我是一名炼金术士。我的工作，是看清炼金的本相。

铜钱的本相，是圆和方。圆，是出去还能回来；方，是赚多少、留多少，心里有数。绳的本相，是连接。把散着的串起来，把断着的接起来。线，是绳的影子，是它安静时候的样子。 炼金术士的工作，就是把这些本相，一点一点画出来。

画圆的时候，我在想：钱是不是也该这样？走得远，还能回得来。画方的时候，我在想：手里的线，该画在哪里收住。画绳的时候，我在想：哪些东西该串在一起，哪些该留着。

于是，圆画了无数个，方画了无数个，绳画了无数条。画到后来，它们自己会说话。圆告诉我：别怕流出去。方告诉我：别越过那条线。绳告诉我：你连着的，终会连起来。

我是个转译者。我只是一个把已经存在的东西，一笔一笔请出来的人。

今天，把这些年请出来的东西，放在这里。黑白，线稿，不设颜色。颜色是后来的事，线本身就是颜色。

你看到的，是一个炼金术士的日常。也是他的“心绳”——那根连接财富与内心的线。

I am an alchemist. Not the kind that refines gold—I refine meaning.

My materials are simple: a copper coin, a piece of string. The coin is round, with a square hole at its center. The string is soft—thread it through, tie a knot, and you can lift it. An alchemist’s work is to take the most ordinary things and refine them back to their true form.

The true form of the coin is circle and square. Circle is heaven, is circulation; square is earth, is measure. The true form of the string is connection—to string together what is scattered, to join what is broken. I have spent years refining just these two things.

Drawing circles, drawing squares, drawing holes, drawing string. Stroke by stroke, as if through fire and quenching water. Burn away the excess; leave only the essence. After enough refining, the circle is no longer just a circle—it becomes flow. The square is no longer just a square—it becomes measure. The string is no longer just a string—it becomes intention.

A friend once asked me, “What are these things you’re drawing?” I said, “The shape of wealth.” Not the shape of gold or silver—but the shape of wealth when it is alive: flowing when it should flow, stopping when it should stop, stringing together when it should be strung.

Today, I’m putting here what I’ve refined over these many months. Line drawings, black and white, no color. Color comes later—the lines themselves are color enough.

What you see is my Heartstring—the thread within an alchemist that connects wealth to the inner self.