A-Guang

Biodata

Background / History

Family and Village Life

A-Guang’s mother has died, and his father works aboard a large fishing boat, remaining away for months at a time. He lives with his two younger sisters. With nobody at home arranging a marriage and no woman willing to marry him, he remains a bachelor. His house is the friends’ usual gathering place for cards, meals, and drinking 18.

He gained practical fishing experience by helping his aunt’s family at sea when his cousins were still too young to assist. He also takes casual work at Yujing Wharf, where a day’s labor pays a little over one yuan, but less than two 32 44.

Ye Yaodong’s Previous Life

In the original timeline remembered by Ye Yaodong, A-Guang’s father saved enough money to buy a boat and moved the family to Zhoushan to enter the dried tiny shrimp business. They rarely returned to the village, although A-Guang and Ye Yaodong occasionally spoke by telephone 18 27.

A-Guang repeatedly lost money in his ventures. In his forties, someone suggested changing his name, and he became Pei Shun. His circumstances subsequently improved: within a few years, he paid off his debts and could buy his son a home for marriage 27.

During the current timeline’s shore-gathering trip, Ye Yaodong suggests the same name much earlier. A-Guang likes its sound and meaning, but the supplied chapters do not establish that he has adopted it 27.

Personality

A-Guang readily joins his friends’ teasing, including jokes about his bachelorhood. He is also protective of his sisters’ comfort: when the dinner conversation becomes crude and embarrasses them, he stops the others and tells them to save such talk for their wives 20.

Despite his envy of Ye Yaodong’s catches, he remains generous. He lends his empty bucket to help catch the tiger grouper, gives Ye Yaodong his lone Cat’s Eye Snail, and pays the initial boat rental without asking the others to contribute 28 29 35 37.

He enjoys gambling but recognizes when to stop. After a poor run of luck, he sits out a card game to save money. Later, when his friends threaten to win his newly earned money, he covers his pocket and abruptly declares that he has quit gambling “starting today” 32 50.

Abilities & Skills

Boat Handling and Fishing

A-Guang’s experience helping his aunt at sea makes him one of the group’s knowledgeable boat operators 44.

• Steers the rented boat to the Isolated Island and toward the Spanish mackerel school 37 38.
• Finds a fishing net in the cabin, allowing the group to exploit the unexpected feeding frenzy 38.
• Advises moving beyond shallow coastal water before trawling and allowing roughly an hour before hauling the net 44.
• Unties the boat, pushes it away from shore with a bamboo pole, and starts the engine for the return journey 48.
• Can swim, entering the water after bringing the boat close to his friends 38.

Seafood Selection and Gathering

• Mantis shrimp selection: Picks shrimp with red roe so accurately that A-Cai refuses to let him continue choosing them individually 20.
• Cobra capture: Catches the cobra used for the friends’ Dragon-and-Phoenix Soup 17 18.
• Shore gathering: Collects shellfish and small abalone on the Isolated Island 45 48.
• Mud crab catching: Finds two mud crabs after Ye Yaodong points him toward a promising area; one is larger than Ye Yaodong’s biggest crab 48.
• Limits: Refuses to gather densely packed sea centipedes because their appearance disgusts him 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Long hook — Carries it while searching the shore 27.
• Seafood bucket — Used for gathering; lent to the others during the tiger grouper capture. On the island trip, bringing only a bucket initially limits how much he can collect 28 45.
• Rented family boat — Belongs to his youngest aunt’s household, not to A-Guang. He arranges its use and pays the initial two-yuan rental; the group supplies fuel 34 35.
• Boat’s fishing net — Found aboard the rented vessel and used for the Spanish mackerel catch 38.

Relationships

• Ye Yaodong — Childhood friend and one of Ye Yaodong’s closest companions. A-Guang offers to find wharf work with him and notices his growing responsibility toward his family 19 32 33 40.
• A-Zheng / Li Xiaozheng — Fellow bachelor and close friend; joins him in joking that their married friends owe them wives 20.
• Xiao Xiao / Lin Jianyao — Childhood friend and companion on the boat trips 19 37 38.
• Fatty, Chen Wei, and Mouse / Rat — Fellow members of the White Sand Seven Rogues and regular participants in the group’s gatherings 19.
• Father — Works away at sea for months; in the previous timeline, buys a boat and relocates the family to Zhoushan 18.
• Two younger sisters — Share his home; he intervenes when his friends’ crude jokes embarrass them 18 20.
• Youngest aunt and her husband — Provide access to their boat. Their household’s older woman insists on rental payment and later demands a higher charge 34 35 43.
• A-Cai — Dockside seafood buyer and seller; deals with A-Guang over mantis shrimp and the group’s Spanish mackerel haul 20 41.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Cobra Feast and Shore Gathering

• Catches a cobra, prompting the friends to organize a Dragon-and-Phoenix Soup feast at his house. After winning a card game, he buys crabs and mantis shrimp for the meal 17 18 19.
• Joins Ye Yaodong’s shore-gathering outing but finds little. His empty bucket and missed catches become the focus of jokes about his supposedly unlucky name 20 27 28.
• Gives away his lone Cat’s Eye Snail and leaves early after an unsuccessful search. The others decide to pool their catches for another meal at his home 29.

First Boat Trip and Spanish Mackerel Windfall

• Secures a half-day boat rental for two yuan plus fuel, paying the rental himself 35.
• Remains at the helm while Ye Yaodong, Xiao Xiao, and A-Zheng enter the water. Xiao Xiao and A-Zheng rescue Ye Yaodong after his leg cramps; A-Guang later questions him in alarm 37 38.
• Finds the net and steers during the mackerel fishing. The group’s sale totals 7,628 jin at twenty-one fen per jin, worth 1,601 yuan and 88 fen 38 41.
• Pushes A-Cai for twenty-two fen per jin before the group accepts twenty-one. Ye Yaodong keeps the receipt for later payment 41 42.

Return to the Isolated Island

• The boat owner’s household raises the rental demand to ten yuan for the two days, requiring another eight yuan beyond the initial payment 43.
• Helps operate the boat during two modest trawling runs before the group lands to gather shellfish 44.
• Collects shellfish and abalone, then catches two mud crabs before the rising tide forces everyone to leave 45 48.
• Later joins the friends helping with Ye Yaodong’s family house construction, where his boast about keeping his earnings leads to their joking demands for another gambling session 50.