Reborn in 1978: I Take My Whole Family to College

[Feel-Good Period Novel + The Whole Family Turns Their Lives Around + Building an Industrial Powerhouse]

Gao Yuanya, a deputy factory chief in charge of technology, spent his whole life alone and miserable. Only as he lay dying did he discover that his young, beautiful wife had only ever wanted his money.

He opened his eyes and was reborn in 1978. His family was destitute, and there were only six months left before his younger sister drowned, his mother died of illness, and his father and older brother were buried in a landslide.

Other people who are reborn either get rich through speculation or open factories and become bosses. Gao Yuanya is different.

First, he dug a hole in the road to shake some coal loose from passing coal trucks, earning enough to keep his sister in school. Then he went into the water to catch shellfish, loaches, and eels that nobody else wanted, so his family could eat meat. After that, he went up the mountain to gather honey and pay off the family’s debts.

At night, he lit pine resin to tutor his older brother and little sister. The 1978 college entrance exam was hard? Sorry, I memorized every past exam question in my previous life, right down to the punctuation!

His parents said there was no point in girls going to school? His sister went on to get into Tsinghua and Peking University, and the family gave her a page of her own in the genealogy!

The team leader said a country kid getting into college was just a dream? All three siblings made the honor roll, and the entire commune celebrated with gongs, drums, and firecrackers!

Decades later, someone interviewed the three Gao brothers: “What’s the secret to becoming pillars of the nation?”

Gao Yuanya smiled with humble simplicity. “Nothing special. Back then, I just didn’t want my little sister to drop out of school.”