Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

On the way back to the village, Zhou Rui carried a large bundle of firewood on his back. He hadn't hunted much game, but he had plenty of firewood. As he passed the stream, he ran into Chen Huaihua, who was setting up fish traps by the stream.

"Little Huaihua, why are you still catching fish so late?" Zhou Rui saw that Chen Huaihua was having some difficulty pulling the rope, so he quickly went over to help.

"Brother Rui. I was busy during the day and forgot to pick it up, so I came at this time." Chen Huaihua was very happy to see Zhou Rui. As for Gu Shaofeng, she didn't recognize him and just nodded.

Chen Huaihua was grateful to Zhou Rui, not only sharing meat with her but also teaching her how to catch fish. For the past six months, Xiao Huaishu had been eating fish regularly and had become much stronger.

"How many fish did you catch? Heh, not bad at all, there's a mandarin fish and a big catfish. Perfect timing, your brother Rui wants to eat catfish stewed with eggplant, I'll take all the fish in this fish trap, I'll trade you a pheasant and a rabbit." As Zhou Rui spoke, he took a pheasant and a rabbit from his waist, both of them the fattest ones.

"No, I don't want it. You can have the fish, I have plenty more." Chen Huaihua quickly refused. Zhou Rui had taught her how to fish, so how could she take his pheasants and rabbits?

"I'm your brother Rui, how could I take advantage of a kid like you?" With that, he put the pheasant and rabbit on the ground, grabbed the fish trap, and left. "I'll borrow this fish trap for now, you can get it from my house when you go back."

"Hey, Rui-ge, why are you like this?" Chen Huaihua wanted to chase after him, but there were still two fish traps to collect, so she had to give up.

Looking at the plump rabbit and the three- or four-pound pheasant on the ground, Chen Huaihua was somewhat moved. Rui Ge himself often caught fish to eat, so he was clearly just using this as an excuse to give her family some meat.

Back home, Gu Shaofeng hurriedly urged Zhou Rui to cook.

"It's almost dark, aren't you going home for dinner?"

"I rode my bicycle, I'll be back in no time. The old man will be stuffed with catfish and eggplant stew, how can I leave?" Gu Shaofeng didn't leave, and even took the initiative to help Zhou Rui, killing chickens, skinning rabbits, starting fires, doing everything, mainly to show that he wasn't just there for free.

After finishing his meal, Gu Shaofeng wiped his mouth and said, "I'm leaving now. You must come to see me next week."

"Let me see you out. The roads in the village are difficult to navigate. I'll shine a flashlight for you." Zhou Rui put down his chopsticks and took a flashlight from the cupboard. "An'an and Third Brother are waiting for me at home. I'll go see my senior brother off."

"Okay, Second Brother, you go ahead. I'm not afraid with Mao Mao at home." An An is getting bolder and bolder, probably because the shadow of the first half of the year is slowly fading in her heart.

"Second brother, you go ahead. I'll look after things at home." Ever since Zhou Ping participated in the brawl with Liu Qing's group, although he didn't win, his courage had grown, as if he had developed a manly spirit.

"Okay." Gu Shaofeng never knew the meaning of politeness, so he picked up his backpack and went to the yard to push the cart.

After dropping off Gu Shaofeng, Zhou Rui braved the howling wind to go home. The beam of his flashlight swept across the fields, which were now barren after the harvest.

"Sobbing..." Zhou Rui, who was crossing the stone bridge, heard a girl's suppressed sobs. Zhou Rui was not frightened. Although he had been reborn, he still did not believe in ghosts.

Zhou Rui looked around and finally found the person by following the sound. Without shining a flashlight, Zhou Rui knew it was Lin Qiuyue just by looking at her sharp eyes. Lin Qiuyue didn't know what had happened and was hiding under the bridge, crying sadly.

"Ahem, cough." Zhou Rui didn't speak rashly, but cleared his throat twice to remind Lin Qiuyue.

Unexpectedly, even such a light cough frightened her. Lin Qiuyue stood up in alarm and looked around.

"Don't be afraid, it's me, Zhou Rui." Seeing this, Zhou Rui had no choice but to shine his flashlight on the ground between the two of them and then said slowly.

Lin Qiuyue heard Zhou Rui's words clearly and, with the faint light of the flashlight, could vaguely see Zhou Rui's shadow. Only then did she relax completely.

For some reason, Lin Qiuyue trusted Zhou Rui, this young comrade, more than most people, including the other educated youth who had come to the countryside with her. Perhaps it was because he sold a very fat badger, perhaps it was because he had a lovely niece, or perhaps it was because of his kind reminder last time.

In short, Lin Qiuyue's fear quickly subsided.

"What's wrong? Did you run into some trouble?" Zhou Rui asked when he saw that Lin Qiuyue hadn't said anything for a while.

"I received a letter from home. Something happened. I don't know how to tell you." Lin Qiuyue's eyes flickered, and she hesitated to speak. There were some things she couldn't even tell her roommate Yang Ping, so Lin Qiuyue could only keep them to herself and went to the bridge to cry alone.

"If... I mean if you trust me, there are some things you can talk to me about. Even if I can't solve your problem, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Hearing Zhou Rui's calm voice, Lin Qiuyue hesitated for a moment, but still decided to talk to him. Otherwise, keeping some things bottled up inside would cause her to break down.

"You...you can get down here."

Zhou Rui shone the beam of light in his hand onto the road ahead and strode to the bridge. He looked around, then found a rock about two meters away from Lin Qiuyue, sat down, and turned off the flashlight.

As a man, Zhou Rui felt that this distance was just right—it would put Lin Qiuyue at ease while still allowing him to hear her clearly.

Lin Qiuyue didn't really care about the distance between them. It was on this very bridge last time that she had touched the little rice cake, and they had been closer. Seeing Zhou Rui find a rock to sit on, Lin Qiuyue wiped away her tears and sat down again.

"I am actually the daughter of a capitalist in Shanghai. My family had several factories in Shanghai before the founding of the People's Republic of China."

"Later, my grandfather passed away, and my father was allocated one of the factories, which he continued to operate in Shanghai. My eldest and second uncles, on the other hand, sold the factories and immigrated overseas."

"After the founding of New China, my father donated the factory to the country, keeping only some shops and buildings for rent, and he himself only ran a restaurant."

"At first, things were alright. The government treated patriotic capitalists like us quite well. But since the movement started a few years ago, things have gradually changed subtly. My family and I have been living cautiously and timidly, and we don't dare to stay outside for long periods of time."

"This year, the situation worsened, so my parents discussed sending my brother and me to the countryside to lay low for a while, and then we would return to the city when things improved. But, but I never expected..." At this point, Lin Qiuyue's tears fell again, and she couldn't stop them.

Zhou Rui didn't speak; he didn't know how to start. He could only sit quietly, acting as a warm listener.

Lin Qiuyue cried for a while, sniffled, and then continued.

"At first it was fine. We received letters every month, and they even sent some clothes along with them, saying that things had eased up and that we could wait and see about my brother going to the countryside."

"But when the harvest season was over, I went to town to pick up a letter. My mother said in the letter that the situation in Shanghai was even worse. They didn't have time to arrange for my brother to go to the countryside, and they hurriedly left by sea."

"Waaah... They abandoned me all alone. I'm all alone now, I have no family left in the country. Waaah..."

At this point, Lin Qiuyue burst into tears.

Zhou Rui watched silently, without immediately stopping him. He knew that crying out loud was better than silently shedding tears, as it would release some of his inner fear.