The Striving Stone

My name is Chen Shitou. I entered the county office as a menial laborer in place of someone who had paid a tax. I thought I only had to endure the hard labor to stay alive, but I was unexpectedly swept into a shocking conspiracy involving embezzlement from river projects. A veteran clerk's advice, a colleague's sabotage, slips of paper delivered in the dead of night... In this place that devours people, all I have is a heart as hard as stone and half a bun hidden against my chest. From a speck of dust anyone could trample to a man who commands his own fate, I spent twenty whole years walking this road.