Chapter 1: Back to 1946!

[Page 1 of 3]

(This story is entirely fictional. If anything happens to resemble reality, that is simply your bad luck!

This story combines elements from the original novel and the television adaptation, so some characters may be mixed together. I will do my best to remain accurate. First, let me briefly sort out the ages of several major characters, so everyone has a general idea. These figures are my own estimates and may not be exact, so please bear with me.

Xu Fugui: Born in 1925!

Around 1993, Yu Hua encountered Xu Fugui while out in the countryside on a spring excursion. By then, Xu Fugui was already an old man. Long Er came to Xu Family Village in the year Japan surrendered, 1945. We may therefore assume that Xu Fugui gambled away the family fortune to Long Er in 1946. Fengxia was already four years old at the time. Since people married young in those days, let us say he married at seventeen, which would make him twenty-one in 1946.

Chen Jiazhen: Born in 1925, the same year as Xu Fugui.

Xu Fengxia: Born in 1941.

Xu Youqing: Born in 1946, four years younger than his sister.

This is my first attempt at writing a novel of this kind. I will try my best to avoid anything likely to cause offense, but if I do happen to touch upon any of your sensitive nerves, dear readers and supporters, I hope you will kindly forgive me.

What is that saying again? A little thunder is good for your health!

Very well, enough idle chatter. Let us begin!

As is customary, all you handsome gentlemen and lovely ladies, before you start reading, take your brains out and place them in this little box: [ ] [ ]. Remember to retrieve them after finishing the entire story.

Many thanks!!!

Xu Fugui was sitting on a large black bed carved with ornate designs, his back propped against the headboard. A bandage was wrapped around his head. As he surveyed the room, his hand gently caressed the edge of the bed and its curtains, while his heart filled with a thousand conflicting emotions. Tears brimmed in his eyes.

He knew this room, this bed, and everything in it far too well. He had slept in this very bed for more than twenty years.

It seemed Heaven had taken pity on him. Seeing him spend his whole life in loneliness, without a companion and without children, Heaven had taken mercy on him and sent him back to 1946.

It was miraculous when he thought about it. Only a minute earlier, he had been plowing the fields beside his old yellow ox, Fortune. Then a young man from the city had appeared—Yu Hua, he was called, a rather plump and prosperous-looking fellow. He said he had come to the countryside for a spring outing and sightseeing, and the two of them had sat together on the ridge of the field, chatting idly.

(Just to clarify, this is not set in 1992 or 1993 as in the original novel. The timeline has been pushed forward by more than twenty years, to at least after 2012. Fugui lived a long life and was nearly a hundred years old; otherwise, much of what follows would be impossible to unfold!)

He had told the young man about his past—his father and mother, his wife and children, his family and friends. As he spoke, he gradually grew drowsy and leaned against a willow tree beside the field ridge for a brief nap.

When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to his youth.

The thought that he would once more see his parents, Jiazhen, Fengxia, and Youqing—oh, no, Youqing had not been born yet; he was still in his mother’s womb—all those beloved members of his family, instead of nothing but a collection of lonely graves, stirred him beyond control.

“Creak!”

[Page 2 of 3]

The door opened a crack from outside, and a little head poked through. A girl of about three or four entered the room. She was dressed in a white silk garment patterned with flowers, and two small braids hung down behind her head. Her features were delicate and charming, like a little porcelain doll.

The threshold was rather high. Clinging tightly to the edge of the door with one hand, the girl laboriously lifted her short legs over it.

First her left foot, then her right.

Once inside, she saw that her father was awake and hurried happily toward the bed on her little legs.

“Papa, you’re awake!”

This was his Fengxia.

The tears he had only just managed to hold back burst forth once more. Large drops streamed down his cheeks, soaking the quilt beneath him.

“Fengxia, my Fengxia!”

Xu Fugui lifted his little daughter into his arms and held her tightly, as though afraid she might vanish again.

Fengxia was still too young to understand much. She nestled into her father’s embrace and wriggled about, blinking her bright black eyes.

“Papa, why are you crying? Does it hurt? Fengxia will rub it for you!”

She reached out her soft, pale hands and gently massaged his head.

“Papa, does it still hurt?”

Xu Fugui wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve.

“Mm, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Fengxia is such a good girl. Later, Papa will buy you some candy.”

Fengxia shook her head.

“Papa, I don’t want candy. Don’t go to the city anymore, all right? Grandpa and Mama are both unhappy. Grandpa is going to beat you.”

Xu Fugui nodded.

“All right, Fengxia. Papa will listen to you. I won’t go to the city ever again. I’ll stay and play with Fengxia every day, all right?”

Fengxia immediately broke into a giggle, and the room filled with the delighted laughter of a child.

Then she suddenly asked, “Papa, why are they saying I’m not a young lady anymore?”

Xu Fugui gave a bitter laugh.

My daughter, your wastrel of a father gambled away our family house, the title deeds, and all the hundred-plus acres of tribute farmland outside. That was why your grandfather flew into a rage and knocked me unconscious with his cane.

That was how I got the wound on my head.

[Page 3 of 3]

Speaking of which, he really ought to be grateful for that blow. Otherwise, how could he have returned to the past—to this very moment?

Moreover, he had discovered that there seemed to be something else in his mind. A sound was coming from it, a rushing noise like running water.

When he concentrated, he realized that the thing inside his mind was a space. Within it lay a vast stretch of open land, crossed by rivers and waterways in every direction.

His first thought was that water had somehow gotten into his brain.

But after Xu Fugui stood there in a daze for a moment, understanding dawned on him. In his previous life, he had been left utterly alone. To pass the time, he had bought himself an old-fashioned mobile phone for a few hundred yuan and downloaded countless classic online novels set in bygone eras. One might say he had read widely.

This was the essential golden finger of every person reborn into another life: a system.

A personal space and a divine spring.

He was invincible now!

Xu Fugui was immediately overwhelmed with excitement. The land inside his mind was far from small. By his rough estimate, it was about the size of a soccer field—nearly eleven acres. There was an abundant supply of water, and the climate was mild and pleasant, perfectly suited to growing crops.

Although it was nowhere near the hundred-plus acres he had squandered, it would certainly be enough to feed the entire family.

This was his greatest source of confidence at present.

As long as he had this space, the Xu family would not collapse!

For a moment, he did not know how to answer his daughter. Just then, noises came from outside. They sounded like the cries of the household servants.

“Master, Madam, we’re leaving now. Please take care of yourselves. Sob…”

Xu Fugui sighed again. He carried his daughter over to the bed, then climbed down himself and put on his clothes. As soon as his feet touched the floor, his head began to swim, and his body swayed unsteadily.

Fengxia rolled off the bed and grabbed her father’s hand.

“Papa, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing!”

Xu Fugui waved a hand. This body of his was far too frail. He would have to exercise properly from now on.

“Fengxia, Papa was only disoriented from sleep. I’m fine. Come on, let’s go see Grandfather and Grandmother.”

Like a little grown-up, Fengxia carefully supported her father as they left the room together.

Outside, Jiazhen and his mother were packing luggage and clothing. They knew the family would probably not be able to remain in the house much longer. Soon, they would have to move out.

Seeing the familiar figures of his loved ones, Xu Fugui’s nose stung and his eyes reddened. He struggled desperately to keep the tears from falling.