The Mountain's Rock

At forty-five, he was kicked out of the company he had founded, with only two hundred yuan in his pocket. He understood feng shui, but he understood people even better. Imperial Gold and Yellow Hemp Stone were the same kind of stone, just with different names and prices several times apart. People were the same. He renamed unwanted gray sandstone "Backing Stone" and sold out; he turned river sand with excessive mud content into "Dragon Horse Sand" and monopolized the entire river. His woman said he conquered others to affirm his own worth. His rivals said his mind-reading was quicker than a blade. But only he knew: Every conquest, rescue, and act of possession was an endless repetition of the same gesture: He wanted to return to that construction site twenty years ago and push aside the scaffolding as it fell.