Siheyuan: Four Gates and Eight Windows, A Family Secret

Deep in Beijing's Ju'er Hutong, a fully intact siheyuan with four courtyards and three lanes conceals eight lattice windows carved with different patterns. On every full-moon night, their shadows form a mysterious design on the courtyard's blue bricks, pointing to an account book from a late Qing pawnshop buried in the old house's cellar. This ancient ledger, recording the secret accounts of the Qing imperial clan's smuggling of national treasures, is drawing four generations of the Gu family into a battle over inheritance as the rumble of bulldozers heralds the old city's redevelopment.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.