Chapter One: Rebirth in 1993

“Wang Peng, hand your admission letter to your brother. Let him go to high school. You get yourself to the construction site and work for me!”

“If you dare disobey, get out of this house!”

“Da Peng, don’t make your father angry. Tomorrow, follow your uncle to the site and earn some money. He said you’ll be a bricklayer, seven yuan a day.”

“Don’t waste your breath talking to him. I’m the head of this family. If you dare disobey, get out and fend for yourself.”

The raspy, nightmare-like voices echoed in his ears.

Wang Peng woke with a start and looked up at the speakers.

A middle-aged woman with a sharp, mean face stood before him, hands pressed to her waist, staring him down.

Behind her, a sallow-faced man puffed on a dry tobacco pipe, the acrid smoke pricking at his nerves.

These two were his parents!

But they had died five years ago.

Wait!

What was that about a high school admission letter?

Wang Peng regained his senses, hastily scanning the unfamiliar surroundings. In front of him was a desk piled high with books. Carved into its surface were the words “strive diligently” and a large character for “morning.”

Beside the books lay an admission letter.

The letter read: “Student Wang Peng, congratulations on achieving the top score in the county’s entrance exam. Approved by the county admissions committee, you have been accepted as a first-year student in the class of 1993—”

“Please report to school between August 28th and 30th with this notice.”

Principal Song Wei.

Ping’an County No. 1 Senior High School.

July 4th, 1993.

A genuine high school admission letter. His mind thundered, a terrifying thought flashing through his brain.

Reborn?!

He really had been reborn!

Reborn to Wang Village, Ping’an County, in 1993!

He was born in Wang Village, a poor hamlet in Central Province. His family had been poverty-stricken since the 1960s, hardship stretching on without end, living day to day, never knowing when the next meal would come.

He was the eldest son, raised under the harsh conditions of poverty, indoctrinated from childhood with the notion that “the eldest is as a father.”

Honor your parents, care for your siblings, make selfless sacrifices—

These were the values he’d been taught since he was a boy.

And he had truly lived by them.

At four, he began doing chores as best he could.

At five, he started cooking and caring for his younger siblings who couldn’t walk.

From eight on, he worked the fields alongside his parents.

Day after day, year after year, he grew used to the life of an ox or a horse, his skin as dark as a coal miner’s.

His siblings thrived thanks to his sacrifices, never doing chores or farm work, pampered as if they were city children.

Whenever the family had something tasty, or eggs to supplement nutrition, he never ate a single one, giving them all to his younger siblings.

When he grew older, he even gave up his own admission letter so his frail second brother could have a chance.

To keep his third sister in school, he sold his blood.

When his fourth sister hit someone with a car, he volunteered to go to jail in her place.

Selling blood, prison, and relentless toil ruined his body. By his early thirties, he was riddled with illness, his spirit that of an old man.

Still, he was proud: his second brother became a civil servant; his third sister joined PetroChina; his fourth sister entered the Tobacco Bureau.

Just when he thought his suffering was over, the three ingrates turned their backs on him, refusing to help when he fell on hard times.

“You’ve been to prison. You can’t pass a background check. I can’t arrange a job for you.”

“You have no degree. You can’t get into a state-owned firm. Just stick to farming and laboring.”

“Big brother, you can barely read. You want to borrow my money for business? I’m not throwing my money away.”

“Da Peng, don’t attend your sister’s wedding. She’s marrying a bureau chief—someone like you would embarrass us.”

—Those were their words.

His heart shattered then. These were siblings he’d supported with his sweat and blood.

And what was the result?

All of them were ungrateful scoundrels!

His parents’ contempt and his siblings’ mockery worsened his illness.

No one visited him when he lay dying.

He would never forget lying alone in bed, waiting for death, the helplessness and misery, felt by no one else.

He never expected to open his eyes and find himself reborn.

Reborn to the day he was to hand over his admission letter to his second brother, to the turning point of his tragic fate.

He fought to keep his emotions in check, not letting tears fall. He quickly folded the admission letter and slipped it into his pocket, his gaze sweeping over his biased parents and the three ungrateful siblings.

Eldest is as a father?

Nonsense!

He was eager to see whether, in this life, if he stopped being their beast of burden, they would still enjoy such success and pride.

Would their lives still be so comfortable?

...

“Stop dawdling. Hand over the admission letter and get out to the fields to weed!” Wang Song reached toward his face.

“I won’t!” Wang Peng sneered. “I earned my place in high school. I’ll attend myself. I won’t give it to anyone.”

Now that he had been reborn, who would be such a fool again?

“You’re rebelling?” Wang Song could hardly believe his ears. His usually obedient son dared to defy him.

“Rebel, then! I got into high school on my own merit. Why should I give it up? Why should you control my future?”

“Because I gave birth to you! Because I’m your father! You rebellious bastard, I’ll beat you to death!” Wang Song tore off his shoe, ready to hit him.

Wang Cheng, standing by the door, tried to hide his smile.

But in the next moment, he was dumbfounded.

His eldest brother, who never talked back or fought back, snatched away their father’s cloth shoe and, gritting his teeth, threw it outside.

Their father nearly fell, crashing into their mother. Both parents stared at their eldest son in shock, as though they’d seen a ghost.

He also noticed that his two sisters wore the same ghost-stricken expressions, stunned by the sudden retaliation.

“Big brother, how could you hit Dad? That’s not filial!”

“Are you trying to anger Dad to death? Apologize right now!”

...

Third and fourth sisters spoke up in unison, accusing him. Was this the same big brother who’d always honored his parents and cherished his siblings?

He’d never dared argue with his parents before, yet now he’d laid hands on his own father?

Wang Peng sneered, “Don’t try to pin guilt on me. I won’t be bound by your morality. You’re all ungrateful wolves, parasites sucking the life out of me.”

“Rebellion! He’s rebelling!” Wang Song raged, “You heartless bastard! Get out! Get out of my house!”

“I see it now. You never saw me as a person, only as a slave, a beast of burden, a money tree.” Wang Peng’s sneer deepened.

“Fine, fine! Get out! Right now! From today, I’m not your father!”

“Thank you, really. I don’t want a father like you.” Wang Peng strode out.

“The clothes you’re wearing were made by your mother! Take them off, right now!” his mother snapped back.

At that, all the ungrateful wolves were rattled.

Wang Peng felt a surge of relief and satisfaction, finally venting years of anger. His steps grew lighter.

He would rather starve outside than spend another second here.

“If you leave, don’t come back! You don’t have a penny to your name. Let’s see how many days you survive! Let’s see how you go to high school!” Wang Song hadn’t expected him to actually walk out.

Humiliated and furious, he continued to vent, “What are you all staring at? Get out to the fields! If anyone dares disobey, let him be your example!”