Lu Zhou is reborn in 1976.
That year, his family’s big boat is confiscated, his fiancée Zhou Xiao is pressured into breaking off their engagement, and the villagers all wait to see the Lu family make a fool of themselves.
Zhou Xiao tears up their marriage contract in front of everyone and says, eyes red, “If the Lu family has no boat, I’ll row with you!”
Lu Zhou only replies:
“Within three days, I’ll make your mother bring this marriage proposal back herself.”
So a leaky old sampan heads out into the Blackwater Sea.
One net of premium yellow croakers brings back a thousand yuan.
A scrapped diesel engine roars to life with the fiercest sound on the whole island.
A group of old fishermen, trapped by the dead-end work-point system, receive hard cash for the first time.
Lu Zhou has never intended to make money for himself alone.
He wants Zhou Xiao to live in a red-brick house with a tiled roof, every brother on his boat to have meat to eat and money in his pocket, and Da'ao Village, once crushed under the Gu family's thumb, to have its own fleet, workshops, docks, and factories.
The sea breeze sweeps across the docks.
One new boat after another sounds its horn and sets sail.
And so begins Da'ao Village’s seafood empire.
