Reborn in 1981: My Life as a Fisherman

Early autumn, 1981.

In the afternoon, Shi Hailong woke up and had been wandering around the house for more than an hour.

Only then did he sit down on the stone under the ancient banyan tree on the west side of the small stone house.

Looking out at the vast bay, I could smell the fresh, salty sea breeze.

He finally realized that he had truly been reborn.

I went back to when I was eighteen.

More than an hour of stunned silence, astonishment, disbelief, and disbelief...

For a normal person, this kind of thing is too mysterious.

But I looked around at everything that was familiar.

Or rather, decades later, when I'm old, all of this will appear in my dreams countless times.

After confirming his rebirth, Shi Hailong didn't feel much joy, but rather a sense of complexity and regret.

Because he knew that this era was too difficult!

His life was so ordinary and so arduous; he worked diligently but achieved nothing.

He fished for others his whole life, only to end up with a host of illnesses and nothing to show for it in his old age.

A lifetime spent like an ox or a horse, never at rest; now that I have a moment of leisure, I sleep among the green hills

Being clean and tidy and sleeping with Qingshan is considered good; the most painful thing is being plagued by illness and not dying, that is real suffering!

He suffered his whole life, and in the end, he couldn't even afford medical treatment. Sigh!

He doesn't want to do it again, really, really doesn't!

Especially his wife and children, he didn't want...

wrong?

He's not married to that woman yet, haha...

Shi Hailong, who wasn't particularly surprised by his rebirth, suddenly realized that he wasn't married yet.

He immediately stood up and grinned!

What a surprise! This is the biggest surprise ever! Haha!

If he could start over, he would never marry that woman again, nor would he want those unfilial children.

At this moment, it was the first time he had smiled since waking up from his rebirth, and he smiled very happily.

Marrying the wrong wife in life is a nightmare!

He suffered through this nightmare for decades.

"Hailong, why are you up?"

Just as Shi Hailong was grinning foolishly, his mother hurriedly returned.

Upon seeing this, Shi Hailong quickly went to greet him.

"mother……"

Looking at his mother now, Shi Hailong's voice choked uncontrollably.

Her eyes seemed to be moistened by the sea breeze.

It seems like I've been holding onto decades of pain and grievances, and I want to tell my mother about them!

He Caizhi sensed something was wrong with her son and thought he was sick with a fever, which was why he acted this way when he saw her.

He's still not grown up!

He immediately reached out and placed his hand on his son's forehead.

"It's not hot anymore. I went to the medical station and got some fever reducers. It's not hot anymore, but you still need to take one."

Don't stand outside in the wind, go back inside and lie down.

Autumn is approaching, and the seawater is quite cold. Please don't be reckless and go into the sea to rescue people in the future.

As He Caizhi spoke, she handed the small paper packet in her other hand to Shi Hailong.

Shi Hailong hummed in agreement, holding the small paper packet—the classic way medicine is packaged at a medical station.

It also says on it: half a tablet at a time, twice a day.

I squeezed it with my hand; there were about three pieces.

Shi Hailong remembered that these were Analgin tablets.

He glanced at his mother and wanted to hug her, but he restrained himself.

No matter how much emotion or longing I feel, I can't express it at this time, as it might frighten my mother.

Chinese people's emotions are reserved and introspective.

He Caizhi gave the medicine to her son and then turned to walk into the house.

As they walked, he kept saying, "Hurry up and take your medicine, then go inside and sweat it out."

I need to go to the team to see how your dad and brother's meeting went.

From now on, they'll be contracting out groups, and who knows what that will be like... sigh..."

Shi Hailong chuckled sheepishly and replied, "Oh..."

It's so good to be reborn and see my mother full of energy again!

However, he didn't move; instead, he just watched his mother's back.

Until the figure of her mother entered the southernmost stone house.

Then, after a short while, the mother came out again and hurried back into the village.

Stone houses were the most common type of dwelling during this period.

The walls are made of stone slabs piled up from the mountain, and they are not very high. The roof is covered with small red tiles.

However, the roof tiles were covered with a dense array of small stones.

This was placed on top to prevent the wind from blowing the tiles away.

It's windy by the sea, especially with the frequent typhoons.

Shi Hailong carefully examined his five stone houses once again.

There are five rooms in a row, but the rooms are not very large, especially the height, with the eaves only a little over two meters.

You can reach the tiles on the eaves with your hand.

It appears to be five rooms, but the Shi family has many members. Shi Hailong has an older sister and an older brother.

He has a younger brother and two younger sisters.

Including parents, there are eight people in the family.

Thinking about his family's situation, Shi Hailong's brows furrowed unconsciously.

Their home was bare; they were extremely poor.

Looking down at his clothes, Shi Hailong couldn't help but smile bitterly; they were gray and white work clothes.

Patches upon patches.

He was still wearing a pair of old canvas fisherman's shoes, the edges of which were tattered and frayed.

And it also has salt crystals.

It's actually just a slipper, without a heel, tied with a rope.

We're about to implement the household responsibility system, and we're already having meetings to discuss it, including the team's fishing boats and nets.

All production materials must begin to be distributed.

However, instead of distributing them to individuals, a contract system is adopted.

Fishermen are different from farmers; it's not simply a matter of dividing up land.

Fishermen mainly rely on boats and nets. Of course, they also have some land, but it's all mountainous.

We can only grow things like sweet potatoes and corn.

Before the household responsibility system was implemented, fishermen had to buy rice and had to go out to sea.

Not only did they receive work points, but they also received grain coupons.

Shi Hailong remembered that his father weighed about 80 jin per month.

His older brother weighed 40 jin (approximately 20 kg), and his mother, who worked in the March 8th Red Flag boat team, weighed 60 jin (approximately 30 kg).

The eldest sister weaves a net; no.

He had only been at sea for a year, and hadn't yet.

However, each household in the team receives a subsidy of grain coupons every year, depending on their circumstances.

After the household responsibility system was implemented, various types of coupons were issued.

Based on the fish caught and the tasks completed.

Just like farmers paying their share of grain to the government!

Shi Hailong knew about the team's three motorized sailboats, as well as the rowboats and sampans.

They had no connection with his family.

There aren't enough to go around for the major surnames in the village, so how could it possibly be the turn of his family, the Shi family?

They are the only family with the surname Shi in Lantau Village.

Shi Hailong knew that his family were Tanka people who came ashore after liberation and settled in Dayu Village.

And because his surname was Shi, he was placed by the sea, supposedly to block the waves.

Of course, he wasn't the only one on the coast; there were other large families in nearby villages as well.

That's the Zheng family, said to be able to suppress the sea...

Holding the medicine in his hand, Shi Hailong gazed at the sea once more, his mind preoccupied with his thoughts.

He can no longer be a boatman in this life.

But there's absolutely no possibility of chartering a boat.

The Zheng, Chen, and Yang families, these three major surnames, are still locked in a life-or-death struggle.

How could it possibly be his turn?

As for buying them yourself, not to mention that the ships in the fleet are not for sale now, they are all under a contract system.

Two years later, the price was reduced and the property was sold to the contractor.

But even if he sold it, he wouldn't have any money.

My parents have some money, but they need to build a house for my older brother to get married by the end of the year.

He naturally couldn't object to this.

However, he knew that, ironically, after the house was built, his older brother's wife also fell ill.

She died before she could be married into the family.

What saddened Shi Hailong the most was that his elder brother never remarried.

In the end, he received the Five Guarantees (a government-provided social welfare program), and he actually enjoyed a better old age

Shi Hailong didn't know that what saddened him was that his older brother had remained a bachelor his entire life.

It's still hard to believe that my older brother is living such a comfortable life...

He may have a wife and children, but he has suffered his whole life.

It's nothing compared to my older brother's leisurely life.

No, I will definitely find my older brother a new wife in this lifetime.