Chapter One: Return to 1991

Chapter 1: Back to '91

Struggling to sit up in bed, Chen Jianghai felt as if his head were about to explode.

“Where… where is this?”

He looked around at the dilapidated brick house, rubbing his temples; the place seemed oddly familiar. Wasn’t he drunk at his shop just yesterday? How had he ended up here? Was this some kind of dream?

As Chen Jianghai sat there in a daze, the wooden door creaked open and a young woman stepped inside.

She was tall, her hair tied into two ponytails. Her eyes were large and glistening, her nose delicate, her complexion fair, and her lips full and rosy—she looked as graceful and charming as the idol Vivian Chow in her youth.

“Wanqiu… Wanqiu!” Chen Jianghai stared in disbelief at the woman before him, blurting out her name in a daze.

“You’re awake? Breakfast is ready. I’m off to work,” she said, grabbing a gray jacket to head out.

“Wanqiu, don’t go!” Chen Jianghai called out instinctively.

She paused, her body stiffening for a moment.

“I… I only have a few coins left, they’re all for you,” she said, fishing out two crumpled bills from her pocket and tossing them on the table. Her eyes flickered with sorrow as she walked out without looking back.

It was only after she left that Chen Jianghai came to his senses and leapt from the bed. He stumbled out, but by the time he reached the door, the woman was already far down the road.

“Wanqiu… was that really Wanqiu?”

“Am I dreaming?”

Chen Jianghai’s face was flushed with excitement, and he muttered to himself.

Lin Wanqiu was Chen Jianghai’s wife, famed as a beauty throughout the neighboring villages.

Back then, Lin Wanqiu’s father had fallen seriously ill and urgently needed a large sum for surgery. The matchmaker introduced them, and Chen Jianghai’s family provided a generous dowry to the Lin family, bringing Lin Wanqiu home as his bride.

After marrying, Chen Jianghai, determined to get rich and become his own boss, refused to work a regular job no matter how much he was persuaded. Lin Wanqiu could only swallow her bitterness and support the family alone, always hoping that one day he would settle down and stop chasing wild dreams.

Later, when Chen Jianghai’s business failed and he was mired in debt, Lin Wanqiu never abandoned him and endured the hardships of sleeping in straw sheds and eating coarse bread by his side.

Just as Chen Jianghai finally came to his senses, found steady work at a factory, and their lives began to improve, Lin Wanqiu fell gravely ill from years of overwork and passed away quietly.

That outcome filled Chen Jianghai with endless regret, but the tragedy could not be undone.

Awakening to reality, he left his sorrowful hometown, abandoned his dreams of being a boss, and became a migrant worker in the city. Yet, in the stillness of the night, he always drowned his sorrows in drink, sobbing over the mistakes of his past.

“Wanqiu, you must still resent me. Even in my dreams, you only let me see you for a moment,” Chen Jianghai laughed bitterly, slamming his fist onto the battered wooden table.

“Ah!” A stabbing pain shot through his hand, and he couldn’t help but shake it out.

The pain was sharp and real, and for a moment, Chen Jianghai forgot about everything else as he stared blankly at his swollen right hand.

It hurt—truly hurt. But would a dream cause pain like this?

Could it be that this wasn’t a dream?

With that thought, Chen Jianghai flung open the door and stepped outside. Harsh sunlight made him shield his eyes. After a moment, he lowered his hand and turned to survey the nearly empty house behind him.

His gaze fell upon the calendar behind the door: July 24, 1991. An ordinary day, but the second year of his marriage to Lin Wanqiu.

He was back—truly back in the past.

Excitement surged through him, but as memories of his past actions and Wanqiu’s despairing eyes in the hospital surfaced, he couldn’t help but slap himself hard across the face.

“Chen Jianghai, you really are a bastard!” he cursed through gritted teeth, staring out the window with newfound resolve.

“Wanqiu, from now on, my life will be for you—only you, Lin Wanqiu! I swear you’ll never suffer another grievance or hardship!”

Taking a deep breath and fighting the urge to run straight to the factory to find her, Chen Jianghai returned to the room, rolled up his sleeves, and set about cleaning the messy house from top to bottom.

Though the house was still old and shabby, after a thorough cleaning it looked much more comfortable.

He finished the cup of barley porridge Wanqiu had left on the table, then headed to the little stone-tiled kitchen next door. Lifting the lid off the rice jar, he found only a thin layer of rice left, and just a few coal briquettes remaining.

He knew this situation well—life had always been hard due to his idleness.

He had to earn money and give Wanqiu a better life. This thought became ever more resolute in his heart.

Throwing on a jacket, Chen Jianghai strode out of the courtyard and onto the street.

Linhai was still just a small county town; there were no rows of towering buildings, only low houses and uneven cement roads under a clear blue sky.

There weren’t many shops along the way, and even fewer goods on display—evidence of an era waiting to be awakened.

He even spotted a business that would soon vanish from the world: a shoe repair stall.

From the distance came the melody of The Little Tigers’ song, “String your heart and mine together…”

“Huh? Why did it stop?” a nearby voice caught Chen Jianghai’s attention.

He turned to see an elderly man with white hair sitting at his doorstep, frowning as he fiddled with a radio.

A spark lit up in Chen Jianghai’s eyes.

Before his rebirth, Chen Jianghai had worked in home appliance repair, and after the year 2000, he even owned a repair shop renowned for his skills—everyone called him Master Chen.

Fixing a radio was child’s play for him. Though it hardly paid in the future, right now it was a lucrative trade, a true craft.

What better way to reflect the changing times?

There was no doubt: the “Four Great Wedding Gifts.”

In the fifties and sixties, the four great gifts were a bicycle, a watch, a radio, and a sewing machine—known as “three wheels and one sound.”

After the reform era, as people’s pockets filled with money, the four great gifts became color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and tape recorders—all home appliances.

Especially the radio, once a costly rarity, now an essential household source of news and entertainment.

With frequent use came frequent breakdowns.

In this era, people wouldn’t dream of throwing things away; they had to be repaired and used again.

Repairing home appliances was a true craft in these times—one had to master the structure and principles of electronics and have deft hands.

Chen Jianghai realized he finally had a way to put his skills to work!

“Grandpa, is your radio broken?” he asked, stepping forward with a smile.

The old man glanced at him and nodded, “Yes, it was working fine last night. I don’t know what happened!”

“Why don’t I take a look?” Chen Jianghai offered.

“You know how to fix it?” Suspicion flickered in the old man’s eyes.

“Sure do. But if I fix it, I’ll have to charge a repair fee. Is that alright?” Chen Jianghai replied honestly.

“Fine, as long as you fix it, I’ll give you… fifty cents!” the old man said, hesitating a moment before holding up five fingers.

Chen Jianghai shook his head, “Grandpa, fifty cents is a bit low, don’t you think?”

“What? Fifty cents isn’t enough? Why don’t you just rob me instead?” the old man retorted, raising his brows.

Chen Jianghai replied unhurriedly, “Grandpa, a brand-new radio costs at least forty or fifty yuan. Would you really be willing to buy a new one?”

The old man was about to argue, but Chen Jianghai cut him off.

“If you take it to a repair shop, they’ll charge at least two or three yuan. Here’s the deal: let me take a look. If I can fix it, just give me one yuan. How does that sound?”

In 1991, the average monthly income was only two or three hundred yuan—and that was for city workers. In small towns or rural areas, it was even less.

So, buying a new radio was a real expense for any household.

Hearing this, the old man dropped any thought of bargaining.

“Alright! One yuan it is. But if you can’t fix it, I’m not paying!” he agreed, nodding.

(End of Chapter)