Volume 1, Chapter 2: I Will Make You the Happiest Woman in the World

"You little brat, kneel down!"

After the others had left, Chen Zhilin barked at Chen Yang.

*Thump!*

"Dad, Mom, it's so good to see you again!" Chen Yang knelt on the ground, his eyes brimming with hot tears.

In his previous life, he had lived a mediocre existence. But as a man reborn, he had to stand tall; he would not let tragedy repeat itself. He might not have had much formal education, but with forty years of life experience, he had enough to ensure his family lived a good life.

"Yang, how could you do such a thing? How can you look Zhiqing Huang in the eye?" his mother, Liu Minghua, asked through tears.

Hearing this, Chen Yang looked toward Huang Zhiyao while still on his knees: "Zhiyao, I, Chen Yang, swear that I will definitely make you the happiest woman in the world!"

Make her the happiest woman in the world? What beautiful words. Yet, coming from the mouth of a local hoodlum, they were dripping with irony.

Fate. Perhaps this was just fate. If she hadn't been helping her best friend Chen Ying celebrate her twentieth birthday, how could she have ended up drinking? And if she hadn't been drinking, how could she have muddled through and given her first time to this good-for-nothing?

At this thought, Huang Zhiyao closed her eyes, and two tears fell. "Yingying, take me back to the educated youth dorm."

"Get the hell out of here!" His father kicked the kneeling Chen Yang. The girl needed to get dressed—why the hell was he still kneeling there?

Chen Yang stood up, dazed, and glanced at Huang Zhiyao, who was wrapped in a quilt. *Damn it, was I an idiot in my previous life? How could I have rejected such a beautiful woman?*

"You little brat, I'll beat you to death!" As soon as he stepped out of the west room, his mother came at him with a feather duster.

He endured the light, painless blows, feeling that it was actually nice to have his mother around. Of course, while being beaten by Mom was nice, one shouldn't overindulge. He let out an exaggerated howl and ran out of the house toward the Yinma River to the west.

*Splash!*

He dove into the river, cooling his body while using the icy water to calm his mind.

Reborn! He was absolutely certain now—he had been reborn. And it was exactly the nineteen-eighties, the age of nineteen he had missed most in his dreams. In his previous life, burdened by guilt toward Huang Zhiyao, he had never married.

Perhaps heaven had taken pity on him and granted him a chance to restart his life. If he didn't cherish this, he would truly be beyond saving. With forty years of experience, could he really not win over Huang Zhiyao?

"Brother Yang! Brother Yang!" Hearing that familiar, accented call, a smiling face appeared in Chen Yang's mind. There wasn't another person in the entire village who called him that; it was Li Cheng, the son of the village chief, Li Zhiquan. The boy was two years his junior and had been following him around since they wore split-crotch pants—a truly loyal sidekick.

"You weren't at home, so I knew you’d be here!"

*Splash!*

Chen Yang dove to the bank and jumped straight out of the water, wrapping his arm around Li Cheng's neck. This loyal sidekick was a stand-up guy; although he hadn't achieved much in his previous life, he had helped Chen Yang out more than once.

"Chengzi, life shouldn't be like this."

"What are you talking about? Brother Yang, did you really sleep with Educated Youth Huang?"

*Damn!* Kids were just kids—was he always this blunt? Chen Yang didn't know how to answer. Saying yes felt wrong, and saying no felt wrong too.

"I'm going to marry Huang Zhiyao." As he said this, Chen Yang's eyes were full of light.

"Brother, I've got thirty cents in my pocket. It's all yours, consider it my wedding gift." Li Cheng dug the thirty cents, smelling of his body odor, out of his tattered shorts.

"If you want to help me, it's simple. Tomorrow, borrow the production team's horse cart from your dad. I need to go to the county. If all goes well, we'll be rich soon."

Before Li Cheng could respond, Chen Yang dove back into the water.

***

"Old Chen, what are we going to do? Yang has already made his word public in front of the whole village—in three days, he'll bring the dowry and the 888 yuan bride price to the educated youth dorm to propose. We only have twenty-five yuan and twenty cents to our names. What kind of dowry can we buy? How will this end?"

At home, his mother, Liu Minghua, was full of worry. Although Chen Yang had managed to avoid jail time in a near-shameless way, if they didn't do this properly, the Chen family would be the subject of gossip for the rest of their lives.

"Sigh, I'll go out and see if I can borrow some. We can't let the girl down." To help his son, Chen Zhilin decided to swallow his pride. As long as Huang Zhiyao was satisfied, what did face matter? Besides, ever since Chen Yang had been caught in bed with her, there was no face left to lose.

"Try a few more houses, sigh." What else could they do? Chen Zhilin snuffed out his pipe and stood up to head to the village chief's house.

"Dad, Mom, I'll handle this myself!" Chen Yang, having returned from his swim, overheard the conversation. His heart warmed. The love of parents is truly selfless; in his previous life, they had never lived a good day. Fortunately, heaven had given him another chance to be a good son.

The change would start now!

"You little bastard, what could you possibly handle?" His father’s temper flared again, and he grabbed a fire poker to continue the lesson. Fortunately, his mother stopped him, sparing Chen Yang further "socialist re-education."

"Yang, you've already wronged that girl Zhiyao enough. Your father and I will find a way for the dowry. Just work hard to earn your work points from now on, and our family will get by." His mother's earnest advice made Chen Yang feel even more sorrowful.

He looked at his parents seriously: "I'm sorry, Dad, Mom. I was immature before and caused you so much trouble. But please rest assured, starting today, you will see a different Chen Yang."

After bowing deeply to them, he went back to the west room to sleep, as he planned to wake up early tomorrow to put his plan into action.

Chen Zhilin and Liu Minghua looked at each other, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes. This little brat... he really seemed to have changed.

The next morning, while it was still dark, Chen Yang got up and headed toward the mountains with a basket. These mountains and waters were all treasures, a golden mountain bestowed upon him by heaven. He intended to use these to earn his first pot of gold and provide Huang Zhiyao with a comfortable life.

It was the perfect season for picking mushrooms, so he decided to start there. If he remembered correctly, they were in high demand at the local restaurants. If he could open that channel, earning his first fortune within three days would be no problem at all.

However, he didn't pick too many this time, selecting only the more precious varieties like golden mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, and monkey head mushrooms as his first samples.

It was just past seven when he returned home. Before he could finish his porridge, he heard Li Cheng shouting outside.

"Brother Yang, I got the cart! When are we leaving?"

"Yang, where are you going? Didn't you promise me you'd work hard?" his mother asked anxiously, her expression changing.

"I have to go to the county today. I have important business!"

Working the fields was out of the question—never in this life. A healthy man could earn at most ten work points a day. With one point worth only eight to ten cents, he'd be lucky to make a single yuan after a day of back-breaking labor. As a man reborn, how could he waste time like that?

"Go to the county, my ass!" Before Chen Yang could finish, his father's chopstick had already tapped him on the head.