Creating the Dao

When I was born, war was raging. My father was conscripted as a laborer and died on the front lines. My mother was frail and sickly, and when she heard of his death, grief consumed her too. I endured a life of a shattered family, never knowing if I would see another day, and going hungry. My life was shrouded in a pain that seemed within reach, yet impossible to tear away. A childhood of hunger left me weaker than most, with a deathly pale complexion. Fortunately, my parents had given me a handsome face, and I was taken as a live-in son-in-law by Zhao Wanu, daughter of the wealthy merchant Zhao Baocai. It wasn't ideal, but I thought I could finally escape a life of constant uncertainty. Yet it was only the calm before I plunged into the abyss... An old book I had found years ago, so ordinary it could hardly be more so, had even lost its own title after passing through so many hands. Yet it showed me a path that truly led to myself. At last, I could live for my own sake.

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