Jiang Fan opens his eyes in Osmanthus Village, a miserable little place clinging to the edge of Yunmeng Lake in Wei Kingdom, Yunze Prefecture’s Tonghe County. He’s a fisherman now. Not the romantic kind either—more like the kind who counts copper coins and still comes up short. The house he lives in is an old tile-bricked thing that looks like it’s been patched up a hundred times. Inside? Barely anything. A few pieces of worn furniture, some tools, and that constant feeling of “if something breaks, we’re done.”
And the worst part is, Jiang Fan knows this isn’t his real life.
After a brutal fever, memories he shouldn’t have come rushing back. Earth… Debt…. Work…. A life where he kept trying to climb out of the mud, only to get dragged back down by bad luck and sudden disasters. He wasn’t lazy back then—just unlucky in a way that felt personal. Now he’s been tossed into an even uglier world, one where people don’t just struggle… they get crushed and forgotten.
On paper, fishermen around Yunmeng Lake should be doing fine. The lake is huge, rich, and feeds countless families. But the reality is nasty. Fishing taxes are heavier than farming taxes. Everything costs more than it should. There are fees for things that don’t even make sense. And if you think you can just work harder, you’re kidding yourself.
Because the lake isn’t really “public.”
It belongs to the Dragon King Gang.
They control the waters like it’s their private pond. Anyone who fishes has to pay a monthly tribute, and even selling your catch isn’t truly yours to decide. The gang squeezes people at every step, leaving regular fishermen with scraps and exhaustion.
The only warmth Jiang Fan has left in this life is Su Weiwei. She’s been in his household since childhood, and when Jiang Fan’s parents finally die—worn down by sickness and years of grinding poverty—it becomes just the two of them. Su Weiwei doesn’t complain. She works, cooks, cleans, and holds the little home together like she’s afraid one wrong day will make everything collapse. For Jiang Fan, she’s not just “someone living with him.” She’s the only person he can’t afford to lose.
Then the Dragon King Gang makes things worse.
They raise the tribute by thirty percent.
That number sounds simple, but in Osmanthus Village it’s basically a death sentence for families already living meal to meal. Not long after, Zheng Wenbing—better known as Lord Bing—shows up with a few men to collect. He doesn’t come asking. He comes taking. Jiang Fan is forced to hand over almost every coin left in the house, swallowing his anger because he knows exactly what happens to fishermen who try to act brave.
And that’s when something strange finally happens.
A flash of golden light. A sudden shift in his mind. Jiang Fan awakens a Life Chart—something tied to fate itself. His is called Great Blessings Equal to Heaven, and its meaning hits like a hammer:
“Survive great calamities, and there will be fortune thereafter.”
It doesn’t stay as a vague promise either. The moment he endures the tribute collection without letting it turn into a disaster, he receives a clear sign: an Eighth-Grade Opportunity… and 100 Luck Points.
Jiang Fan is still broke. Still trapped. Still living under the Dragon King Gang’s boot. But now he knows one thing.
If he can keep surviving what should kill him, fate might finally start paying him back.
