Chapter 1: Island Boy Evening, seaside. The waves gently lapped the soft sand, and each touch brought countless delicate foams, and then quietly retreated, leaving behind a trail of wet traces. Among them were quite a few small crabs with their claws and fangs bared. After being washed ashore, they hurriedly crawled to a hidden place and burrowed back into the sand. These are called sand crabs. They look very cute, arrogant but timid. They are not much bigger than a fingernail. When I was a child, I often caught them and kept them in glass jars. If I put some sand moistened by sea water in the jars, they would live for a long time. But Fang Wei’s target today is not these small sand crabs. He held up a fishing rod with bait on it, stood on the shore where the waves were smaller, and skillfully threw the hook back into the sea, staring at the sparkling sea without blinking. In the center of his vision, the fish float was swaying in the sea breeze. Occasionally, I would glance at the girl surfing not far away. If I remembered correctly, this was probably the 38th time she failed and fell into the sea in a mess this afternoon. For novice surfers, surfing in the morning is obviously more suitable for practice, because the waves during this period are relatively gentle, without rough waves and strong winds. But Xu Cailing, who is addicted to being a wimp, doesn't care about this little thing. Perhaps because the happy summer vacation was about to end, the girl seemed to be working extra hard in her surfing practice today with a vengeful mentality.
"Do you want to take a break?" Fang Wei couldn't help but shout to the girl. "What?" Xu Cailing was holding the surfboard, with the sound of wind and waves filling her ears. "Do you want to take a break? This is the thirty-eighth time you have fallen into the sea!" Fang Wei reminded. “…I didn’t ask you to count this!!” The girl was embarrassed, but she stubbornly climbed onto the surfboard to prepare for the next practice. The board is a foam board commonly used by novices, not too expensive. It was a birthday gift given to her by her sister who went to work in Shanghai, and she treasures it very much. When she was in the water, she was as agile as a fish and every movement was smooth and natural, but when she was on the surfboard, her small body became a little stiff. After finally finding the balance point, she lay on the surfboard and began to paddle forward, trying to kick the water with her cute feet to speed up. A wave of moderate size came over, and the surfboard began to be pushed by the waves. She quickly changed from a prone position to a kneeling position. The speed seemed to be about the same! Then, she stepped on it with one foot, and then the other foot quickly followed! Her heartbeat quickened at this moment, the waves slowly rose and fell, and indescribable colors appeared in the girl's eyes. She imagined how handsome and cool she would look, and she was already intoxicated! When she was just a stone's throw away from success, she couldn't help but shout: "Fang Wei! Look! Look! Look at me! Look at me!" It's cool and handsome, but that's where it ends. Because when Fang Wei looked over, she had fallen into the sea with the board. Uh... Xu Cailing lay on the surfboard, not wanting to say a word. It was okay that she failed, but because she was so excited that some sea water got into her nostrils, irritating her eyes and making them red. She looked like she was crying, which was so embarrassing. Your own failure is painful, but your friend’s success is even more heartbreaking. Before Fang Wei could laugh at her, the float on the sea suddenly sank. He seized the opportunity and decisively reeled in the fishing line. The fishing line instantly became taut, making a buzzing sound that cut through the air. "It's hooked! It looks like a sea bass! It's quite big!" No matter how many times a fish is caught, for a fisherman, the feeling at that moment is always quite satisfying. "How do you know it's a sea bass when you haven't even caught it yet?"
"That's my six or seven years of fishing experience! I knew what kind of fish it was as soon as it bit the hook. It's probably more than ten pounds. Cailing, where's your landing net?" A pound of fish has ten pounds of strength, and sea bass is even more powerful. Don't underestimate the power that a ten-pound sea fish can unleash. Fang Wei is only thirteen years old this year, and his body has not yet fully grown. If it weren't for his superb fishing skills, any other teenager would probably have lost the fish. The two of them cooperated well. In order to lead the big fish to shallow water, Xu Cailing picked up a wooden stick as thick as his arm and went over. He raised his hand, swung the stick, and slapped the sea bass's head twice. The big fish fainted and floated quietly on the water without moving. The girl's depression over failing to surf disappeared, and her face was filled with excitement. "No matter what kind of landing net is used, it's not as useful as my stick skills!" "..." It is really useful, Cailing Chaowang, specially for treating dissatisfaction. …… When Fang Wei pulled the unconscious sea bass ashore, Xu Cailing also ran over curiously to take a look. "It really is a sea bass! It looks like it weighs ten kilograms!" After all, having grown up by the sea, the girl is quite sensitive to the types and sizes of fish. "Of course not. Don't you see who caught the fish? How can I say anything about my skills?" "Tsk! Fishing is just like that. You just need to cast the rod and lift it. People like me who are responsible for catching fish have to consider a lot, such as when to swing the rod, how much force to use, where to hit the fish, etc. I can't do it without you!" "Yes, yes, you are the best!" Fang Wei was too lazy to ask for credit from her, so he happily picked up the fish and put it into the net bag. I should have brought a bigger net bag earlier. The small net bag filled with large sea bass seemed a bit crowded, but it made me feel happier and more satisfied. It has been thirteen years since I was reborn into this era. Today is August 2000, 8. When he was two or three years old, his hazy consciousness gradually awakened. Just like in his previous life, his parents named him Fang Wei, which means "endure the most bitter hardships and become a superior person". He had endured enough bitter hardships in his previous life, but how could he become a superior person? After working hard in a big city for many years away from home, I am still a beast of burden in the urban livestock farm. The meaning of life seems to be to work, endless work. Walking on the busy streets of the metropolis, he saw the hustle and bustle of people, but there was not a single familiar face. He then realized that what he pursued in life was actually already there from the beginning. The small bungalow with curling smoke, the cross window swept by the afterglow, the seashore where he could see the sunrise and sunset, he threw down his schoolbag and thought about the little tiger returning home in the cartoon, and the voice of "Why don't you get up yet? Mom has to go out to work. Breakfast is in the pot. Remember to heat it up before eating..." I always feel that everything in my childhood was like a dream. When the day breaks and I open my eyes, there is nothing around me but a numb body wandering in the world. I suddenly realized that it was the past of more than 20 years ago that I can never go back to, but it always makes me feel like it was yesterday that is within reach when it is late at night and everyone is asleep. Until the moment before his sudden death, he was still working overtime in the company. Even though he had moved away from his island hometown to a big city, the sense of happiness he got was far less than the small fishing village in his childhood memories. Fortunately, God gave him a chance to start over. He returned to the island hometown that he had dreamed of countless times. …… It was still early, so Fang Wei put bait on the fishing hook again and threw it into the sea.
Not far away, the girl, as smart as a white shark in the waves, began to practice surfing again and again. At the seaside in late August, the setting sun interweaves with the sea level, illuminating the surrounding water surface red and shining, and the sky presents a gentle pink and purple color. The sky is breathtakingly gorgeous, and my skin feels the warmth of the sea breeze. Sometimes Fang Wei would think about the past, or think about future plans, but more often he didn't think about anything. He just emptied his mind and looked at the slowly rising and falling waves. He couldn't help but be intoxicated by it. His body seemed to be lifted up by some kind of buoyancy, floating between such a picturesque sky and sea, and the tranquility and comfort seeped into his genes. "Fang Wei! Look! Look!!" Not far away, the girl's voice sounded again. Fang Wei looked over and saw that she was just floating on the water holding a surfboard, without trying to be cool. And in the distance in the direction of her finger—— A fireball rose from the hill on the small island on the other side of the sea level. Because the distance was far enough, the speed of the fireball rising into the sky seemed slow enough. It was a rocket launched from the Rising Sun Island. As the only rocket and satellite launch base in the Xuanzhu Thousand Islands, Rising Sun Island is known as the place closest to space in the East China Sea. Rising Sun Island is not too far from here. During Fang Wei's childhood, he was often fortunate enough to observe the scenes of rocket launches. In the face of this greatest project in human history, the cicadas and sparrows in the island's forests fell silent at this moment. In the sky, the dazzling light from the tail of the rocket overshadowed the sun behind the sunset for a moment. Even the atmosphere seemed to be ignited by the blazing flames. The huge thrust fought against gravity. The flames became brighter and brighter, turning into a blazing tail that cut through the sky, leaving a huge trail of white smoke. Then, more than ten seconds later, the deafening roar of the engine was heard in the distant sky. In the forest behind me, countless birds flapped their wings and flew up... The roar continued for a long time until the fire could no longer be seen, so much so that in the end they were not sure if it was just an auditory hallucination. During this time, Fang Wei and Xu Cailing did not say a word, both looking up in the same direction of the sky. “…Too awesome! So cool!!” Maybe she wanted to say something like 'breathtaking', 'astonishing', 'spectacular', but after thinking for a long time, the only words that came out of her mouth were 'wow', 'awesome', 'amazing' and so on. If it were to be released 666 years later, I guess there would be one more sentence, '!' After a while, the girl who had just finished watching the rocket launch withdrew her gaze and described her feelings with great joy: "It turns out that no matter how many times I watch the rocket launch, I still feel so shocked!!" "The universe, human beings, the starry sky, etc., all sound so amazing! I've decided! I want to be an astronaut in the future!" "...Didn't you just say the day before yesterday that you wanted to be a surfing expert in the future?" Fang Wei felt helpless to complain about Xu Cailing's fickle dreams. It made sense, after all, she was different from him. She was a genuine middle school girl. "Hey, Fang Wei, you said the rocket launch was so spectacular, can Shanghai see it?" "Of course you can't see it. The nearest port in Shanghai is about 100 to 200 kilometers away. However, people in Shanghai can watch it on TV." "So do we count as people on TV too?" "what?" Fang Wei was stunned for a moment before he caught up with her train of thought and said with a smile, "The camera isn't pointing at you!" "That's kind of true. We saw with our own eyes the rocket launch that they could only see on TV, but we were not just on TV." Xu Cailing felt very strange about this time-space dislocation. She curled her lips and looked a little proud: "It seems that Shanghai is not that great! So what if it is a first-tier city~" "Because you didn't see the rocket?"
"correct." "But maybe the person who launched the rocket came from Shanghai?" "Well……" The girl didn't respond to his question, but changed the subject and asked, "Can you see Shanghai from the rocket?" "Of course you can. Let alone Shanghai. If you are high enough, you can see the whole world." "I've decided my dream! To be an astronaut!!" "..." Fang Wei was about to say something but stopped herself from saying it. She really wanted to go up and give her a blow on the head. (New author, new book, hope you like it~! And please read it, recommend it, and give me monthly votes!) (End of this chapter)