For decades, as his neighbor, I watched Huang Gaoshang become a demon, step by step. The whole process turned the Buddhist doctrine of karmic retribution, environmental experts' theories about the environment, health gurus' advice on wellness, and countless other philosophical and scientific claims into so much nonsense. For years, Huang Gaoshang has rarely cooked a proper meal, and one full meal can last him three days. The water he drinks is runoff from rain that washes the streets and alleys of Huangjiaji, carrying cat droppings and dog urine into a pond. He lives amid the curses of peddlers, neighbors, and even his own wife and children from all four corners of the countryside. At last, he has made them see that Heaven is a fool. "Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil" is just another lie. This lowborn nobody, like the unscrupulous people high in power, is living proof of the saying, "Good people die young, while bad people live a thousand years." They seem to thrive the more they are cursed, clinging to life just the same, as if neither Heaven nor Earth will claim them.
