Others at the market always asked him, “Why would you be a fishmonger when you have achieved so highly academically?”

His father, who gambled away everything they had, said instead, “Why study so much when you can be a fishmonger?”

2019 was the year when LIM Kai-lun washed off the fish scales on his hands to start writing. He was rewarded with all the major literary awards in the following year. His stories depict the fish market illuminated by hundreds of lights in the early morning, the competitive auction between fishmongers, hidden rules and jargons of the trade, the ways of people and code of conducts in the business world of markets:

Tsuân-á, who used to work for Wen-mei, quit his job and turn into a direct competitor of his old boss — a “puē-kut-á” (traitor). His way of establishing the business in the beginning was price beating against his old boss. Gradually they came to a tacit agreement, maintaining a fine line for each other’s business. At the back of a great woman fishmonger, must be a weak man. A-ngôo of Women Fish Stall had a fearsome reputation at auctions. Her staffs, an army of women who provide the best service in recommendation and butchering in the market, carried stories of their own… This is Lin Kai-Lun’s debut book, a dissection of fishmonering and self.

‍