Reborn in 1982: I Canceled My Ticket to Yangcheng

In his previous life, Yang Ergou left for Yangcheng with three yuan in his pocket, riding a coach and believing he could make a life for himself. But three days after he left, a fire burned the entire village to the ground. His parents, older brother, and older sister were all buried beneath the scorched earth. When he rushed back, all he could see was his mother, still clutching the second boiled egg she'd never gotten the chance to give him. When he opened his eyes, he had been reborn on the night before his departure. March 18, 1982. The tragedy had yet to happen. This time, he tore up his ticket, picked up a hoe, and swore to change his family's fate. He wasn't leaving. He would stay and protect his family, brick by brick, with every fire and every light, building a firebreak with his own hands. But the wheels of fate weren't turning for his family alone... His neighbor, Chen Tingting, had been forced to marry the village chief's simple-minded son in his previous life, then jumped into a well and ended her life. This time, he rescued her from a fire and protected her through every storm, never knowing that she had secretly written his name in her diary when they were young. From renovating dangerous rural homes to the rise of township enterprises, from fighting floods to the wave of people heading south to do business, he followed the rhythm of the times, leading his family out of the mountains and toward a brighter future. And the girl who was always sneaking glances at him by the stove finally said softly one spring evening, as a gentle breeze brushed past: “Yang Ergou, you gave up your ticket, but became the one ride I never want to miss in this life.” An epic of the 1980s about being reborn, finding redemption, and protecting what matters. A journey from ashes to new life, from an ordinary beginning to greatness. A forty-year love story, full of everyday warmth, between Ergou and Tingting.