In the early spring of 1990, bitter winds swept over Red Reef Island, on the border between Fujian and Guangdong, and the Lin family was nearly out of food.
His father had died at sea, leaving the family destitute. His mother was frail and sick, while his greedy uncle and aunt came by every day, trying to force him to give up the family’s home and tidal flats. They cursed him to his face, calling him a useless fatherless brat.
No one knew that this young fisherman, laughed at by everyone on the island, had inherited his late father’s hard-won skills at gathering seafood, reading the tides, and fishing. He also had an ancestral sea chart and the courage to venture out and make his own way.
While others fought over the tidal flats, he found a hidden reef no one knew about and earned half a month’s wages in a single low tide;
While others waited near shore and hoped for a lucky catch, he took his little sailboat into deep waters and returned with a netful of fish, making headlines across the town;
He took no crooked shortcuts and had no System or supernatural powers. With respect for the sea and a far-sighted eye, he repaired fishing boats, built a fleet, started an aquaculture business, and opened a seafood company. From a poor young man with nothing, he became a local sensation and one of the county’s first ten-thousand-yuan households, a well-known leader in helping the community grow prosperous.
He gave every cruel relative who had bullied him and his mother a sharp retort, leaving them utterly humiliated;
He helped the neighbors who joined him earn money, turning a poor fishing village into a prosperous one;
And there was the gentle female technician from the seafood station, who braved the storms with him and stayed by his side as they spent year after year guarding this stretch of sea.
The tides rose and fell, and the fishermen’s songs rang out.
Born on an island and raised by the sea, he ultimately made his home beneath these blue skies and beside these blue waters. He built the life he wanted, looking after his family and enjoying the peaceful, carefree days of a small-time island farmer.
