Others climb the mountain to pay their respects. I climb over it!
A poor boy who grew up in the Jiuhua Mountain scenic area refuses to surrender to fate, even as it twists and grinds him down. In his clumsy but stubborn way, he struggles against life.
This novel is about more than starting a business. It follows how one person makes choice after choice and redefines himself time and again under the weight of poverty, insecurity, unrequited love, workplace dehumanization, marriage, raising children, conflicts with business partners, and market collapse.
Jiuhua Mountain is a famous Buddhist mountain, visited by tens of millions of tourists every year to burn incense, pray to Buddha, draw fortune sticks, and seek answers. The protagonist grew up in this environment, familiar with all kinds of “mystical charlatanry”: masters telling fortunes, fortune sticks supposedly determining one’s luck, and the mixture of devotion and calculation before donation boxes. After seeing so much of it, he developed an stubborn belief deep in his bones: he doesn’t believe in fate, only in himself. It isn’t rebellion; it’s clarity forged by reality.
