The publication of Horses and Foot Soldiers earned Chang the NT $ 400,000 he needed to buy his apartment and escape the illegal structure in which he'd been living in Beitou. But Chang wasn't born to be an author; he was born to suffer. "This word 'suffering' ... it wasn't until I was older, 40 or so, that I really understood it.
就因為出版了《代馬輸卒手記》，張拓蕪當年才得以用新台幣 40 萬元買下這一層公寓，脫離北投的違章建築生活，可他不是生來當作家，而是生來受苦的。