Chapter 1: Ye Lao Er, you shameless smoking wretch, peeking at women bathing

Baiyun Village.

On a bright and sunny afternoon, sunlight fell upon this tranquil seaside fishing village, a warm breeze blew, and everything looked so beautiful and harmonious.

"Ye Lao Er, you bastard, come out! In broad daylight you peeped at me bathing, have you no shame, you shameless smoking wretch, peeping at women bathing, watch out you get a sty."

"I know you're in there, you have the face to look but not the face to open the door, right? If you're capable, open the door and let me see what kind of dog thing you are, you climbed over the wall and came to my house, thinking I'm a widow easy to bully, huh? You don't even see who I am?"

"Let me tell you, I've seen more hair than you have on your head."

Outside a dilapidated courtyard, the door was kicked, making a bang-bang sound.

Ye Cheng sat speechless in the room, listening to the woman's scolding outside the door.

As a senior drudge of a Fortune 500 company, after working overtime for a month straight, on his rare day off he took a nap, never expecting to die suddenly, dying in his sleep.

When he woke up, he discovered he had time-traveled, becoming a stranger in 2002.

Ye Cheng, 22 years old, a native of Baiyun Village in Donghai Shi.

Baiyun Village is a small seaside village; though said to belong to Donghai Shi, it is actually over twenty kilometers from the urban area, relying on the sea for a living, not a wealthy place.

The Ye family has only two children; he has an older brother, Ye Guowei, who is thirty, eight years his senior.

He is the second son in the family; from childhood his parents doted on him, and he didn't study well, after graduating high school he failed to get into college and just loafed around the village.

He's done everything from stealing chickens and dogs, to tearing off roof tiles, to kicking widows' doors.

After his parents died, he didn't want to live with his older brother Ye Guowei, so he moved to the old house himself.

After that, free from the restraints of his brother and sister-in-law, he let himself go, committing no major sins but endless minor ones, becoming a village scoundrel whom everyone loves to hate.

He doesn't seriously look for work; if not for his older brother's occasional support, he would have starved to death long ago.

The woman shouting at the gate is the village widow Zhang Guafu; according to the original host's memory, he had intended to go to Zhang Guafu's house to steal a chicken to eat, but unexpectedly ran into her just as she came out of her bath, wrapped in a nightgown.

After they glanced at each other, Zhang Guafu screamed and loudly accused him of peeping at her bath.

Then she chased the original host all the way home; upon arriving home, the original host suffered a heart attack and died instantly; when he woke up again, it was now.

In his previous life as a corporate executive, although he had scolded many people, after assessing the combat power of the widow Zhang Guafu outside, Ye Cheng still dismissed the idea of going out.

Let her scold; scolding doesn't take off any flesh.

Besides, I was going to steal a chicken, not to peep.

After automatically blocking out the scolding outside, Ye Cheng began to size up his 'new home' in one word: dilapidated.

The courtyard wall is built of stacked stones, overgrown with weeds, and a few places have missing stones, so if Zhang Guafu wanted to get in, she could basically just step over; there's really no need to stand at the gate shouting.

Plus that rickety door, just two planks wobbling on the verge of collapse; he also admires Zhang Guafu for kicking it so long without it falling, guessing she's not stupid, afraid of having to pay for damages.

There's a no-name brand color TV, a Haier single-door refrigerator, and an electric fan—just these three appliances.

As the saying goes, a ruined family is worth a fortune; this ruined home probably couldn't sell for even a thousand.

In his previous life Ye Cheng lived in a high-end apartment where the floor tiles could double as mirrors, with all kinds of household appliances complete; suddenly becoming like this, he really isn't used to it.

"Ye Lao Er, what's the matter? Scared? If you've got the guts, come out and let me see what you're made of, you little brat—has your hair grown in yet?"

Zhang Guafu was still shouting at the gate; that's how rural women are—when they scold, it's vulgar, either about your parents or your organs.

Ye Cheng was really getting annoyed by the endless nagging, as if thinking that just because he'd been reborn he had no temper.

He walked into the courtyard and directly pulled the wooden door inward, opening it.

"Aunt Zhang, tired of scolding? Why not come in, sit down, have a cup of water, then continue?"

Ye Cheng had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking roguish, his eyes lustfully scanning Zhang Guafu up and down.

Seeing this, alarm bells rang in her mind—this guy wouldn't be plotting something against her, would he? Trying to trick her inside, then...

She tightened her clothes, stepped back two steps, pointed at Ye Cheng and shouted: "Ye Lao Er, I'm telling you, if you dare to peep at me again, I'll gouge out your eyes!"

Having said that, Zhang Guafu gave Ye Cheng a fierce glare and walked away, muttering curses.

Ye Cheng smiled; as an executive, dealing with someone like Zhang Guafu was child's play—back in his previous life he'd dealt with plenty of troublemakers at the company.

Just as he was about to close the door, he felt a wave of dizziness, and suddenly an image appeared in his mind: the Luck Sea-Gathering System.

Sure enough, the essential system for reincarnation has arrived; now he can relax.

Current Luck Value: 60.

Current Points: 10.

Just these two numbers, I don't know what they represent.

Ye Cheng tapped the question mark in the upper right of the numbers, and a description appeared: base Luck Value is 60; the higher the Luck Value, the greater the chance of obtaining items; it updates daily at midnight.

Points: calculated based on obtained items; points can be used to purchase tools from the system shop, and only by using tools from the system shop can one gain Luck Value bonuses.

And there's the system shop, not bad.

Ye Cheng opened it to look; inside there was only a sea-gathering shovel, everything else grayed out with a lock symbol, apparently needing to be unlocked.

The system is indeed a system, but why give him a sea-gathering system?

You know he lived inland in his previous life, never even saw the sea, and now they give him a sea-gathering system—this is clearly a trap.

But having come, he should make the best of it.

Relying on his previous life's wisdom and the system, he doesn't believe he can't make a good life out of this.

In his previous life working at the big factory, it was either 996 or 007; with sea-gathering, he probably wouldn't need to work overtime, right?

Ye Cheng exchanged his only 10 points for a sea-gathering shovel; at least it's the first step toward getting rich.

Just as he was about to close the door, a head poked out from outside, sneaky-looking: "Brother Cheng, I heard you went to peep at Zhang Guafu's bath—why didn't you invite me? So unrighteous."

Ye Cheng searched his memory: this is Wang Xiaohu, two years younger than him, also a non-student, who spends all day hanging around the village with him causing trouble.

"Get lost, I'm that kind of person—I went to steal a chicken, not to peep."

"Brother Cheng, why are you shy now? You've long wanted to do this kind of thing, you just didn't expect to go alone."