The pink ticket she obtains after invoking the omens of the deity Guan-gong becomes a talisman for this young university student who embarks on an adventure of a particular kind - to go to learn mathematics in Chinese - who is faced with administrative quibbles and problems, misunderstandings, being taught mathematics in ways that are unusual and disturbing for a Westerner, the challenges of acclimatising to the country and lifestyle, a meeting with a Taiwanese man and marriage, pregnancy while preparing for exams and the imminent birth of their child during the final oral test.