I Went Back to Daqing to Do Auditing

Kuang Chaoman was originally a poor farm boy from Yueqing, Wenzhou, dependent on his paralyzed father and hard-working mother. He killed pigs and sold meat during the day, and studied hard at night. His filial piety and diligence moved the passing magistrate Li Benying, who promoted him to become a scholar. This was the first turning point in his fate. After his father's death, he lived in Hangzhou and got acquainted with a group of "celebrities" and literary merchants. He began to help people review eight-part essay anthologies, and learned how to cater to the market and how to package himself. He gradually discovered that in this circle, knowledge is fake, reputation is real; character is fake, but interests are real. His degeneration was step-by-step: first he stopped his wife and then remarried, clinging to the powerful in the capital; then he betrayed his mentor and confounded right and wrong in the face of interests; and finally he became a chameleon who was pursuing fame and fortune. Wu Jingzi writes about him with great compassion - he is not a born evil person, but a smart man who was swallowed up by the "successful learning" of that era. The accountant and proofreader of "Wenhailou" bookstore in Hangzhou is named Lin Guanchao. The owner of the bookstore was none other than Ma Chunshang (Mr. Ma Er), who specialized in teaching and assisting in imperial examinations. When Kuang Chaoren stayed at the bookstore, Lin Zhou was responsible for calculating his wages and proofreading the accounts of selected articles. Guanchao takes you to uncover Kuang Chaoren's depraved account book in "The Scholars".