Starting in the Security Office of a Fertilizer Plant

Buried beneath ten thousand jars of fine wine during an earthquake, he survived for days on the cellar’s liquor before dying when falling rocks from an aftershock struck him. When he opened his eyes again, Pei Hanzhou had returned to 1978, reborn as his younger self: a veteran assigned to the security office of the county fertilizer plant.

The ten thousand jars of wine he drank in his previous life had become a remarkable skill called “The Boundless Sea”: he could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, with no limit to his capacity. In China during the 1970s and 1980s, drinking tables were battlefields, and this ability became his first key to advancing his career. Armed with a clear understanding of the forty years of history following reform and opening up, Pei Hanzhou began in the fertilizer plant’s security office and moved forward steadily: making money, supporting his family, buying a house, and living a peaceful life. He kept his distance from troublesome relatives, avoided the risks of the times, and seized every wave of opportunity.

No high-tech cheats, no overnight riches, and no breaking the rules. He had only the clear-headed, practical mind of a man reborn, using it to navigate the tides of his era one careful step at a time.