Gold Panning in the Mortal World

Zhou Dajiang had never had much luck in his life.

He lost his job, his severance pay fell through, his fast-food restaurant went under, and his house was never finished. At thirty-seven, with nothing to show for himself, he slunk back to his hometown. His only fond memory was panning for gold in the river with his uncle when he was a child. His uncle had said it wasn’t worth the effort, but Zhou Dajiang refused to believe him.

In a dream, he found a gold mine at the river’s source. When he woke, he climbed into a cave and started hacking away with a pickaxe. He passed out from lack of oxygen and nearly died. His childhood friend dragged him out and slapped him a few times. “You can’t even tell gold from quartz. What are you doing trying to pan for it?”

He came around. He gave up on gold and started raising chickens with his friend. They began with five hundred chicks, worked from dawn to dusk, and three years later were selling free-range chickens in Shenzhen. They had opened eight chain restaurants.

That autumn, his aunt found his uncle’s effects: a hand-drawn map and a stone marked with golden veins. In a notebook, he found a single line: “There’s gold at the river’s source, but it must not be taken. If you take it, the river will die.”

Following in his uncle’s footsteps, he found the river’s source, and a secret that had been hidden for half a lifetime.

It turned out that real gold wasn’t in the river, but in the soil. It was small, but it had always been shining.

This book tells the story of an ordinary man getting back on his feet after losing his job. It touches on real-life hardships such as unemployment, bankruptcy, a loved one’s serious illness, and fighting for one’s rights. If you’re going through any of these things, I hope this book gives you strength instead of adding to your burden.