How Many Times Have We Wandered the Mortal World?

Through the four lives of a small-time construction contractor (contractor, dog, pig, and ox), this story portrays the grinding hardship of ordinary people at the bottom of modern society. It is not that their luck is bad, but that they are pushed along by the times, their desires, and human obligations. Each species in each life corresponds to the obsessions and fate of the life before it: the dog's lowly existence reflects once having to curry favor with others, the pig's struggle to survive reflects once scheming to make ends meet, and the ox's endless toil reflects once working oneself to the bone. The story builds layer by layer, shedding bitterness and facing the true self.

Awakening from a vegetative state in the fifth life is a form of redemption. It is not the end of reincarnation, but the true beginning of living: letting go of obsessions, seeing the suffering of the world and accepting its warmth, breaking free from the belief that toil is the same as living, and showing that the essence of life is to experience and understand, and above all, to cherish and respond to the good things in life.