[Period setting + mountain hunting + famine + golden finger + farming + face-slapping + no saintly do-gooder]
Lin Qiusheng, a restorer of ancient books, is repairing the Qing Dynasty map "Mulan Hunting Grounds" when the edge of the paper cuts his hand. His blood seeps into the map. When he opens his eyes again, he has become an orphan who starved to death on a kang in Kaoshan Village, in the Great Northern Wilderness in 1960.
The shack is drafty, and all he has in his stomach is scraps of tree bark. A widow next door brings him half a bowl of corn porridge, so watery he can see his reflection in it.
Fortunately, a mountain-hunting map has appeared in his mind: red dots mark animals, green dots mark medicinal herbs, and gold dots mark treasures.
While others are starving and chewing clay, he uses a single rope to catch seven wild rabbits, saving half the village.
When a local official secretly hoards relief grain, he follows a rat's nest to a cellar and leads people there to seize the stolen goods on the spot.
A bully from a neighboring village follows him to steal his hunting grounds. Lin lures him into a wolf den, and the man loses his gun and dog before crawling home in tears.
When he opens the hundred-mile map, he finds a century-old ginseng deep in the mountains. He trades it for enough food to feed the whole team through winter, and the villagers carry him around the village in celebration.
Some say he's lucky. Others say he's clever.
Lin Qiusheng never falls out with anyone to their face. He simply keeps a careful account of every debt: who gave him a mouthful of porridge, and who spat in his bowl.
"No rush. It's all marked on the map."
