El Mandarín

"El Mandarín" by Eça de Queirós is a novella published in 1880. When Lisbon clerk Teodoro reads about a wealthy Chinese mandarin in an old book, he faces a terrible temptation: ring a bell, and the distant stranger dies—leaving Teodoro his fortune. After succumbing, Teodoro inherits vast wealth but finds himself consumed by guilt. His journey to China seeking redemption leads to unexpected dangers and moral complications that test whether his crime can ever be undone. (This is an automatically generated summary.)