
A young orphan from the south, raised in hardship after the loss of both parents, sets out on a desperate journey to find the distant uncle he has heard of in Suzhou. With nothing but a bamboo basket and his own resolve, he braves famine, sleepless nights and the sting of poverty, eventually reaching the city only to discover his uncle’s household ravaged by famine and debt. Determined to survive, he buys a tiny plot of land, buries a modest treasure there, and lives as a beggar, learning to sing folk songs for his meager sustenance.
Soon, a chance encounter with a mysterious maid brings a concealed bundle of gold, jade and silk, sparking a web of secret letters, promises and desperate bargains. The young man’s resourcefulness and quiet intelligence draw the attention of local officials, fortune‑tellers and rival families, setting his life on a precarious path between hope and danger. Listeners will be drawn into his struggle for dignity, the fragile bonds he forms, and the lingering question of whether his humble perseverance can finally secure a future beyond the shadows of his past.
Language
zh
Duration
~2 hours (168K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2008-04-22
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects
b. 1832
A restless, many-sided writer from late Qing China, he turned hardship, travel, and close observation into eerie, vivid fiction. Best known for Yeyu Qiudeng Lu (Records by the Autumn Lamp on Rainy Nights), he wrote stories that mix the strange with sharp glimpses of real life.
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