In 231 BC, the eleventh year of King Jingmin of Wei, a poor peddler was born.
In 220 BC, the twenty-seventh year of King Zheng of Qin, it had been more than two years since the First Emperor unified the realm. The eleven-year-old peddler’s life was still difficult, yet warm. He traveled from place to place with his parents, trading goods. By chance, he came into possession of some bamboo slips and began to learn to read, gaining a way to survive in those turbulent times.
There are no power fantasies here, only longing for home and the struggles of hardworking traveling merchants trying to survive in a chaotic age.
