Golden Needles Survey the Tides, by Zhu Zhen

Golden Needle and the Pulse of Commerce

A debt of 870,000. Ninety days to pay it off. If he loses, the ancestral shop sign goes to someone else.

During Grain Rain in 1985, Hu Naisheng hung a sign reading "Zhitiantang" on a street corner in Yiwu. On opening night, a lame beggar carved one character into the doorframe: "Guard."

He dug out his grandfather's notebook and learned that it was one of five secret codes lost for fifty years by the Huchingmen trading guild: Guard, Goods, Water, Chaos, Trust. His grandfather's dying words had been: "Set the five characters right, and trust and honor will return."

Creditor Old Sun soon showed up at the door. His father had once been the trading guild's bookkeeper. When he was expelled, he clutched half a piece of porcelain, and crossed out the character "Trust" on the wall. Old Sun didn't want money. He wanted to find the character that had been crossed out.

Ninety days. Five secret codes. Three keys. An age-old business maxim lies buried at the bottom of an ancient well belonging to Huchingmen.

Hu Naisheng uses golden needles to treat people's illnesses and reads the pulse of commerce through doorframes. Every person he heals adds a stroke to a character; every canal he seals deepens a sense of righteousness. But a dye factory discharges toxic water at night, the market director is suspended, street vendors are driven away, and fish float belly-up...

When the second secret code emerges, he discovers that the character crossed out by Old Sun's father and the code left behind by his grandfather both point to the same place: a secret from fifty years ago lies buried in the ancient well.

Guard the goods, and the waters stay calm. Guard your word, and commerce stays secure.

This isn't about money. It's about trust.

Tags: Contemporary / Traditional Chinese Medicine / Business Rivalry / Period Setting / Intangible Cultural Heritage | Nine volumes, eighty-one chapters, complete