Knowing Stones, One by One: The Stones Know Their People

Twelve years ago, a landslide at the foot of Jinshan in Shandong scattered the inkstone workshop. Lu Shouyan, the master carver, crawled out of the earth, but his wife, Su Wanzhen, was nowhere to be found. He kept watch over Crow Slope, lighting a lamp every autumn. Beneath that lamp lay the words he could never bring himself to say. Twelve years later, a woman with amnesia woke in a medicine shop in Qingzhou. She had forgotten everything else, but her hands still remembered a lifetime of making inkstones. A young woman raised by an old physician carried a broken stone in her arms. Three pieces of the same stone were scattered among three households. The stone could not speak. But hands remembered. Feet remembered. A bowl of hot soup remembered. A piece of stone that had been gone for twelve years returned to its place. An inkstone finally found someone to grind it. And a lamp on the slope lit the way as those who had been scattered made their way back, step by step, recognizing the stone, the craft, and their in-laws. The scent of medicine mingled with the scent of ink. Two crafts and two families came together beneath Jinshan, sharing one hearth and its smoke. (The complete novel has 81 chapters. Enjoy reading!)