The Puzzles I Sold Became Reality in the Great Tang

Chen Yan set up a small stall in Chang’an’s West Market, lining a wooden rack with palm-sized wooden boxes. They had no pictures, only a label: “Puzzle Blind Boxes, ten coins each.”

At first, business was slow. Then he gave a blind box to a child, who finished the puzzle and somehow produced a miniature pedal-powered tricycle. Everyone was astonished.

Word spread, and more people began buying them. One person assembled a hundred cases of Erguotou liquor, another got a genuine leather sofa. One miracle after another unfolded.

People soon discovered that the blind boxes contained not only miracles that could become real, but also puzzles capable of driving them to despair. And the harder the puzzle, the more astonishing the miracle it produced. Even with bloodshot eyes and aching hands, people couldn’t resist battling the pieces to the bitter end.