My grandfather, Zhao Yuzhang, courtesy name Zhaoxiang, was the younger master of a fabric shop during the Republic of China era, and his life was the stuff of legend.
In those years of war and chaos, he relied on the divination skills passed down through his family: he turned down exorbitant offers of gold three times, ventured alone into a bandit stronghold to save his elder brother, and fought to make his way in a foundry in the 1950s.
His treasured rosewood box had held fortunes, misfortunes, and the secrets of people's hearts. In the end, it held nothing at all, yet was filled with the integrity with which he had lived his life, answerable to Heaven and Earth: the “world within the box” he had given his life to protect.
