I rented a rundown little house with a courtyard. In one corner lay a rotten stick nobody could throw away, and there was also a cool, aloof mutt named Dahuang.
No one expected that the stick and the dog would summon one legendary figure after another: the painting sage Wu Daozi, master carpenter Lu Ban, culinary daredevil Yi Ya, and the renowned finance minister Sang Hongyang.
Legends from across the ages gathered in my little Chengdu courtyard, setting aside their extraordinary skills to help me paint walls, redo the drainage, and renovate the place.
Whether these great men stayed or not depended entirely on the dog’s mood. And so began a hilarious slice-of-life tale of ordinary people.
