In the tenth year of the Republic, Lu Zhongheng, the shipping king of the Chuan River, is framed and loses everything. His seventeen-year-old daughter, Lu Zhiheng, cuts off her long hair, takes the name “Lu Zhen,” and starts at the very bottom as a towpath hauler.
Hauling boats upstream and risking her life among hidden reefs, she uses the knowledge of river conditions she learned from her father and her extraordinary courage to carve out a place for herself in a man’s world. From one battered steam launch to a fleet of eight ships, she rises from the lowest rung of the docks and reclaims the shipping empire that belongs to the Lu family.
But the cargo in her hold is not all that she carries. It also contains the power to change the times. Guided by Lu Jinglan, an underground courier, she uncovers the secret her father protected in life: a lifeline along the river that carries the flame of revolution.
This is a legendary tale of revenge, growth, and hard choices. When personal vendettas collide with the survival of the nation, one woman uses her own backbone to uphold not only her family’s banner, but also the dignity of the Chinese people on the Yangtze.
The river flows east. Those who struggle against the current survive.
