Chapter 1

Huaguo Calendar Year 1974.

Less than twenty nautical miles from Minhai, a wooden fishing boat drifted with the waves on the open sea.

Suddenly, a wave surged, rocking the boat violently from side to side, causing a radio placed on the cabin roof to fall.

With a loud “bang,” the radio struck the head of a young woman sitting below, mending fishing nets. Her vision went black, and she fainted on the spot.

“Uncle Jiang He, Lan Zhiqing got knocked out by the radio!”

“Huh? Quick, check if she’s bleeding!”

“No blood, just a big bump.”

“Oh, that’s fine then. Just move her into the cabin to rest for a while.”

After speaking, Uncle Jiang He hurriedly picked up the radio with a worried expression, carefully inspecting it over and over like a treasured possession.

Only after confirming it wasn’t damaged did he cautiously wipe it with his sleeve before tucking it away safely in the cabin.

That radio was bought collectively by their six-member fishing team. It was their only means of getting weather updates at sea—breaking it was out of the question.

Just as Uncle Jiang He placed the radio down on a blanket, another wave rocked the boat, making everything on board rattle and clatter.

Something felt off. The waves today were unusually strong. He picked up the radio again, trying to tune in, but no matter how much he adjusted it, there was no signal.

At that moment, a crew member suddenly shouted in surprise:

“Wow! Look, dolphins!”

Dolphins?

Uncle Jiang He strode to the bow in just a few steps and indeed saw a pod of dolphins riding the waves.

His expression instantly changed as he bellowed, “A’Dong, pull up the anchor! We need to haul in the fishing nets immediately!”

“Huh? Why? We just set the nets three hours ago!”

“No time for questions! Hurry up—there’s a typhoon coming!”

“Move fast! Recover as much of the net as possible! If we lose everything, we won’t be able to afford the damage!”

As he spoke, Uncle Jiang He dashed toward the stern, pulling the ropes to start the diesel engine.

But when things go wrong, they tend to go really wrong. In this moment of urgency, the pull-start mechanism of the engine failed.

Cursing, Uncle Jiang He yelled, “Someone get on the oar!”

Then, he pried open the floorboard and jumped into the engine room, manually cranking the engine.

“Duang duang duang…”

After a full five minutes of strenuous effort, the diesel engine finally roared to life.

Ignoring the diesel stains on his hands and feet, Uncle Jiang He quickly turned the helm, steering the boat away from the area.

Lan Xiruo woke up to the sound of several men shouting.

She sat up and stretched, but her hand bumped into the low ceiling. Realizing she was in a cramped, dark space, her body trembled involuntarily.

Hadn’t she already been rescued from that damp, suffocating cellar?

Why was she back here?

Wait—no!

Hadn’t she sent those two scumbags to prison before setting off for the mountains to teach?

Where was she now?

“A’Dong, take the helm! The rest of you, come with me to haul in the net!”

A loud command snapped Lan Xiruo out of her thoughts.

She suddenly remembered—she had been on a long-distance bus heading to a remote village when the vehicle veered off a narrow mountain road and plunged down.

She had been sitting by an open window. A falling rock had struck her head, knocking her unconscious on impact.

That was a hundred-meter cliff. She shouldn’t have survived.

Then…

“Lan Xiruo, are you awake yet? It was just a little bump on the head! How long do you plan to rest? A typhoon is coming, and you’re still lying around?”

That familiar sharp-tongued but soft-hearted voice—wasn’t that Sun Zhiqing?

She remembered now!

This was back when she was assigned to an island for rural work. During a fishing trip, Sun Zhiqing had said those exact words.

So… she had been reborn?

She had returned to a time before she met that scumbag?

Her body stiffened as a sudden thought struck her. She quickly reached for her right wrist.

Yes! It was still there!

Heaven had truly favored her, granting her another chance.

This time, she would make sure those two wretched people got what they deserved—before cutting them out of her life completely.

She would also prevent her mother’s tragic fate. Her mother had suffered for half a lifetime, raising her alone. She didn’t deserve such an ending.

And if possible, she wanted to find the person who had saved her… and properly repay him.

This time, she had no physical disabilities.

“Everyone, get into position! Prepare to haul in the net!”

A voice boomed across the deck.

Oh no!

As she thought about what would happen after retrieving the fishing nets, Lan Xiruo shuddered violently. She quickly pulled open the cabin door, bent down, and ran out.

“Uncle Jiang He, judging by the weather, a strong wind is coming. There’s no time to retrieve the nets—we need to return immediately!”

“No! We can’t go back!” Uncle Jiang He immediately objected, shouting at Lan Xiruo:

“Do you know how much these fishing nets in the sea are worth?

Even if my whole family of eight saved every penny for five years without eating or drinking, we still might not afford them!”

The roar of the machines was deafening, so Lan Xiruo shouted back, “But we don’t have time! If we delay any longer, it’ll be dangerous!”

“Stop talking nonsense! Everyone already agreed, so come and help pull the ropes!”

Uncle Jiang He ignored her warning, barking orders while his hands never stopped moving. He leaned over the boat’s edge, swiftly pulling up the buoy connected to the anchor, then tossing the rope to the crew behind him.

“Pull hard! Hurry up!”

Besides A’Dong, who was steering the boat, there were five other people on board—three local fishermen and Sun Yuqing, another educated youth like Lan Xiruo.

Seeing that everyone was focused on retrieving the nets, Lan Xiruo felt helpless.

As the sky darkened, an increasing sense of unease filled her heart.

With a bit of thought, she quickly understood— all the fishing gear they were using belonged to the commune. If they lost it, they would have to compensate for it themselves.

Lan Xiruo wanted to shout at them, “It’s just a few thousand yuan! Is that more important than your lives? Let’s go back, I’ll pay for it!”

But she didn’t dare say that because she was no longer the wealthy boss from her past life who could throw around tens of thousands with ease. In this life, she was just as poor as everyone else!

By now, the group had bent down, grasping the ropes together and pulling the anchor out of the water.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Sun Zhiqing whispered to her, “Lan Xiruo, stop talking and just work. If we lose these nets, it’ll be the end for us—we won’t even have food to eat!”

Unable to convince them, Lan Xiruo had no choice but to help speed up retrieving the nets while thinking about how to prevent the impending disaster.

“Forget about the fish caught in the nets! Just bring everything back first!”

Even if Uncle Jiang He hadn’t said it, no one had the heart to pick out the catch now.

“Alright, this net is in! Pull up the anchor!”

Each fishing net had two anchors securing it in place to prevent it from being washed away by the waves.

Everyone listened attentively to Uncle Jiang He’s orders, working in perfect coordination to pull the nets aboard.

The strong wind came faster than expected.

They had only retrieved about 1,000 meters of nets when raindrops, as big as beans, started pelting down from the sky.

Seeing this, Lan Xiruo urgently shouted, “Quick! The storm is coming! Drop everything and get back inside the cabin!”

Just as she finished speaking, the previously silent radio crackled to life:

—-

“In the next two days, a typhoon will make landfall along the coastal areas of Jian Province, Zhe Province, and Dong Province.

Before nightfall, the Baima Sea area is likely to experience gale-force winds reaching level 10!

All vessels must immediately cease maritime operations and return to port to take shelter!”

Upon hearing the announcement, everyone’s faces changed drastically.

“A’Dong, full speed ahead! Everyone, get off the deck!”

Uncle Jiang He finally abandoned the fishing nets and urged everyone to take cover in the cabin.

He was wrong! He should have listened to Lan Zhiqing’s warning instead of gambling on luck!

If the nets were lost, then so be it—they could just tighten their belts for a few years.

But the wind was too strong and came too fast. Before they could take shelter, they were already staggering as the storm tossed them around.

A massive wave crashed against the boat, violently tilting it to both sides. Uncle Jiang He, who was standing closest to the edge, was swept off his feet by the wind and thrown toward the sea.

“Uncle Jiang He!”

Everyone panicked, but they were too late to grab him. They could only watch in horror as he fell into the ocean.

“Help me pull the rope! I can’t hold on much longer!”

Lan Xiruo gritted her teeth and clung tightly to a rope, shouting at the stunned crew.

Hearing her, someone’s sharp eyes noticed that the other end of the rope was still attached to the ship’s railing. They cried out in surprise, “It’s Uncle Jiang He! Pull the rope, quickly!”

He was saved!

Lan Xiruo let out a long sigh of relief.

It wasn’t in vain that she had secretly looped the rope around Uncle Jiang He when pulling in the nets.

—-

In her past life, Uncle Jiang He had fallen from the fishing boat today.

He had then been sucked under the ship by the rapidly spinning propeller, which shredded both his arms.

Without a first-aid kit on board to stop the bleeding in time, he had bled out and died!

But before Lan Xiruo could catch her breath, the boat suddenly stopped moving.

Just as everyone was wondering why, A’Dong’s panicked cries came from the stern:

“Uncle Jiang He! The propeller is tangled in the fishing net!”