Volume One, Chapter One: The Reborn Village Chief

“Xiugu, I keep telling you, you don’t need to come here every day. It’s not going to work out between you two.”

“Xiugu? Who’s that?”

Lu Yang slowly opened his eyes, astonished by everything around him.

The room was walled and floored with packed earth, devoid of any decent furniture. The bed beneath him felt as though it might collapse at any moment, and the only thing remotely new was a bamboo mat.

The mosquito net above was blackened with mold, reeking of decay and making one want to cough. The window was in ruins, not even patched with paper.

The mountain wind howled through the gaps; even in the height of summer, it brought a persistent, chilly draft.

Outside the window stood a village girl of about twenty, her features pure and beautiful, her complexion naturally fair, dressed in a checkered shirt from the late seventies or early eighties.

She glanced inside, placed two neatly folded pairs of trousers on the table, then lowered her head and left silently, saying nothing.

“Have I been reborn?”

He had been one of the nation’s top ten outstanding village officials, holding multiple posts and mastering various fields. Just an hour ago, he’d been at the provincial assembly hall, facing thousands of reporters and sharing his experience in rural governance.

After his presentation, he’d been so exhausted that he dozed off in the car.

Who could have guessed, upon waking again, he’d find himself here.

As memories fused, Lu Yang soon understood everything.

He had been reborn into the body of a young man also named Lu Yang, and the year was now 1979.

The original’s father, Lu Jianjun, had died in 1974, leaving behind his mother and two younger sisters. At that time, he had just started middle school.

His mother, frail and often ill, struggled even to raise his sisters, let alone support his education.

The villagers, seeing his academic promise, had said, “Let’s all help out—let our village have its own high school student.”

He had lived up to expectations, gaining admission to the county high school.

On the day he received the acceptance letter, the villagers, though poor, each contributed what they could—one family brought salt, another meat—and together they threw him a lively celebration, as joyful as New Year’s.

In his excitement, he declared, “If, after I graduate, I can’t help everyone here live such good days every day, I’ll never leave our village for the rest of my life.”

Everyone cheered and said, “Then from now on, you’ll be our little village chief. We’ll all listen to you.”

At first, people may have said it in jest, but some took it seriously. Whenever problems arose, they really did turn to him for advice and fair judgement.

He, grateful and educated, actually managed to resolve several issues.

Word spread from one to another, until eventually, all three teams on the mountain truly regarded him as their young village chief.

Especially his own third team—over twenty households saw him as the village’s sole hope.

The village’s prettiest girl, Lu Xiugu—the very girl who had just left—had already fallen deeply for him.

Though he pretended not to notice, he was drawn to her gentle kindness and graceful beauty, often using lessons in reading and writing as an excuse to spend time with her.

But this year, he was admitted to a university in the city.

Faced with all the temptations of the big city—job placement, housing guarantees—he still decided to pursue his studies and put an end to a love that had neither begun nor could ever find resolution.

The villagers dreamt of him staying, leading them out of poverty into prosperity.

Yet, as always, they pooled money from the collective to cover his travel, tuition, and living expenses.

Lu Xiugu, in turn, had stayed up late to sew him two sets of clothes and two pairs of shoes by hand; today, she must have come to deliver the trousers she’d sewn.

But she’d never uttered a word asking Lu Yang to stay, nor did she expect anything in return.

The only thing anyone asked of him was to help solve one last problem for the village.

A month ago, on his way home, he’d met a buyer from the county’s communal canteen—a man who specialized in purchasing wild game in large quantities.

The price was good, and since many in the village hunted, he invited the man to buy from them.

The first transaction went well, and everyone made a decent profit.

But when the man returned three days ago, he suddenly demanded to halve the price.

To hunt for this business, the team had reorganized, with each household sending a member to form a hunting group.

A whole month had gone by—how much farm work had been neglected in that time?

Now, with the price slashed, of course everyone was unwilling.

They said, “You’re educated and introduced us, so you talk to him.”

But the buyer refused to negotiate, even cursing him as an educated but useless fool.

He’d returned home, drowned his disappointment in two bottles of liquor, and drank himself to death.

“1979! Isn’t this already the era of reform and opening up? Why don’t they just take the goods to the county for sale?”

Lu Yang let out a wry laugh.

People were just coming out of various political movements, still deeply afraid of terms like ‘capitalism’ and ‘profiteering.’

Let alone selling in the county—many dared only to buy, not to sell, even at the township market.

Their village was deep in the mountains, dozens of kilometers from the county seat. With poor transportation and little information, they had no idea that city folk prized these things.

This matter had to be resolved before the afternoon; if not, many were ready to cause a scene in town and even call the authorities.

“I need to move quickly. If things get out of hand, it’ll be a mess!”

Since fate had brought him here, he would settle in.

In his previous life, he’d excelled at building new rural communities. Facing these respected yet impoverished villagers, how could he turn his back?

As for his future plans, he hadn’t figured them out yet.

“For now, I’ll just live as the original Lu Yang did.”

He opened the door to find his mother, Wang Sufen, examining the two pairs of trousers. When she saw him, she quickly tried to hide them behind her back, clearly not wanting him to know about Lu Xiugu’s quiet devotion.

As for Lu Yang himself, he didn’t know how to handle these feelings, nor could he make any promises—after all, it was the original Lu Yang whom Lu Xiugu had loved.

“Mother, I’m heading out for a bit.”

Wang Sufen hurried over, blocking his way.

“Son, where are you going? Are you thinking of looking for Wang Youfu again?”

Wang Youfu was the man who claimed to be from the canteen’s purchasing department.

But based on Lu Yang’s experience, he was ninety percent a fraud.

He’d been baiting them all along, and now that everyone was in deep, he’d started to squeeze them.

“Mom, everyone’s counting on me, and this was my responsibility to begin with. I have to resolve it, don’t I?”

Wang Sufen frowned deeply—it wasn’t that she didn’t trust her son.

To her, he was the most capable son in the world.

But the other man was a city dweller, an official no less—how could her son compete with someone like that?

“Son, it’s not that your mother doesn’t know gratitude or responsibility, but you shouldn’t jeopardize your future over this.”

“Just listen to me and stay home. When the school year starts next month, you’ll go to the city for your studies.”

A wise man first secures his own foundation.

Help if you can, but if you can’t, let it go.

That’s perfectly reasonable.

Had Lu Yang not experienced so much, he might have thought the same.

But he had seen firsthand the honesty and kindness of farmers.

Their thinking was simple—those who treat me well, I treat well in return.

Even if there were a few difficult people, they were rare exceptions.

Lu Yang wouldn’t be soft on those few, nor would he shy away from helping the villagers who had supported him.

“Mom, it’s alright. This isn’t actually that hard; I just hadn’t thought it through before.”

Still, Wang Sufen stood in his way, silent, her tired yet resolute gaze fixed on her son.

Truthfully, she wanted him to solve the problem as much as anyone.

After all, the villagers had helped their family so much over the years.

If they didn’t help now, they’d be labeled ungrateful.

Not only herself, but her two daughters would be criticized as well.

Moreover, their own family had, as part of the collective, contributed hundreds of jin of pickled wild game, now forced to sell at half price.

“Young chief! Young chief! Something’s wrong! Ergou and the old chief’s group are fighting!”

Just then, urgent shouts came from outside.