Koala Reads

"Shanghai. Rain slanted across the city. In the Chi family ancestral home, the clan shrine was dim and quiet."

"Candles threw a faint glow over the red-brown sandalwood floor. A young man knelt on a meditation cushion, his posture straight as bamboo."

"The carved main doors stood open behind him; thin threads of rain drifted into the covered hall. A trusted retainer of Chi Songzhuang, the patriarch, kept watch at the doorway."