Chapter 1

On August 8th, in Guangzhou, the sun was scorching, with a forecast of 31 degrees, but it felt at least 35 degrees or more.

This was the traditional off-season, and the electromechanical market, which was usually crowded with various vehicles, was now empty. After lunch, people in the shops were either napping behind their desks or playing games on their computers, waiting for business to pick up in the afternoon.

Feng Yiping filled out the delivery order, took two packs of Shangpin Blue from the file cabinet, which he was to give to the company's warehouse manager, and put them in a black plastic bag, stuffing it into his bag. He greeted his nephew, Wen Hui, who was playing "Fight the Landlord" on the computer, and got into the silver SRX parked at the shop entrance.

Just as he started the car, Liu Yuguì, a Taizhou native who bought parts from the neighboring shop, walked over and peered through the passenger window, "Wow, this new car is really different, with its diamond-cut design. Nice, nice!"

Feng Yiping leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms, and smiled, "Isn't it great?"

Liu Yuguì opened the door and sat in the passenger seat, bouncing a bit, "The seats are comfortable too."

"It's not as grand as your brother's Q7, but it's definitely better than your pickup. Why don't you get a new car? Your pickup costs a fortune in repairs every month! I can give you the phone number of the salesperson at the 4S store, she's pretty cute!"

"Ha, you'd introduce me to a pretty girl?"

The two shops had been neighbors for years, with no competition but rather a complementary relationship, so they got along well. They were about the same age, both in their thirties, and spoke casually to each other.

Feng Yiping knew why Liu Yuguì had come, "I already told their manager, Wang, that we can supply the high-pressure hoses if the price is right. I'll be delivering the goods to the warehouse today, so I'll drop by his office and ask again. Besides, after the payment comes in next week, I'll have to invite him out for a drink. You can come along, okay?"

This time, Feng Yiping had finally landed a big order, a new factory project from a group company, which would purchase all the pneumatic tools from him. The total order was for nearly 2,000 tools, worth over 800,000 yuan, the largest order he had received during the off-season in recent years. Knowing this, Liu Yuguì had been eagerly waiting for the opportunity to supply the high-pressure hoses.

Liu Yuguì patted his shoulder, "Thanks a lot! You're busy today, so let's get Zhang Yan and Xiao Cheng together tomorrow, along with your parents, and I'll treat you to a meal."

Feng Yiping swatted his hand away, "Come on, can you stop being so fake? You know I'm taking them to Shenzhen tomorrow!"

Liu Yuguì pretended to be surprised, but Feng Yiping angrily pushed him out of the car.

Driving around to the last row of the market and crossing a small bridge, he arrived at the centralized warehouse area. At this time, there weren't many people shipping goods, and only a few warehouse doors were open.

At A28, a long truck with an AH license plate was parked in the middle of the road, and several workers were unloading the cargo, some directly onto a nearby light truck, and some directly into the warehouse. Feng Yiping saw from a distance that his 70-year-old father, wearing a blue smock, was standing behind the light truck, passing the pneumatic tools to the workers one by one.

Feng Yiping hurried over, took off his father's smock, and put it on himself, saying, "Dad, you should stay in the warehouse and tell them how to arrange the items. If they don't sort them properly, it will take a lot of effort to organize them later."

Before Feng Zhenchang could say anything, Feng Yiping pushed him into the warehouse. The warehouse indeed needed someone to direct the workers, as this shipment included over 400 items in eight different sizes. If no one gave instructions, the workers would just stack them all together.

On the light truck, Feng Hua, another nephew and Wen Hui's older brother, was stacking the tools to be delivered, at least three layers high, otherwise, it would take two trips to deliver everything.

Seeing him sweating profusely, Feng Yiping took his place, "You go and pass the tools, I'll stack them."

It was summer, and even though the forecast was 31 degrees, if you stayed in the shade, it might feel less than 30 degrees. But in the scorching sun, moving heavy items, it felt at least 34 or 35 degrees.

Usually, the goods were delivered by the logistics company, which brought its own workers to unload. This time, because the company needed the goods urgently, the supplier in JS arranged for a direct delivery, and the temporary workers hired on the spot were not as diligent as the logistics company's workers.

Seeing Feng Yiping on the truck, Feng Zhenchang handed him a towel, but it wasn't much help. Since the summer of junior high, Feng Yiping had not experienced such heavy sweating, not even during his tennis matches. The sweat was pouring down, more than he had sweated in the past few months at the tennis club. Pneumatic tools were not the heaviest items he dealt with, each weighing about 30 kilograms, but moving them quickly and in large quantities was still quite strenuous.

After about twenty minutes, there was just one more item to fit in the last row. Feng Yiping took the pneumatic wrench from Feng Hua and was about to place it when he felt a sharp pain in his chest, brief but intense. He staggered, trying to steady himself, but another wave of pain hit him, and he blacked out, falling backward with the box in his arms.

Feng Hua, after passing the box to his uncle, went straight to the driver's seat to get a rope to tie down the load. Suddenly, he heard a thud from behind the truck and ran over, sensing something was wrong. He dropped the rope and rushed to the back of the truck.

He saw the workers gathered around, with Feng Yiping lying on the ground, eyes closed, face pale. One worker was moving the box off him, and Feng Zhenchang was holding his son's head, pressing his acupoint. Feng Hua pushed through the crowd, shouting, "Move, move! Let some air in!"

...

In August 1992, at the foot of the Dabie Mountains, in Fengjia Village.

Feng Yiping, wearing a straw hat, a yellowed sweatshirt, blue polyester pants, and old解放shoes, sat on a rock under a pine tree, a plastic sheet under him, staring blankly at the nearby yellow cow.

He had been like this for several days. At first, Feng Zhenchang and Mei Qiuping thought he was sick, but after the village doctor checked him and said there was nothing wrong, they told him to do his usual chores.

Rural children always had things to do during the summer and winter breaks. Feng Yiping's family, along with two others, shared a cow. Each family took care of the cow for three months a year, and Feng Yiping's family usually took care of it during the summer or winter break.

For children like Feng Yiping, who were not yet fully grown and lacked strength, tasks like cutting grass for pigs, herding cattle, and preparing meals were part of their responsibilities. Relatively speaking, these were light jobs.

It was very hot, and even in the shade, with a gentle breeze from the mountains, he was still sweating profusely.

What troubled him most was his inner turmoil. Since the day before yesterday, he had been feeling very confused. He had seen "Inception" and wondered if this was just a deep dream, one that felt like it would last a long time?

It wasn't surprising, given that while time-travel novels and TV shows were common, when it actually happened to him, who wouldn't be skeptical?

From 2014 to 1992, 22 years had passed. In 2014, his son was in first grade, and now, he had just finished elementary school and was about to start junior high.

After 20 years, many things were a blur. He often encountered people in the village who seemed very familiar, but he couldn't remember their names or how to address them.

On the opposite mountain, his uncle and cousin were letting the cow and calf graze while they cut the grass and shrubs, which would dry in a few days and be carried back, much better for burning than straw or leaves.

His thoughts were scattered and jumped quickly. In 1992, he was 12 years old, and if he calculated correctly, his wife, Zhang Yan, was 9 and still in elementary school in a neighboring county. He chuckled, thinking that Zhang Yan must have been very cute back then. He knew she was still chubby until junior high. Oh, what was Zhang Yan like in 2014? And his mischievous son, Feng Cheng, and his parents? Oh, his parents were fine, they were still in the village. But the parents now and the parents then? Sigh, it was a bit confusing.

There were also his nephews, Wen Hua and Wen Hui, who helped in the shop, but this morning, when he led the cow out of the pen, Wen Hua was leading Wen Hui, two snot-nosed kids, who were begging to come up the mountain with him.

He wasn't sure what his 2014 self was like. This was a matter of time, perhaps something Hawking could explain, but he couldn't figure it out.

He definitely didn't have a heart condition. The first time he felt a sharp pain in his chest was on a Sunday in the first year of junior high. He was about to return to school in the afternoon and was waiting for his classmates. After packing his things, he took a nap and woke up a few minutes later with a sharp pain in his chest. He screamed, startling his mother in the kitchen, but by the time he screamed, the pain was gone. His parents were still worried and took him to the town hospital, but no issues were found. Later, in Guangzhou, he experienced the pain a couple more times, and after seeing a specialist, it was diagnosed as sub-health. During a machinery exhibition in Shanghai, he even went to Huashan Hospital at Fudan University, but no problems were found.

So, he was resistant to the idea that his 2014 self might have, possibly, probably, maybe, or perhaps... well, passed away.

If his 2014 self had really passed away or become a vegetative state, what would happen to his wife, children, and parents?

Fortunately, his business wasn't doing great, but he had done well in other areas, mainly in real estate. In 2003, they decided to move to Guangzhou to do electromechanical business, and both resigned from their jobs in Zhejiang. When they first moved to Guangzhou, they didn't think about buying a house, partly because they couldn't afford it.

However, when they went to look for a rental, they saw houses for sale, 80 square meters for less than 300,000 yuan, around 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per square meter, which was cheaper than a town in Wenzhou!

Considering that the economy here was not worse than in Zhejiang and it was a provincial capital, the future potential for appreciation was good.

He and Zhang Yan looked at houses and found a new development near the warehouse they planned to rent. It was on the outskirts of the city, not far from Foshan, but much cheaper. The red banner on the wall read, "300,000 for a two-bedroom." They went inside and saw an 82-square-meter two-bedroom for less than 280,000 yuan. Although it was a six-unit building, it had two balconies, two bedrooms with bay windows, good lighting, and a good orientation. They decided to buy it.

The salesgirl was very persuasive, even for Feng Yiping, who was a salesperson himself. They felt that the price would definitely rise, and the electromechanical business they planned to start might not be as profitable. So, they decided to buy two units, paying 30% down, which used up almost half of their initial capital.

They were lucky, as the SARS outbreak in 2003 had caused a significant drop in housing prices in Guangzhou.

From 2004, Guangzhou's housing prices started to rise. At the first Guangzhou Real Estate Summit in January 2004, eight major developers joined forces to raise prices, and the prices increased by nearly 20% that year, continuing to rise for seven years until the central government imposed strict purchase restrictions in 2010.

By 2014, the second-hand price of the same neighborhood had reached over 10,000 yuan per square meter, nearly tripling, making it easier to earn money than through hard work in business.

Tasting the sweetness of success, in 2007, after their son was born, they bought a larger 130-square-meter three-bedroom near the electromechanical market for their own use, renting out the other two units. In 2008, they took their parents on a trip to Yunnan and, having tasted the benefits, also paid attention to the local real estate market.

They visited four times and eventually bought a villa near the Kunming World Expo Garden, their most profitable investment, which made their lives tight for several years. But when they sold it in mid-2014, it fetched over 8 million yuan, more than doubling, allowing him to afford the 600,000 to 700,000 yuan SRX.

In total, their savings, stocks, funds, financial products, and real estate assets were worth over eight million yuan. Their electromechanical business and Zhang Yan's two bakeries brought in several hundred thousand yuan annually. While they couldn't match the billions of the business tycoons, it was enough to support their parents and raise their children.

Thinking about this, he felt better.

As for himself, he was now a skinny kid, about 1.6 meters tall, just a bit taller than the cow. Actually, if the cow raised its head, he would be shorter than the cow with its horns.

However, some things were priceless. He had no gray hair, no bags under his eyes, no belly... though he was thin, he was full of energy.

From a business perspective, if he had really passed away or become a vegetative state, it would have been the end of everything. But now, he was genuinely young again.

This was a huge gain, and it could only be described as a miracle!

For someone with over 30 years of experience, being young meant wealth, endless possibilities, and everything.

He had always been like this. If something was unclear and he couldn't be sure, but the worst possible outcome was acceptable, he would rather face it calmly.

So, what was there to worry about?

The cow was well-behaved, grazing in the valley while he was lost in thought. His cousin, Dongming, called him to go home from the opposite mountain.

He picked up the plastic sheet and put on his straw hat, leading the cow back slowly.

For rural children, this path was ordinary, and walking it empty-handed was easy. After descending the hill, crossing the small river, and climbing an eight-meter-high slope made of a large rock with some cracks for footholds, they continued. The cow, especially the old yellow cow, was a bit scared and often hesitated, lifting its front hooves. His uncle and Dongming put down their loads and led the two cows, preventing them from rushing.

His uncle reminded him, "Don't rush it, it knows how to walk."

Feng Yiping, an experienced cowherd, knew this well.

After some hesitation, the cow easily climbed the slope. Once up, the rest was easier, as the slope was wider and made of soil.

After crossing the slope, they reached the village. On both sides of the road were vegetable gardens, and a bit further was Fengjia Village.

Fengjia Village was the largest village in Fengjia Township, nestled between three mountains, with all the residents surnamed Feng, hence the name.

The village was built along the mountains, with houses close together. Most were brick and tile houses, with a few brick and tile houses with decorative eaves and murals, though the murals were now faded.

Behind each house were pigpens, neatly stacked firewood, and various farm tools, many of which Feng Yiping didn't know the official names for.

It was already 6 PM, and smoke was rising from every chimney. As he walked past the houses, he could hear the sizzling of oil in the pans and the clinking of spatulas, followed by the aroma of cooking.

On the firewood piles, some chickens were reluctant to go into the coop, clucking on top. Below the piles, children were chasing and playing. In the pigpens, the pigs, who always ate earlier than humans, were munching contentedly, their tails wagging and grunting in satisfaction.

Feng Yiping led the cow through the village. Their cowshed was by a pond at the front of the village. Along the way, he greeted everyone he met, repeating the same few phrases, "Uncle, I'm back."

They would respond, "Back, have you eaten?"

Indeed, many people called him "Uncle," as rural areas respected seniority. In Fengjia Township, only one small village was surnamed Sun, while the rest were surnamed Feng. Feng Yiping's father and his brothers were the eldest generation, and Feng Yiping and his cousins were the second eldest. Even a 70-year-old neighbor sometimes jokingly called him "Uncle," so he addressed all adults as "Brother" or "Sister." By seniority, many of the children in the village were his great-grandchildren.

Feng Yiping was the youngest among his cousins, and the second youngest cousin was nearly 10 years older than him. When people in the village mentioned this, they often joked that by the time Feng Yiping was 80, he would be the village's living ancestor. Indeed, by then, he would likely be the only one left from his generation, and those who were his great-grandchildren would have grandchildren of their own, making him a living ancestor.

He led the cow to drink water under a power pole by the pond. On the threshing ground by the pond, many people, both adults and children, were eating dinner, chatting about daily life, and some women were shouting from their doorsteps, "Where are you, come back and eat!"

Some chickens were still pecking around the ground, where some grains had fallen after threshing, and a few dogs were lying by the side, tongues out from the heat.

Seeing this scene, Feng Yiping felt both familiar and distant. Such lively scenes were only common in recent years. In a few years, young people would leave to work in the cities, and the village would only be lively during the Spring Festival, but even then, it would be rare to see such a gathering of dozens of people on the threshing ground.

Dongming's cow had been electrocuted by a wire once during a rainy day and never drank water there again, preferring the other side.

Dongming asked, "Are we going to the same place to herd the cows tomorrow?"

Feng Yiping replied, "Yes, there's still plenty of grass there."

"Then we'll go together."

"Okay."

After a moment, Feng Yiping added, "Brother Dongming, I'll bring a knife tomorrow and learn from you and Uncle to cut some firewood."

Dongming laughed, "With your strength, how much can you cut?"

Feng Yiping also laughed, "Whatever I can cut, I'll dry it and have my dad carry it back. By the end of the month, we should have a few loads of firewood!"

He remembered that his parents were busy with the fields and always lacked firewood in winter, so they had to collect chestnut leaves from the fields behind the village. A few loads of firewood wouldn't solve the problem, but it was better than nothing.

After securing the cowshed, he went to Wen Hua's house by the pond. The door was open, and the lights were off. His cousin, Huafu, was adding firewood to the stove, but he didn't see Wen Hua or Wen Hui. "Brother Huafu, where are Wen Hua and Wen Hui?"

Huafu turned and saw him, "Oh, you're back. They're probably playing on the threshing ground."

"Okay, they'll come to my place later. You can cook a bit less for dinner."

As he spoke, two children ran out, shouting, "Uncle, you're back!"

He let them lead the way, not going through the village center but taking a path around the hill, heading to his home at the back of the village. "You'll eat at my place tonight."

His family had a carpenter working on making desks and chairs, so the food was better.

Indeed, starting from their generation, students at the middle school had to bring their own desks and chairs.

Thank you for reading! As a new author, it's not easy to get noticed. If you can, please consider adding this book to your collection and giving it a recommendation.

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