Once upon a time, the moon was lonely.
There was no Chang’e in the Moon Palace, no osmanthus tree. Those were all lies.
This so-called Moon Palace was nothing more than a run-down little hut, about nine li across.
Huang Bao’er grumbled every day about the miserable job the Celestial Venerable had given him.
He had guarded the place for a hundred years.
Then one day, someone came running up to the Moon Palace, handed Huang Bao’er a copper coin, and told him it was a rare treasure found nowhere else in heaven or on earth. If he agreed to go down to the mortal realm and leave this decrepit Moon Palace to him, the coin would be his.
Overjoyed, Huang Bao’er took the coin and leaped down to the mortal realm.
He would drink fine wine, sample every delicacy, and revel in luxury.
He never expected that a single skewer of candied hawthorns would cost him his entire coin. What was he supposed to do now? Huang Bao’er had been swindled, and for the first time in his life, he shed tears.
No money, no experience, no magic. How was he supposed to survive in the mortal world?
Huang Bao’er worked as a servant, but his employer was arrested and the household seized. He tried his hand at street performance, but someone broke his leg.
After working diligently, Huang Bao’er finally found a way to recover some of his magic. But then he accidentally chanted the wrong spell and switched bodies with a donkey at a mill. He nearly got sold to be made into donkey-meat flatbread.
By the time they switched back, the donkey was old, and so was he.
Heavens, what on earth does it take to get back to my little Moon Palace?
Theme: Stay true to your original aspirations, and you’ll reach your destination.
