The Startling Block: Tales from Ancient Scrolls

A single startling block tells all the strange tales of the marketplace. Focusing on 'San Yan Er Pai', it tells no tales of gods or demons, only of mortal men and women. The oil seller wins the flower queen, Du Shiniang angrily sinks the treasure chest, the lucky man strikes it rich by chance, and a joke about fifteen strings of cash leads to disaster. Each chapter is a complete story, each one a slice of worldly affairs. No fabrications, no dramatizations—only the original text, dissecting the good and evil of the human heart. The joys and sorrows of the marketplace are, in the end, a portrait of all beings.