Return and Legacy

Around noon, Eddie's sister and brother-in-law arrived, bringing along their six-year-old son, Wang Tianyi.

Eddie was eight years younger than his sister. If it weren't for a change in national policy, their parents wouldn't have been allowed to have a second child. So in a way, Eddie owed his very existence to the state.

After exchanging a few greetings at the door, Eddie's sister went to the kitchen to help their parents with lunch, while her husband asked Eddie about life overseas.

Eddie pulled his little nephew aside and asked, "Did you miss your uncle while I was gone?"

Wang Tianyi didn't have strong feelings for his uncle. Mostly, Eddie had brought this on himself—he loved to tease the kid and sometimes didn't know when to stop. Of course the child didn't like him.

Wang Tianyi had a soft personality and suffered from childhood anorexia, which made it hard for him to eat and grow. As a result, he remained small and meek.

Being caught by Eddie, Wang Tianyi tried to please him by tidying his collar, then said in a soft voice, "I did."

Seeing her son caught like a chick in an eagle's claws, Eddie's sister warned him, "Go easy. You always make my kid cry. If you make him cry again, I'll deal with you myself."

Because of the eight-year age gap, Eddie had always been dominated by his sister when they were young. Before he started middle school, he had lost every argument and every scuffle with her.

Eddie gave an awkward grin and said to Wang Tianyi, "How about an apple, from your uncle?"

Wang Tianyi, true to his anorexia, shook his head firmly—he didn't like to eat.

Eddie went into his room and came back with the latest iPad Air—one not yet released in China. He had specially brought it from Canada and even paid extra to have an Apple engineer install a localized Chinese software version.

Thanks to television, the internet, and the increasing popularity of cars, the gap between rural and urban life had been shrinking. Eddie's sister's family had a computer, and Wang Tianyi had seen iPads before. But the iPad Air had a whopping 20-megapixel display. When it lit up, its vivid screen instantly captivated the boy.

"Give it to me!" the kid cried, reaching for it eagerly.

Eddie pointed to the Apple logo on the back and said, "Didn't I just ask if you wanted an apple? You said no. Now you want to change your mind?"

The little guy stomped around in frustration. Eddie teased him a bit more before handing over the iPad and launching a plane-shooting game for him to play.

Lunchtime arrived. The table was filled with dishes: crispy fried pork strips, scallion stir-fried pork, stir-fried sausage, iron pot catfish, scrambled eggs with chives, smashed cucumbers, sautéed celery, jellyfish with napa hearts, and for the main course, freshly cooked meat pies and veggie buns.

Eddie opened a bottle of ice wine he had brought back. "This is a specialty from Newfoundland. Mom, Dad—you've got to try it."

Wang Tianyi, now glued to the iPad and uninterested in food, kept glancing at the tablet on the kang bed. Even after a few scoldings from his mother, he didn't stop.

Eddie got an idea—he poured some maple syrup and dipped a piece of pie in it, offering it to Wang Tianyi. The boy grudgingly took a bite, then nodded and quietly sat down to eat. He didn't love it, but at least he wasn't repulsed.

While eating, Eddie shared his plan: he wanted to bring his parents to Canada.

"Mom, Dad, come live with me. I've got a villa at the fish farm, right by the ocean. You open the window and the sea's right there. The sky is so blue, the air so clean, and the food so safe. Come with me."

But both parents shook their heads. His father said, "We can't just abandon things at home. The leeks have to be sold, the celery's in season, the cucumbers were just planted, and there's ginger too—we can't just leave it all."

His mother added, "Why go to a foreign country? No matter how blue the sky is, your dad and I still can't fly. It's all the same planet—how different can the air really be? And food-wise, what we eat from our own fields is the safest."

Eddie kept trying to convince them, even Creeper joined in, but the old couple stood firm.

Finally, Eddie turned to his sister. She gave him a side glance and said, "You're oversimplifying. How could Mom and Dad go abroad? All our relatives are here, they've got good neighbors, and if they're ever bored, they have people to talk to. Overseas? Who would they talk to? Even if someone wanted to talk, they don't even speak Mandarin properly, let alone a foreign language."

Eddie had to admit, she had a point.

His father offered, "How about this? When summer comes, we'll find a time to visit your fish farm. What do city folks call it—going somewhere to escape the heat? Yeah, we'll do that. The whole family will go."

Wang Tianyi threw down his bun and clapped his hands. "We're going abroad!"

His mother snapped, "That's not your business. Keep eating!"

"But aren't we going abroad?"

"Nope. Stop changing the subject. Keep eating!"

"But I'm full."

"Doesn't matter!"

"Ugh…" The little guy sighed in frustration.

After lunch, Eddie found a moment to pull his sister aside and handed her a bank card. "Sis, take good care of Mom and Dad. There's two million in here…"

"Two million?!"

"Keep your voice down. Don't tell Mom and Dad. And listen, my fish farm is doing great. Money isn't an issue. Take it. Didn't your husband want to start a business? Let him. If you need more, just ask."

Hearing this, his sister smiled with emotion and said, "Remember when you were in junior high? You used to come visit me in Shanze City during summer break. Every time you left, I gave you fifty yuan as pocket money for the semester."

Eddie laughed. "Of course I remember. That was over thirteen years ago. I remember I'd always buy bread from the city on my way back—back then, we didn't even have bread at home."

"Yeah. And now look at us. In the blink of an eye, you're giving me money—not fifty yuan, but two million."

"Come on, Sis, don't get so emotional. Want me to make it five million?"

"How much money do you even have?" she asked, alarmed. "I'm warning you—don't get involved in anything shady."

Eddie pulled a face and ran off, nearly bumping into his nephew on the way to find Grandma.

That afternoon, he tried to visit CK but missed him—CK's father said the couple had gone to the county to look at wedding dresses.

With nothing else to do, Eddie took Creeper on a walk around the village, introducing him to all the familiar trees, paths, and corners.

Eddie's village sat between a mountain and a river. With wind from the mountains and water from the river, its feng shui should've meant prosperity.

In reality, the village's economy hadn't developed well. But in recent years, with more villagers working in cities, every household had more money. The place had improved a lot. Blue-brick tile-roofed houses had replaced the old red-brick ones.

"The river in front of our village is called the Bailong River. It's not wide or famous, but its source is. It's part of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The old folks here say our village was once prosperous. But when the canal lost its importance, the village declined."

"That mountain doesn't have a name, but it used to be full of trees. As kids, we'd catch wild rabbits and pheasants up there. But now, most of the trees have been chopped down, and you can't see any wildlife."

"My whole adolescence was spent here. Looking back now, it was a pretty great time."

Eddie greeted a few villagers along the way. Most of them were seeing a foreigner in person for the first time. As he and Creeper strolled around, they drew curious looks. Some kids even started trailing behind them.

When Creeper turned to greet them, they all screamed and ran away, which made Eddie laugh hard.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable being stared at like a zoo animal, Eddie took Creeper back home. They lay on the kang bed, and Eddie summoned the Sea God consciousness to check on his fish farm.

The place was lively now. The addition of millions of cod fry had transformed the once quiet seabed into a bustling playground, with fish darting and frolicking everywhere—Eddie was delighted.

It was just time for feeding. Eddie saw Shark's boat speeding across the sea, releasing feed that fluttered down like rain. The fry scrambled to gobble it up.

Eddie had bought only the best fish feed, rich in protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.

The beauty of this feed was that, even if the fry didn't eat it, it would eventually dissolve and turn into nutrients for sea grasses and algae.

After all, artificial feeding wasn't a permanent solution. Once the fish grew up, they'd have to forage on their own. So before that happened, the seabed needed to be lush with vegetation.