Northern Xinjiang, 1981, the Twelfth Lunar Month.

Snow, half a meter deep, blanketed the fields thoroughly.

Outside the kitchen, icicles over a meter long dangled from the eaves, formed as snow melted by the kitchen’s warmth and then froze again—dangerously sharp and threatening.

Li Long, who had stepped out to relieve himself, looked up and spotted the icicles. He grabbed a shovel from where it leaned against the wall and knocked them all down. He vaguely remembered that this year, his niece Li Juan had been hit by falling icicles, resulting in a head injury that took ages to heal. Even after it did, a scar remained, leading to teasing and, which made Li Juan have a serious inferiority complex.

This time around, Li Long was determined not to let history repeat itself. He had been given another chance, though he wasn’t sure how it happened. His last memory was of his death, then, somehow, he found himself back here, in this time and place.

In his previous life, Li Long had lived until the age of sixty-seven, without any illness or disaster. However, he jumped while swatting a fly in his own room and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died on the spot without suffering much, but his older brother, Li Jianguo, who had loved him dearly, had passed away years earlier because of him, and his brother’s wife and children had come to despise him. Although they lived in the same village, Li Long was treated as an outcast, and even though he eventually found a companion, he always felt alone, a burden on others.

This time, given a second chance, Li Long resolved to make things different. But the immediate problem at hand was fuel and food.

The winter in northern Xinjiang were harsh, and each household received a winter allowance of two hundred kilos of coal for heating. It was never enough; in later years, Li Long recalled, every family kept at least seven or eight tons of coal, enough to last through six months of bitter cold.

With coal in short supply, families went out to the sandy areas north of the village before winter to dig up desert willow roots and suosuo wood. While this would be considered harmful to the environment in modern times, back then it was simply a means of survival.

Under normal circumstances, the coal and gathered firewood were just enough to get his brother’s family through the winter. But now that Li Long was back, things were different.

Before winter, Li Jianguo had spent money to send Li Long to work at the Bayi Food Factory in Wucheng. In those days, becoming a factory worker was a prestigious job—and more than that, it meant a steady income, cash in hand every month, enough to spend however one liked. It was a far cry from working on the production team, where you worked the entire year for a grain allowance and maybe a little cash, if anything at all.

Li Long became a figure of admiration among the young men on the production team. Within a month of starting, the prettiest girl in the village, Wu Shufen, had even taken a liking to him.

But now, Li Long had been fired from the factory, and he knew that in two days, as soon as the village gossip, Gu Ermao, spread the word, Wu Shufen would come to break up with him.

In his last life, that incident had deeply affected Li Long, even influencing some of his decisions, and indirectly led to his brother Jianguo’s early death. But now, Li Long saw the matter differently; he felt relieved to be rid of someone as vain as Wu Shufen. If she didn’t break things off, he’d be the one to do it.

However, he couldn’t continue crowding into his brother’s place. That afternoon, Jianguo had cleared out his old room, set up the stove, and made it livable. But with this arrangement, the household’s coal and firewood would never last through the winter, let alone make it until March when spring arrived.

When Li Long was twelve, his father, Li Qingxia, sent him to live with his older brother. Li Long vividly remembered his father’s words to Jianguo:

“We don’t have enough to eat back home. As long as you take care of Xiao Long, I’ll be at peace. Don’t worry about me in my old age or after I’m gone—just look after him, and that will be enough.”

Back home, Jianguo still had another brother and a sister, and Li Long was the youngest and most cherished by his parents. Since the land back home was limited, he was sent to Jianguo, where life was slightly better.

Jianguo fulfilled his father’s request fully, dedicating himself to raising Li Long. The family’s grain was mostly coarse, with only a small portion of refined grain, which Jianguo and his wife, Liang Yuemei, reserved for Li Long and their two children, Li Juan and Li Qiang.

But raising a growing boy was costly, and Jianguo often found creative ways to supplement Li Long’s meals, even if it meant skimping for himself and his children. This had led to many arguments with his wife.

But Jianguo held fast to the belief that “the eldest brother acts as a father,” even to the point of losing his life for it.

This time around, Li Long was determined not to let such a tragedy unfold again.

The mountains to the south were close, filled with fallen trees that made excellent firewood and game such as moose, black bears, wild boars, yellow sheep, and the marmots that, in later years, would become internet-famous.

With no laws yet protecting these animals, one could easily earn a small fortune with some hard work and a bit of cleverness. But first, Li Long had a more pressing issue to address: his urgent need to relieve himself.

He quickly made his way through the snow to the reed-walled outhouse just beyond the yard. His breath fogged the air as he finished up and zipped his pants against the chill of thirty-below weather, knowing that any longer out here would leave him frozen stiff.

Back at the door, Li Long overheard his brother and sister-in-law talking inside the main house.

“You said Xiao Long wasn’t coming back. Now he’s here, and we don’t have enough coal to last. How are we supposed to heat the place with an extra person? It’s too late in the season to dig up more firewood!”

“Leave it to me,” Jianguo replied quietly.

“What are you going to do, huh? Are you going to ask the team to loan us five hundred kilos of coal? We’ll be in debt for a year!”

“I told you, I’ll handle it. I’m not letting Xiao Long freeze.”

“Why was he fired? Which decent person gets kicked out of a factory? And what about the fifty yuan we paid to get him that job? Can we get it back?”

“The money’s gone. We can’t get it back.”

“Fine. Then ask him if he saved any of his wages. Maybe he’s got a little set aside that we can use to buy fuel…”

“What’s the point of asking? He wouldn’t have any left, he had to live on his own in a strange city it’ll cost money. I’ll take care of it.”

“Fine, but you’re not freezing Li Juan and Qiang to do it!”

“Mom, I want meat,” came young Li Qiang’s voice, and the room fell silent.

Li Long let out a sigh, walked over, and opened the door to his room on the east side.

The western wing was the main living area, with the entryway doubling as a kitchen. Inside were three small, windowless rooms—a bedroom, kitchen, and storage room. Li Long’s room on the east had once been a storeroom, but now had a stove, a kang bed-stove, and a fire wall.

As he felt the warmth inside, Li Long knew he’d need a careful plan if he was going to keep it warm through winter.

In his last life, he’d selfishly accepted everything his brother and sister-in-law did for him without understanding how they sacrificed to make ends meet. His naive and overly generous nature had also led him to share his family’s hard-earned goods with others, often at his family’s expense.

He had often been taken advantage of, but this time would be different.

But just as he was gathering his thoughts, the sound of footsteps rang out in the yard, followed by a knock on the door.

Li Jianguo opened the door and saw that it was Gu Ermao, waiting.

“Jianguo, I heard Xiao Long’s back! Where is he?”

“In the east room. What’s this about?” Jianguo asked, wary of Ermao, who was known for stirring up trouble in the village.

Hearing their conversation, Li Long stepped out, and Ermao eagerly pushed him back inside, closing the door behind them.

“Li Long,” he said, looking around the room with a calculating glint, “I’m in a bit of a bind, and I need your help.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” Li Long replied cautiously. Though he smiled, he was on alert, knowing from experience that Ermao was no true friend—just an opportunist.

“Do you have any cash left?” Ermao asked bluntly. “I’m visiting a girl in the third team tomorrow, but I need money for gifts.”

Ermao spoke with a sense of entitlement as if Li Long owed him the favor. In his past life, Li Long had foolishly handed over his last ten yuan, only for Jianguo to be forced to borrow coal, leaving the family in debt for years.

However, Gu Ermao never repaid the money he borrowed even until Li Long’s death.

This time, there was no way he’d make the same mistake.

His resolve this time was firm: no more playing the saint, no more being taken advantage of.