Siheyuan: Cutting Ties from the Start, Over Every Little Thing

Li Ze is reborn in a Beijing courtyard in 1953. From the start, he has to deal with an unreliable father who actually wants to send his 17-year-old son to work at a coffin shop as the live-in son-in-law of a 30-year-old widow. Li Ze gives his father a sound beating on the spot, then separates from the family and cuts ties with him. Relying on his own abilities, he settles down in the courtyard, though he inevitably gets caught up in all kinds of petty squabbles with its residents.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.