Ruining, the Ninth Master of the illustrious Rui family, loses everything overnight, tumbling from the heights of privilege into the mire.
The powerful men who once called him brother turn against him without a second thought. His most beloved concubine runs off with another man, taking the last of his possessions.
Kneeling in the snow to pick through scraps, he unexpectedly comes across a fragmentary Western mechanical blueprint.
After ten years in hiding, the Ninth Master transforms into an industrial magnate and returns to Beiping with the most advanced machines.
Those who once abandoned and trampled him now bow and scrape in his factories.
Looking at his old acquaintances kneeling before him, he rolls his prayer beads between his fingers. “Gentlemen, isn’t the roar of these machines sweeter than the gongs and drums at the theater back then?”
Suddenly, the crisp click of high heels sounds outside. The woman who once betrayed him has returned, now an overseas-trained expert...
My new work is here! You’re welcome to read it on Tomato Novel. I hope you enjoy it. Your support motivates me to write, and I’ll do my best to tell every story well!
