In the spring of 1978, five-and-a-half-year-old orphan Xiao Haixing was given a new identity by her birth mother to make room for her cousin to take a job in the city. She was sent in the cousin's place thousands of miles away to Nanhai Heijiao Island, where sandstorms raged, to become the stepdaughter of Jiang Zhenhai, a stern naval battalion commander raising two mischievous boys.
Her birth mother had it all figured out: "The island is battered by storms, and there's not even fresh water to drink. That little jinx will end up swept into the sea and eaten by fish!"
The people in the military compound all shook their heads too. Commander Jiang could barely feed his two mischievous boys as it was. How would he manage with a sickly little girl as well?
But who could have guessed that Xiao Haixing was born with the gift of hearing the hearts of all living things? The first day she set foot on the island, every creature in the sea went wild!
No water or vegetables? The venomous snakes nesting in the backyard lined up every day to bring her medicinal herbs and fresh spring water.
No food coming in by sea? A giant humpback whale deliberately beached itself, carrying premium yellow croakers and swimming crabs on its back.
While the women in the compound fretted over their ration of cornmeal, fresh seafood appeared every day in the little vat in Commander Jiang's backyard!
From gathering seashells and drying salted fish to reclaiming wasteland, then setting up the island's first military-family seafood processing plant and pearl farm...
The iron-hearted Commander Jiang became gentle as silk, spending every day figuring out how to braid his little girl the prettiest pigtails. His two fearless, mischievous older brothers became complete "sister-protecting maniacs."
