Chapter One: The Year in My Dreams Is This Year
Jiangnan Province, Rice Blossom Village.
In the distance, low, earthen brick houses were neatly lined up, the broad leaves of poplar trees by the roadside gently swaying, and golden rice stalks rustling like waves. Chai Jin, clutching a sickle, dashed wildly along the embankment, his murderous aura startling sparrows foraging in the fields.
“Hurry, hurry up!”
Chai Jin, his face cold as frost, urged the two girls behind him.
One was his sister, Chai Fang.
The other was his six-year-old sister, Chai Xiaoshan.
Chai Fang shouted anxiously, “Jin, what’s wrong? Where are you going?”
“To save someone!”
“Save who?”
“Father!”
“Huh?”
The sisters were bewildered, but Chai Jin had already leapt over a ditch. In the distance, a crowd could be seen gathering and jeering.
“Father, you must wait for me!”
His eyes were bloodshot; nothing else mattered to him now.
Two hours ago, he was forty-six, having fallen in a car accident in 2020. Upon awakening, he realized he had been reborn.
This day was October 8, 1991.
He was only seventeen.
It took him two hours to emerge from the shock of reincarnation. After asking his sister the date, he remembered what was to happen on this day.
On this day, his father, Chai Mingguo, was forced by creditors, humiliated beneath their crotches, and had his head urinated upon. A man of fierce pride, cornered with no way out, his father took his own life on the spot.
From then on, the creditors took his sister Chai Fang and Chai Xiaoshan away.
They did not meet again until twenty years later.
His sister was sold to a northern mountain village, where endless toil wore her down, and she died before thirty, her grave a lonely mound in a foreign land.
His little sister, Chai Xiaoshan, was sold to the south. By the time she was found, she had been abused beyond recognition by thugs, ending up in a psychiatric hospital.
He could not allow the tragedy of his previous life to repeat!
In the distance, a man with permed hair and brown sunglasses stood with legs apart.
He pointed contemptuously at a silent, bruised man and said, “Debts must be repaid—it's only right!”
“I told you last time, if you can't pay, next time we meet it’ll be fists. Crawl under my crotch, and I’ll give you another two days!”
His name was Chen Tianyi, a notorious thug throughout the region. His father owed Chen’s boss two hundred yuan.
The middle-aged man, hair graying at the temples, barefoot with rolled-up trousers still stained with mud, clenched his fists and glanced at the villagers gathered around, utterly despairing.
“Must you push my family to death, leaving us no room to survive?”
The villagers looked down, saying nothing.
Chen Tianyi scowled, “Enough of your nonsense! Crawl now!”
“Or your children will suffer!”
Chai Mingguo trembled all over. He had been strong all his life, unyielding to wind and thunder, but at the mention of his three children raised alone, he faltered.
This man knelt!
Enduring humiliation, he crawled step by step toward Chen Tianyi’s crotch.
Chen Tianyi curled his lip, mocking, as he began to unzip his fly.
Behind him, several henchmen jeered and insulted.
Just as he was about to urinate on Chai Mingguo’s head, a shadow suddenly charged forward.
With all his strength, Chai Jin kicked Chen Tianyi, sending him flying two meters.
His face scraped along the dirt road for dozens of centimeters, sunglasses shattered, two bloodied teeth left on the ground.
Silence fell.
The villagers were dumbfounded.
Chai Mingguo stared, stunned, at his seventeen-year-old son.
Chai Jin glanced at his rescued father, his chest heaving.
Excitement, bitterness, longing—all kinds of emotions surged, the agony of decades of separation overwhelming him.
Chen Tianyi, lying on the ground, suddenly convulsed, slapped the earth, and stood up.
He spat, touched his scraped face, and pointed at Chai Jin, but his eyes were on his two henchmen. “Beat him!”
“Beat this brat to death!”
“I want blood in Rice Blossom Village today!”
Chai Jin cared for nothing else.
Staring at Chen Tianyi, his eyes burned red with rage, hatred erupting from deep within.
In his previous life, if not for you, my hardworking father would never have despaired and taken his life—with mud from the fields still on his trouser cuffs.
If not for you, my sister would not have died at thirty in a foreign land.
If not for you, my little sister would not have been tormented into a psychiatric hospital by thugs.
I searched for you for more than ten years in my past life, but you were nowhere to be found.
Unexpectedly, after being reborn, I found you!
An ocean of fury exploded within him. He grabbed a brick from the side and charged at Chen Tianyi.
He smashed it onto Chen Tianyi’s forehead, knocking him to the ground.
Turning, gripping the sickle tightly, he pointed at the others, “Whoever comes, I’ll cut them!”
“If you won’t let us live, then we’ll die together!”
The henchmen were terrified.
No one expected the weak, seventeen-year-old son of the Chai family to fight like a madman.
In a fight, the most terrifying are those who court death.
They quickly rushed over, dragging the unconscious Chen Tianyi away.
One of them pointed at Chai Jin, “You have no idea how complicated the world outside is.”
“Don't think today’s matter is over. Your father’s debt—he won’t escape a single cent.”
Chai Jin spat coldly, “Get lost!”
They left, grinding their teeth.
Chai Fang and Chai Xiaoshan ran over, staring blankly at the scene.
They had no idea that just now, if not for Chai Jin’s rebirth, their destinies would have been tragic beyond imagination.
Before they could speak, a villager nearby spoke up.
“Mingguo, everyone’s harvest for the year is only so much, and we all have elders and children to feed. What’s wrong with asking you for the money you owe?”
“Do you want your son to kill all your creditors?”
“That’s right; it’s been six or seven years now. Aren’t you ashamed? We ask every year, and you never pay!”
“Pay up, or your family can get out of Rice Blossom Village!”
Though the thugs were gone, the villagers erupted, equally eager to force the family to ruin.
Chai Mingguo’s face was bruised and pale, his spirit gradually collapsing.
Chai Jin knew about this bottomless debt.
His father was a retired soldier. In 1982, a comrade from Zhonghai contacted him, asking him to bring some men to work on a construction site.
Chai Mingguo took more than twenty laborers from the village.
The first year, everyone lived well, much better than farming.
By 1984, the first stock in Huaxia, Feiyue Audio, was listed, and his father’s comrade became obsessed.
He spent all the project funds buying stocks.
When it came time to settle wages, there was no money—everything collapsed.
He used those fifty-yuan-per-share stocks to pay everyone.
At the time, no one objected, and all signed.
But after returning, these people were dissatisfied, returned all the stocks to his father, and forced him to sign IOUs.
That’s how the debt was incurred.
Because of this strange, overwhelming debt, his mother abandoned the family.
Only the father and three children remained, relying on a few acres of land to survive.
For six or seven years in the village, they couldn’t lift their heads, called deadbeats wherever they went.
They survived on their knees.
Seeing his father become agitated, Chai Jin quickly embraced his shoulders.
Then, looking at the dozens of villagers around, he felt a surge of bitter amusement.
Only after experiencing the coldness of those around you do you realize how cruel and heartless the world can be.
He spoke loudly: “A son repays his father’s debt. Within one week, I will return your money in full, principal and interest.”