Xu Tongdao had a dream.
A very long dream—one he hadn't had in many years, because the events within it had happened more than twenty years ago.
In the dream, his father suddenly disappeared.
Afterward, many creditors came to their home demanding repayment, claiming that the night before his father Xu Weixi vanished, he had lost money gambling to them. On that same day, his uncle Xu Weidong's widow—his aunt by marriage—also disappeared.
In his hazy consciousness, Xu Tongdao knew clearly that this wasn't just a dream. It was something that had truly happened to his family more than twenty years ago.
That incident had changed the fate of every member of his family.
At the time, he had just finished the middle school entrance exams and was waiting for his results. Because his father suddenly disappeared and left behind massive debts, Xu Tongdao never got to attend high school.
Later, when his exam results came out—594 points—it was enough to get into County No. 2 High School.
Then there was his younger brother, Xu Tonglu, only a year younger than him. He had always been an outstanding student, winning certificates year after year since childhood—a true academic seedling.
But because of this family disaster, his personality changed drastically. He lost all interest in studying, barely finished middle school, then went off to drift aimlessly. Later, he was in and out of the police station every few weeks. The worst time, he spent three years in prison before being released. His life was essentially ruined.
There was also the adopted daughter his parents had taken in—Xu Tongdao's younger sister, Ge Yuzhu…
At eighteen, she had been married off early by their mother to an idle rich second-generation wastrel. Her days were always bitter. At twenty-six, she finally divorced, bringing along a daughter, but life never improved.
As for his mother…
She had passed away three days ago.
She had been buried earlier today. Until the burial was complete, his younger brother Xu Tonglu never showed up, and no one could reach him.
Xu Tongdao himself had been divorced for six years, with no children.
With the family reduced to this state, how could his heart not be heavy?
On top of that, with his mother just buried, he drank more than usual that night. He didn't know when he fell asleep—only that he then had this long, lingering dream.
He knew it was a dream, yet he was unwilling to wake up.
Because in the dream, although his father had disappeared, his mother, younger brother, and younger sister were still alive.
Aside from his useless father, his entire family was still intact.
"Big brother… Big brother… wake up…"
Xu Tongdao suddenly heard his sister's voice. She seemed to be calling him while shaking his shoulder.
Has my sister come to see me?
He sighed softly in his heart. He truly didn't want to wake up from this dream.
Frowning, he opened his eyes—and indeed saw his sister Ge Yuzhu sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand still shaking his shoulder.
In that instant, Xu Tongdao froze.
He stared blankly at his younger sister Ge Yuzhu. The Ge Yuzhu who had been over thirty in his memories… now looked only in her teens.
A slender figure, delicate features, eyes like black pearls—and skin so dark it gleamed.
This sister…
She wasn't actually related to their family by blood.
Back then, his parents had adopted her when she was still an infant mainly because the family was poor. They worried that their two sons wouldn't be able to afford wives in the future, so they adopted a girl, planning that when the boys grew up, she could marry one of them and ease the family's burden.
Because of this, Xu Tongdao's younger sister didn't take the Xu surname, but followed their mother's surname instead—Ge.
In terms of appearance, Ge Yuzhu was quite pretty. She had always been slender, with delicate features from a young age, and especially beautiful eyes like black pearls.
The only issue was her skin—it was very dark, the kind of dark that shone.
Some people thought she was beautiful, but more people thought she was too dark, and therefore ugly.
For example, his younger brother Xu Tonglu had always thought she was ugly, claiming he'd never seen a girl so dark.
As for Xu Tongdao himself?
He never thought his sister was ugly. But later, he never married her, for two main reasons.
First, they had grown up together since childhood. There was only sibling affection, nothing else.
Second… when they reached adulthood, the family was simply too poor. As the eldest brother, Xu Tongdao didn't want his sister to continue suffering alongside him, so he let their mother decide and allowed her to marry Ge Yuzhu off to someone else.
Later events proved that his sister had married the wrong man.
But that was all in the future—already unchangeable.
Yet now…
Ge Yuzhu was once again only in her teens.
What was going on?
Xu Tongdao frowned and looked around. What he saw left him even more shocked.
The earthen walls, the thatched roof, the old wooden bed, the worn clothes by the bedside, the old wooden table by the window, and the two battered chairs…
Everything before his eyes was painfully familiar.
This was exactly what his old home used to look like.
"Big brother, are you feeling better? Has your fever gone down?"
Seeing that he hadn't spoken, Ge Yuzhu frowned with concern and reached out to touch his forehead.
Fever?
Xu Tongdao blinked and remembered.
The day after his father disappeared, creditors had come knocking. First they asked if his father was home. Then they demanded money. When there was no money to give, they started taking things.
The two pigs the family had raised, along with the chickens and ducks, were all taken away.
Not only that, the rice stored in the granary and the rice jar were completely emptied.
Even the family's only electrical appliance—the television—was carried off.
After those people left, the Xu family was truly left with nothing.
Of course, that wasn't the direct cause of his fever.
The direct cause was that after there was no rice left to cook, his mother sat there in a daze for a long time. Then she suddenly stood up, called him along, and went to borrow rice from his second aunt's family in Tankou Village across the river.
The trip there went smoothly.
But on the way back, it suddenly started raining. He and his mother dragged two sacks of rice home on a wooden cart, struggling the entire way.
After they got home, both of them came down with a fever.
He remembered this clearly.
Because of that incident—since there was no money for proper medical care—he only took some fever-reducing medicine. Being young and strong, he recovered quickly.
But after his mother's fever broke, she kept coughing for half a month before getting better.
After that, she developed chronic bronchitis. Whenever the weather turned cold, it would flare up, leaving her coughing nonstop.
"Whew, that's good! Big brother, your fever really does seem to be gone."
Ge Yuzhu touched his forehead, then her own, and finally relaxed, smiling with relief.
Xu Tongdao smiled faintly. Although the fever had subsided, his entire body still felt weak—the aftereffects were still there.
"Where's Mom? And where's second brother?"
Xu Tonglu had always slept on this bed with him, but he wasn't there now, so Xu Tongdao asked instinctively.
Ge Yuzhu sighed softly. "Mom went to the dike. Second brother just went out with a fish spear to catch fish. Big brother, you must be hungry, right? Hurry and get up to eat! There's still some thin porridge in the pot—I saved it especially for you."
The dike?
Xu Tongdao frowned again.
More long-buried memories surfaced because of those words.
That's right.
When disaster struck their family, it was right after his middle school entrance exams, during the plum rain season—specifically, the plum rain season of 1998.
That year, the rainfall was especially heavy. Many places suffered dike breaches.
Luckily, Bamboo Grove Township, where his family lived, didn't experience a breach. Their few earthen houses were spared.
But the crops in the fields were completely ruined.
He remembered clearly that every single field in their village was flooded that year.
All the crops were submerged underwater.
Standing in the village and looking toward the farmland, it was like gazing at the sea—an endless expanse of white water.
Because of this, that year was exceptionally hard for his family. The grain harvest was drastically reduced.
And now…
They were still in the plum rain season. It rained almost every day.
Sometimes it rained day and night without stopping.
Occasionally it would clear up for a few hours, only to suddenly start raining again.
In weather this terrible, every household was required to send someone to guard the dike—mandatory, with no exceptions.
That was why, even though his family was already in dire straits, and his mother's fever might not even have fully gone down, she still went to guard the dike.
Xu Tongdao felt worried about his mother.
As for his younger brother Xu Tonglu going out with a fish spear to catch fish—that felt perfectly normal.
In his memory, every plum rain season, he and his brother would go out to catch fish.
Because during the plum rain season, rainfall was usually heavy, and many fish from rivers and ponds would swim into the fields and irrigation ditches.
During this period, as long as you had the ability, you could catch fish freely in the fields and ditches. Even if the fish pond owner saw you, they wouldn't say anything.
After all, you weren't fishing in their pond.
"You go ahead first. I'll be out in a moment."
Xu Tongdao sent his sister Ge Yuzhu out, then got up to put on his clothes and shoes.
As he dressed, his brow remained slightly furrowed, deep in thought.
He didn't know how he had returned to 1998. Nor did he care.
Maybe he had been reborn… or maybe his previous life had all been a fleeting dream, and this was the real one.
It didn't matter.
What mattered was how he would lead this family out of their current predicament.
No matter what, he didn't want his family's future to turn out so miserably again.
His father had run away. As the eldest son on the verge of adulthood, it was now his responsibility to become the pillar of this family.
Last time, he had failed.
Now, given a second chance, he would not allow himself to fail again.
He resolved to hold this family up.
When he stepped out of the room, his resolve was already firm.
Beneath the appearance of a seventeen-year-old, he carried the heart of a man nearly forty.
As if overnight, he had matured greatly.
He wasn't tall—just over 1.7 meters—with a lean build and faint fuzz around his mouth.
His expression was calm, his eyes bright and alert, carrying a steady, composed air.
Ge Yuzhu entered through the back door of the main hall, holding a large coarse porcelain bowl filled with thin porridge.
On the old square dining table, there was only a small bowl of dark pickled vegetables.
Seeing him come out of the room, Ge Yuzhu smiled. "Big brother, I brought you your porridge. Hurry and eat while it's hot!"
"Alright."
Xu Tongdao returned a gentle smile, his voice warm.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup