Back in Grass River Mouth, the old man had a few mu of not-so-fecund land and was running a little store of his own. With the peach blossom on the island as a tourist destination, he was able to obtain a relatively steady income every year. It was not much, but enough to sustain the life of two.
Now that the island was filled with the toxic miasma, the government chose to resettle the residents when no alternatives seemed available. It was also a last-ditch move, for relocation meant a fundamental change in housing, employment, education, consumption level, and even social connections of all households.
