say sorry for writing such a long letter. If I don’t hear from you, I wish that you find a person who truly loves you and cares for you. If I do hear from you, I will talk to you later.

Thank you for everything.

Best wishes

Kevin