Rivers and Fish

Shen Chuan, twenty-eight, lost his job, his mother was hospitalized, and his family was burdened with over half a million in debt. Everyone urged him to accept his fate, but he refused to give up. By chance, he took on a business deal involving twenty thousand jin of bass. With no capital, no connections, and no so-called benefactors, he had to rely on himself to learn how to make money, manage operations, read people, and seize opportunities. Starting with those twenty thousand jin of fish, he delved into aquaculture, built a team, competed for clients, and weathered competition, gradually stepping from an ordinary man drowning in debt into the real world of business. He made quick money and suffered losses; he defeated others and lost to himself. When he finally attained the wealth and status others dreamed of, he realized that what he truly wanted all along was never to be above others. He simply wanted his family to live better, his parents to stop worrying about money, his daughter to buy a fish without asking if he could afford it. More than that, he wished to one day set aside all business, return to his hometown, raise fish, farm, and enjoy a peaceful meal with his family. This is a story of an ordinary man's rise against the odds, and also a story of an ordinary man finally deciding how to live his life. — Description from novelcodex.org