1982: Making It Big in a Mountain Village

[Everyday Life in the 1980s, Farming, Family Matters, Raising Kids, A Slow and Steady Life]

Lu Chang'an is reborn in 1982, at the age of twenty-three.

In his past life, he always thought it was easier to make money outside the village than in the fields. He was set on making his way in the world, but after struggling for most of his life, he had nothing to show for it. He died of illness in his forties.

Given another life, he looks at his young wife, their two-year-old daughter, and the son still growing in his wife's belly, and decides he isn't leaving.

Farming is too exhausting, and he still doesn't like it. So he starts with eggs, vegetables, and mountain produce from the village, riding his beat-up bicycle and building a comfortable little life one step at a time.