A-Guang

Biodata

Background / History

Family and Village Life

A-Guang’s mother has died, and his father initially 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 is initially 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.

As the family’s only son, A-Guang shoulders much of the work while his father is away. He leads his younger sisters in tending their fields and performs most of the labor himself. Ye Yaodong later recognizes that, despite the friendship group’s poor reputation, A-Guang has long been one of its more hardworking members 173.

His father originally intends to work away for another year or two before buying a boat and fishing near home. After learning that A-Guang has begun earning money and considering a boat purchase with his friends, he brings that plan forward to support his son and spend more time with the family. A-Guang subsequently begins leaving early and returning late for daily trawling 103 105.

Name and Name Change

The friends joke that Pei Guang sounds like “lose everything,” linking his name to his poor gambling results and unsuccessful ventures. His father later explains that the name actually came from his mother’s fondness for Guangbing during her pregnancy 27 103.

After Ye Yaodong recommends Pei Shun, A-Guang raises the issue with his father and proposes consulting a fortune-teller. By the beam-raising gathering, he confirms that the name has been changed in the household register. His friends joke about calling him A-Shun, although he tells them they can use whichever name they like 27 103 105.

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.

His wife died when he was middle-aged in that timeline. This memory, together with the anticipated move to Zhoushan, initially makes Ye Yaodong uneasy about the possibility of his sister marrying A-Guang 103 173.

During the current timeline’s shore-gathering trip, Ye Yaodong suggests the same name much earlier. A-Guang likes its sound and meaning and eventually adopts it officially, unlike the much later change in the previous timeline 27 105.

Marriage and Fatherhood

A-Guang falls for Ye Huimei while helping with the Ye family’s house construction. He later explains that he first noticed her when Ye Yaodong kept him for dinner after a day of helping at the site. His increasingly frequent visits and eagerness to work give him opportunities to spend time with her 90 94 173.

After a prolonged courtship complicated by Ye Yaodong’s protective interference, the two families agree to the match. A-Guang announces that their engagement is scheduled for the second day of the twelfth lunar month, with the wedding date still undecided at that point. Later chapters establish that they are married 206 207 416.

Their first child is a daughter, who has just turned one month old by Chapter 529. A-Guang says she is the first child of the Pei family’s new generation. Although his father initially feels some disappointment that the baby is not a boy, he soon becomes delighted with his granddaughter and wants to hold her every day. A-Guang also hopes to have a son, but says that another child can wait a few years 529.

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.

The declaration does not amount to a permanent abandonment of cards: he later joins his friends for another game. Nevertheless, Ye Yaodong judges that he does not gamble or drink excessively, regarding their occasional cards and drinking as ordinary social recreation 118 418.

A-Guang is persistent in courtship but sensitive to Ye Huimei’s reputation. When his friends correctly guess why he is helping at the construction site, he seriously warns them not to spread unsupported gossip throughout the village 94.

He values close friendships and worries about money damaging them. After the falling-out with A-Wei, he fears that A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao might resent being excluded from the pre-typhoon fishing trip. At the same time, he becomes more guarded toward former friends whose attempts at reconciliation appear financially motivated, particularly Rat 113 529.

His generosity continues after he becomes prosperous. He returns money Ye Yaodong has offered his father for passing along a business opportunity, explaining that Father Pei was simply helping and that payments between relatives would make them seem like strangers 662.

He can also be blunt and confrontational. He angrily challenges the family protecting a fish thief and later asserts the Pei family’s contractual rights when Rat’s relatives demand a larger share of the catch’s proceeds 116 582.

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.
• Becomes a regular trawl fisherman after his father buys a boat 105.
• Helps Ye Yaodong haul a difficult net containing a 190-jin giant grouper, then sorts the catch while Ye Yaodong steers back to shore 113.

His early experience has limits. At twenty-four, he has not previously faced truly rough seas and is badly shaken by the conditions encountered before the typhoon. Much later, during a shipyard tour, neither he nor Father Ye has experience with boats larger than their own 113 577.

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.
• Large yellow croaker windfall: Scoops up a large yellow croaker weighing over thirty jin, attracting widespread attention at the wharf 821 822.

Snake Catching and Wildlife Knowledge

A-Guang is recognized by his friends as an expert snake catcher. He has caught snakes since childhood, when the skill attracted other children and supplied meat for outdoor snake soup cooked in broken earthenware pots 183 671 672.

• Handling technique: Uses a stick to control a snake’s movement, lets it coil around the wood, and then swiftly grips its head with his bare hand 671.
• Fire-tong capture: Accurately clamps a snake’s head with fire tongs before securing it by hand 676.
• Sea snake encounter: Catches and kills a venomous sea snake with fire tongs during a return visit to the Isolated Island 84.
• Mountain search: Handles several snakes, including a large snake identified in the narrative as a banded krait, while the others mainly assist with searching and blocking escape routes 671 672.
• House clearance: Recaptures four snakes in one room of the Wang family home, including one approximately 1.7 meters long, and another from beneath a bed 676.
• Wildlife identification: Identifies a leopard cat by its markings, drawing on his childhood experience roaming the hills 673.

Business Judgment and Boat Management

A-Guang progresses from renting a relative’s boat to managing fishing assets with his father. Their expanded operation uses a partnership in which the Pei family supplies a boat and another household supplies the labor. One such crew consists of a father and his two sons from the same village 35 474 517.

• Explains that his hired captain’s operation divides proceeds fifty-fifty 529.
• Collects and inspects catches from boats worked by others; after Rat conceals fish, his father instructs him to check deliveries more carefully 529 579.
• Recognizes the danger of an implausibly high-interest scheme, warning that payments may simply come from investors’ own money rather than a genuine business 220.
• Considers pooled investment in a larger, two-deck fishing boat and later brings another large-boat opportunity to Ye Yaodong 577 778 779 780.

Fighting and Restraint

A-Guang can fight and assist in restraining captives, although he also suffers injuries in confrontations. During the dispute with A-Wei, he leaves his opponent bleeding at the mouth but receives painful facial bruising himself 116.

• Uses a captured club against a pursuing thug while fighting alongside Ye Yaodong and A-Zheng 247.
• Helps capture and bind a group of ten pursuers before accompanying Ye Yaodong to deliver them to the border defense station 247.
• Frees Xiaohua from a snare, ties A-Qiu’s hands behind his back, and helps escort him home 664.
• Assists Ye Yaodong in intimidating and tying up A-Qiu, supplying a sock to gag him 667.

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.
• Pei family fishing boats — His father’s first purchase allows him to trawl regularly. By Chapter 529, their household has bought two boats, with vessels earning through family work and partnerships 105 474 517 529.
• Fire tongs — Used to catch and kill a sea snake and later to recapture snakes at the Wang family home 84 673 676.
• Snake-catching stick and bamboo baskets — Used to control snakes and contain them during the mountain search and subsequent recovery operation 671 672 676.
• Bicycle — Used to carry companions on trips, including the shipyard visit and the nighttime outing associated with the snake prank 577 673.
• Flashlight — Helps identify the leopard cat, illuminate A-Qiu, and assist nighttime searches 664 667 672.
• Captured club — Temporarily uses a thug’s fallen weapon during the fight in the red-light district 247.

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. Their friendship later becomes a family relationship through A-Guang’s marriage to Ye Huimei. Ye Yaodong repeatedly obstructs the courtship and beats him after catching him outside Huimei’s window, but ultimately leaves the decision to his sister. Their teasing and practical support continue afterward 19 32 33 40 173 207 529 662.
• Ye Huimei — Wife and the mother of his daughter. His interest begins during the Ye family’s house construction, prompting repeated visits, offers of help, and gifts. Their relationship survives Ye Yaodong’s interference and progresses to an agreed engagement and marriage 94 102 118 133 173 206 207 416 529.
• Daughter — His first child with Ye Huimei and the first child of the Pei family’s new generation. She is just over a month old when he discusses her with Ye Yaodong and Father Ye 529.
• A-Zheng / Li Xiaozheng — Fellow bachelor in the early chapters and close friend; joins him in joking that their married friends owe them wives. A-Guang later mischievously controls the suspended red date during A-Zheng’s wedding games. A-Zheng also comes to his support in the dispute with Rat’s relatives 20 148 582.
• Xiao Xiao / Lin Jianyao — Childhood friend and companion on the boat trips. He and A-Zheng initially discuss pooling money with A-Guang for a boat, though A-Guang later works with his father while the other two share their own vessel 19 37 38 84 474.
• Fatty, Chen Wei, and Mouse / Rat — Fellow members of the White Sand Seven Rogues and regular participants in the group’s gatherings. Financial resentment later strains the friendships with A-Wei and Rat 19 105 113 529.
• A-Wei — Their friendship deteriorates over exclusion from fishing opportunities and a dispute involving A-Wei’s brother-in-law stealing valuable fish. A-Guang and A-Wei fight, leaving both injured 105 116.
• Rat / Mouse — A former close friend whose attempt to reconnect appears partly motivated by wanting to captain a Pei family boat. Although A-Guang initially intends to refuse, Rat later obtains the boat. Concealed catches and a disagreement over settlement lead to a public confrontation with Rat and his relatives 529 540 579 580 582.
• Father / Father Pei — Initially works away at sea for months; in the previous timeline, buys a boat and relocates the family to Zhoushan. In the current timeline, buys a boat earlier to support A-Guang’s growing responsibility, later expands their operation with him, and becomes an affectionate grandfather to his daughter 18 103 474 529.
• Two younger sisters — Initially share his home; he intervenes when his friends’ crude jokes embarrass them and helps lead their household’s agricultural work during their father’s absences 18 20 173.
• Father Ye and Mother Ye — Become his parents-in-law. His voluntary construction work and generosity improve Mother Ye’s opinion of him well before the marriage. Father Ye later accompanies him and Ye Yaodong to the shipyard 90 94 133 206 416 577.
• Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang — Ye Yaodong’s sons and later his nephews by marriage. When they call him Uncle after his engagement announcement, he gives each two yuan and eight mao 207.
• 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. His aunt also passes along the opportunity to buy a boat from a man injured in a fall 34 35 43 474.
• A-Cai — Dockside seafood buyer and seller; deals with A-Guang over mantis shrimp and the group’s Spanish mackerel haul. Later handles the weighing of the giant grouper and the anticipated sale of A-Guang’s large yellow croaker 20 41 113 822.
• Lin Jishang — Privately negotiates with A-Guang over his unusually large yellow croaker. A-Guang then leaves with his father and the fish, although Lin Jishang publicly denies buying it 822.

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.
• On a subsequent island outing, celebrates a 478-yuan sale with Ye Yaodong, A-Zheng, and Xiao Xiao. The three friends agree to pool money toward a boat. They eat roasted sea turtle eggs, and A-Guang catches a sea snake before helping gather more seafood 84.

House Construction and Courtship

• Begins helping repeatedly at the Ye family’s house site, sometimes bringing watermelons and refusing wages. Mother Ye’s opinion of him improves markedly 90.
• Uses the work and shared meals to see Ye Huimei. His friends recognize his interest before Ye Yaodong fully understands his behavior 94.
• Carries Huimei home after she falls while pushing a mortar cart and carefully picks sand from her scraped skin, drawing Ye Yaodong’s suspicion 102.
• Discusses changing his name with his father, who also announces his intention to buy a boat earlier than planned 103.
• Confirms his official name change during the friends’ gathering after the beam-raising ceremony. News that Huimei has met a prospective match visibly unsettles him 105.
• Continues trying to court her despite Ye Yaodong’s interference. A jewelry-box gift is returned, and Ye Yaodong repeatedly prevents him from lingering at the house or approaching her freely 104 117 118 133.
• Is caught outside Huimei’s window after dark and beaten by Ye Yaodong. He insists that his feelings are sincere, explains when he first noticed her, and argues that his work ethic and straightforward family circumstances make him a suitable husband. Ye Yaodong ultimately leaves the choice to Huimei 173.
• Secures the families’ agreement to the marriage and announces the engagement date. Even afterward, Ye Yaodong continues warning him to behave properly before the wedding 206 207 213.
• Later establishes a married household with Huimei and becomes the father of a daughter 416 529.

Pre-Typhoon Catch and Friendship Disputes

• Invites Ye Yaodong to fish before an approaching typhoon. The pair escape frightening seas and haul in a giant grouper that weighs 190 jin at A-Cai’s buying shack 110 113.
• Worries that A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao might resent being left out, recalling the deterioration of their friendship with A-Wei 113.
• Father Pei reprimands Ye Yaodong for the dangerous trip, emphasizing that their lives matter more than the money 116.
• Confronts the family of A-Wei’s brother-in-law over stolen three-stripe grunts. After being insulted and chased away, he clashes with A-Wei and suffers a swollen, bruised face 116.
• Later joins the friends in retaliating against the offender, relieving his anger over the earlier humiliation 121.
• Participates in A-Zheng’s wedding games and afterward joins Ye Yaodong, Xiao Xiao, and Fatty in investigating suspicions that Xu Laifu has been stealing fishing nets 148.

Supporting Ye Yaodong and the Village

• Makes his way ashore with Father Ye and Ye Huimei during the chaotic starfish-gathering crowd at the pier 223.
• Helps turn the tables on pursuing thugs, restrains the captured men, and accompanies Ye Yaodong to take them to the border defense station 247.
• Helps unload Ye Yaodong’s salvaged diesel engine and net hauler, then warns him that inspectors are searching homes. When Lin Xiuqing goes into labor, A-Guang asks Secretary Chen to divert the inspectors 306.
• Continues attending the friends’ gatherings during the Mazu Temple fundraising period, including cards before fishing and discussion of contributions after returning to shore 418.
• Helps Ye Yaodong move the Zhou brothers’ unidentified sea creature into A-Cai’s shed while they wait to contact the Fisheries Bureau 604.

Expanding the Pei Family Fishing Business

• Discusses buying another boat with his father after hearing that an injured owner needs to sell one to pay for treatment. Ye Yaodong suggests supplying the vessel while a partner supplies the crew and shares the catch 474.
• Implements a catch-sharing operation with a village father and his two sons. Ye Yaodong estimates that favorable operation could yield several hundred yuan a month and potentially recover the investment within a year 517.
• By winter, the household owns two boats. Father Pei plans to rest, while A-Guang continues collecting catches from their operation 529.
• Initially decides against allowing Rat to captain the idle boat, regarding the request as an overly hasty attempt to turn reconciliation into a business opportunity 529.
• Rat nevertheless later arranges to use the boat after its hull is cleaned of barnacles and painted 540.
• Visits a shipyard with Ye Yaodong and Father Ye and enthusiastically proposes pooling money for a larger, two-deck boat 577.
• Learns that Rat has hidden valuable fish. Father Pei initially overlooks the offense because of the friendship but requires closer inspection of subsequent catches 579.
• Regrets the arrangement as settlement becomes contentious. When Rat’s relatives demand a share based on the dried fish’s selling price rather than the pier’s buying price, A-Guang arrives with A-Zheng and insists that the original agreement governs the division 580 582.

A-Qiu’s Capture and the Snake Prank

• Arrives with a flashlight after Ye Yaodong’s dogs catch A-Qiu attempting to snare Xiaohua. He releases the dog, ties A-Qiu’s hands, and helps take him home 664.
• Assists with restraining and frightening A-Qiu before the matter is taken further through the village 667 668.
• Agrees to help gather snakes after Ye Yaodong explains that he wants to frighten someone. His snake-catching expertise makes him central to the plan 670 671 672.
• Identifies a leopard cat during the mountain search and supplies his bicycle and fire tongs for the subsequent outing 673.
• Joins Ye Yaodong, A-Zheng, and Xiao Xiao in returning to the Wang family home under the pretense of going beachcombing. They offer to catch the snakes they had released and recover most of them while maintaining their cover 675 676.

Large-Boat Investment Discussions

• Brings Ye Yaodong an opportunity involving a larger fishing boat still under construction. The family that ordered it wants to withdraw after four male relatives die in an accident 778.
• Faces warnings from Ye Yaopeng and Father Ye that the boat may be unlucky. Ye Yaodong argues that an unfinished vessel has no causal connection to the owners’ deaths, although the cost of shares remains a concern 779.
• Reports that Father Pei also rejects the superstition. His father proposes reaching an agreement with the original buyers and arranging for the shipyard director to return their deposit before proceeding with a new purchase 780.

Large Yellow Croaker Windfall

• Scoops up a large yellow croaker weighing over thirty jin, prompting Ye Yaodong to joke that his early name change has brought extraordinary luck 821.
• Attracts a crowd at the wharf, where villagers speculate about the fish and wait for a buyer 822.
• Privately negotiates with Lin Jishang, then confers with his father and leaves with him carrying the fish. They instruct A-Cai to keep five yuan as commission 822.
• The transaction’s buyer and price are not publicly established in the supplied account. Lin Jishang denies buying the fish, and Manager Wang arrives too late to inspect or purchase it 822.

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