Chang had no idea he could write, but was well aware that he had no future in soldiering. Knowing that feigning illness wouldn't free him of his enlistment and that he had nowhere to desert to, he began studying on his own, working character by character through stories in discarded newspapers he picked up.
張拓蕪完全沒意識到自己能寫作，卻清楚當小兵沒前途，四海茫茫，裝病也退不了伍、要逃也沒處可逃了，便開始自修讀書，把被人丟棄的報紙揀起來一字一字的讀。