The City Without Sorrow

On the long street leading to the city gate, I still remember the boy in white, his robes fluttering before the gates that year.

"Fate begins in calamity, and calamity begins in fate. Fate gives rise to calamity, and calamity gives birth to fate."

I collected one fortune stick after another and filled a rosewood cabinet with them, but I still couldn't fathom their meaning.

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