Chapter 1: Rebirth in the Little Fishing Village

Lin Yu felt a sudden wave of dizziness.

His vision blurred, then gradually cleared. The sky was a brilliant blue, like a vast pane of sapphire glass, reflecting the harshness of the sun, its glare stinging his face.

He coughed abruptly as pain twisted through his abdomen, expelling a mouthful of bitter, salty seawater. His entire body felt as if it had been wrung dry in an instant. Gasping for breath, he continued to hack up water, clutching his chest to reassure himself that he was still alive.

At that moment, he realized he was dressed in a coarse gray shirt, black trousers rolled to his knees and soaked in seawater. The waves had left his feet pale and wrinkled, and his head throbbed with pain, likely from striking a reef.

What was with these clothes… these hands…?

The pain was sharp! Excruciating!

As Lin Yu became aware of the oddities in his body and attire, his pupils contracted sharply. A stabbing agony shot through his brain, as if someone were stirring his temple with a sharp instrument.

At the same time, a torrent of fragmented memories flooded his mind.

After a long moment, the pain subsided. Lin Yu slowly composed himself, glancing around with uncertainty while panting heavily. The sea crashed endlessly against the reefs, the salty breeze brushing his face and ruffling his hair, making the world seem especially clear and tranquil.

Only then did he realize that he had been reborn.

This was 1983, in Bayuquan, Northeast China—a backward little fishing village.

In his previous life, he had been an experienced sea angler, winner of countless awards. Just before opening his eyes here, he had been competing in the World Sea Angling Championships, reeling in a hundred-pound tuna, victory almost certain—until an accident dragged him into the sea.

Now, he had awakened in the body of a village boy who shared his name.

It was hard to believe.

So rebirth was real after all?

The original Lin Yu was sixteen, a child of misfortune. His father had died at sea during a typhoon years ago, leaving only his mother and a younger sister. Life had been harsh, and his mother, unable to support the family alone, had remarried in hopes of finding a pillar for their lives.

But reality was unkind.

His stepfather was a drunk and a layabout, leaving all the work to his mother, making their lives even harder. Most painfully, he looked down on Lin Yu and his sister, at first verbally abusing them, and after his mother bore another son, things grew worse; the stepfather would beat them with a whip when drunk.

Unable to endure, the original Lin Yu had run away from home more than once.

Fearing her children would be beaten to death, his mother finally divorced the stepfather six months ago and returned with her children to their dilapidated, leaky house. She survived by mending fishing nets for a pittance, supporting her son and daughter.

Whenever Lin Yu saw his mother’s hands, raw and bleeding from net mending, his heart ached, only strengthening his resolve to shoulder the family burden and support his mother and sister.

Facing the sea, finding food was not difficult, but supporting a family was another matter.

His father had left two small plots of farmland. In a fishing village, this was a rare resource. Meager though the harvest was, the family depended on it. But on the eve of his mother’s remarriage, his grandmother had turned against them, screeching that she would never let an “outsider” take the land, completely ignoring her daughter-in-law’s hardship and loneliness, and forcibly reassigned the fields to his second uncle’s family.

At first, his mother hadn’t sought to reclaim the land, but life had become unbearable. After the divorce, desperate to feed her children, she steeled herself and approached his grandmother two days ago.

When his grandmother saw her, her face darkened like a demon, cursing her as a “harbinger of misfortune” and “shameless,” grabbing her by the hair with calloused hands and slamming her against the wall.

No matter how his mother pleaded, his grandmother would not return the land.

Perhaps traumatized by witnessing this, his sister fell into a high fever, hovering on the brink of death. Their mother, frantic and in tears, begged door to door for help, but managed to collect only a few coins.

Determined to earn money for his sister’s medicine, the original Lin Yu made a bold decision.

He would go out to sea to fish and earn money for her treatment.

He took his late father’s old, dilapidated boat—unrepaired—and set out in secret. The outcome was predictable.

“Ah, it’s always the weakest rope that snaps,” Lin Yu sighed.

He felt deep sympathy for the boy whose body he now inhabited. Having taken over his life, he would assume his responsibilities. He would find a way to pay for his sister’s medicine.

It was the least he could do to repay the original Lin Yu.

“I need to hurry. I don’t know if my sister can survive the night,” Lin Yu muttered, rising slowly and glancing at his frail body. Thin and scrawny, he reached into his only pocket and found an old fishhook, but no line. He looked at it, then put it back.

The hook had been prepared in case the line snapped at sea, but disaster struck. The waves had swept him away, yet the hook had not been lost.

After walking a while, Lin Yu arrived at Black Rock Reef.

The reef meandered along the shore, and in an inconspicuous corner was a hollow sculpted by years of waves—a natural stone bowl, its walls scarred by the sea. The black rock was covered in wet seaweed, giving it a velvety sheen.

Here, the boy had set a fish trap.

When the tide rose, fish and shrimp would be swept into the hollow by the surging sea. As the tide retreated, some were trapped, making it a “haven” for small creatures. But it was mostly tiny fish and shrimp. Even if a larger fish entered, the deep water made them hard to catch.

For the original Lin Yu, catching a few small fish or shrimp was enough for a modest meal. Large fish were rare.

He had not expected to come back empty-handed, but when he pulled up the trap, it was bare.

The boy’s technique was poor. The trap was woven from willow branches, unsoaked and brittle, and not sturdy at all. Small fish and shrimp could slip through the gaps, while larger ones would break it with ease.

As for the bait inside, Lin Yu could only smile wryly—just a few bits of snail meat. Would that ever lure a fish?

Suddenly, a splash caught his attention. He saw a crab-eating blenny, thick as his arm, leap from the water, arcing gracefully through the air before splashing back into the pool.

“A blenny!” Lin Yu brightened.

These fish thrived among rocky coastal reefs, fierce and cunning, feeding mainly on crabs. They hid in crevices, making them extremely hard to catch.

Fingering the hook in his pocket, Lin Yu’s mind began to work.

As a seasoned angler, the hook was his weapon—he was confident he could land a blenny or two.

Glancing around, he spotted a torn, irreparable fishing net on the shore. He unraveled the net and twisted the lines together to make a fishing line—ideal, as netting threads are strong.

Finding a suitable rod was more difficult. He trekked a long way and finally found a sturdy stick in a distant thicket.

With practiced hands, he tied the hook and line to the rod. A makeshift fishing pole was ready.

Next, he needed bait.

The shore was full of it—perfect for catching blennies. He went to a tide pool beside a rock, where the retreating sea had stranded small fish, shrimp, and crabs.

Carefully lifting the stone, he found a rock crab lying motionless in the pool.

He had his bait.

After gathering enough crabs, everything was set. Lin Yu found a good spot, sat down, hooked a crab, and cast his line into the pool.

He was nervous. The gear was crude—catching a large fish was almost impossible. Blennies were wily, and the pool was full of crabs for them to eat. Whether one would bite was a matter of luck.

But if a blenny did strike, Lin Yu was confident he could land it.

The sun was blazing, the sea breeze stinging his face, but Lin Yu was infinitely patient. His eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, never left the pool.

Without a float, he had to remain alert.

Just then, a desperate cry sounded behind him: “Xiao Yu…”

He turned and looked back.

A thin, dark-skinned woman, panic etched on her face, was running toward him. His mother—her hair disheveled, strands plastered to her cheeks with sweat, her usually gentle features contorted with fear. At the sight of Lin Yu, her eyes brimmed with tears and overflowed.

“You child!” she wailed, her voice breaking in the wind as she stumbled forward. She seized Lin Yu’s arms, her nails digging into his flesh, her body trembling like a leaf in autumn. “Do you know how frightened you made me? Someone saw you go to sea. Were you trying to scare me to death? If anything happened to you, how could I live?”

Her cries were hoarse, and tears and sweat streamed down her face as she pulled Lin Yu into a tight embrace.

Lin Yu stood stunned, staring at his weeping mother.

Orphaned in his previous life, he had never known a mother’s love. Now, this unfamiliar warmth enveloped him, so comforting, he hardly knew how to respond.

Perhaps this was heaven’s reward—to let him experience a mother’s love and the warmth of family.

For this, he was even more determined to do everything he could to give his mother and sister a good life.

“Mom, don’t worry. You see, I’m fine, aren’t I?” Lin Yu grasped her trembling hands, holding them tightly. Her cold, shaking hands told of her panic and distress, making the love he felt all the more real. “Mom, I’m just fishing here, not at sea. See?”

“Fishing?” His mother wiped her tears and looked blankly at the rod in Lin Yu’s hands. “You think you can catch fish with that? Come home with me. All I want is for you and your sister to be safe. Your sister…”

Thinking of her daughter, she choked up, her eyes red and brimming with tears.

She knew that without money for medicine, her daughter’s life was at its end. The thought seemed to drain her of all strength—her shoulders sagged, her back hunched, stray gray hairs stark among the disarray, as if fate itself had scattered frost upon her.

Lin Yu’s heart twisted with pain.

He gently held her trembling hands, his voice soft yet resolute. “Mom, don’t be so sad. Look, I’m fishing now. Once I catch something and sell it, we’ll have money to treat my sister.”

His mother raised her red eyes, gazing into his earnest and determined face. Almost against her will, she asked, “Really? You can really catch fish and earn money for your sister’s medicine? You mustn’t lie to me!”