Chen Yan, a 42-year-old folklorist, suffered a fatal heart attack and woke up as Gousheng, a wretched orphan in Guanmuezi Village in 1960s Northeast China. His parents starved to death, his uncles and aunts mistreated him, and he had no proper clothes or food in the bitter winter. He was so thin he was all skin and bones, and couldn't even get a bowl of hot porridge!
Fortunately, he brought with him a mind full of knowledge about the folk customs and history of rural Northeast China. He knew how to farm and identify medicinal herbs, understood government policies and the unwritten rules of survival, and had a thorough grasp of the era's social customs and taboos.
Poor physical stamina? He could improve farm tools and optimize planting with clever techniques. No one to rely on? He could get in the good graces of Fifth Grandma and earn the village chief's trust. Someone trying to trip him up? He could use gentleness to overcome force and win people over with his abilities.
From an orphan on the brink of starvation to a leader trusted by everyone in the village, from a tiny patch of barren private land to helping the entire village boost its income with side businesses, Chen Yan relied on solid knowledge of folk customs to earn himself a full meal and safeguard a peaceful life on the frozen black earth. He made hard times feel warm!
There is no overpowered golden finger, only practical steps taken one at a time. There is no constant rush of easy victories, only the steady flow of survival and growth. This is an ordinary person's tale of surviving in a Northeast Chinese village in the 1960s!
