I woke up to find that I had become Chen Mo, a hunter in a remote mountain village in Northeast China in 1983.
My family had nothing, my parents were both dead, and I had a little sister to care for.
Everyone in the village said I was finished, until I shouldered my hunting rifle and headed into the mountains with my hound.
Tracking prey through snowy nights and trapping bears, I became the youngest hunting boss within a hundred miles.
Just as life was starting to improve, a Shanghai sent-down youth named Ye Xiaoyue arrived in the village. She was fair and beautiful, but frail and often ill.
I hunted the finest sable to make her a coat and gathered the wildest ginseng to restore her health.
She taught me to read and write, and her eyes held starlight I couldn't understand.
The villagers laughed at me. "A country bumpkin thinks he can marry a swan?"
All I did was hunt down a live deer for her on a night of blizzards, then warm her icy hands and feet with its blood.
Later, the day her notice to return to the city arrived, she asked me with red-rimmed eyes, "Chen Mo, do you want a wife?"
