Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After leaving the Lang family's house, Zhou Rui felt much more relaxed. No longer needing to carry any loads, he held Xiao Niangao in his arms, led An'an by the hand, and even gave the carrying stick to Zhou Ping.

"I wasn't lying to you, young man. Are you satisfied with this deal? Let me tell you, Old Lang has a lot of good stuff. Next time you come, I'll expose all his secrets for you."

The old man surnamed Fu was unaware that Zhou Rui already knew his surname and might exclude him from the next transaction. He kept trying to curry favor with Zhou Rui, hoping that Zhou Rui would buy more things from him.

"Very nice, I hope you have a lot of good stuff at home too." Zhou Rui was happy and didn't hesitate to buy more.

Not long after, Zhou Rui emerged from the wealthy old man's house with a bronze mirror and a sandalwood bracelet in his bag. Zhou Rui wasn't entirely satisfied; he didn't have any good antique jewelry, and even with money, he couldn't find anything to spend it on.

Zhou Rui had also prepared a lot of cotton wool and scraps of cloth in his backpack to wrap the porcelain, but he didn't use any of them.

Layman like Zhou Rui doesn't know much about antiques and collectibles; he only likes shiny things. He prefers things like jewelry and jade, or even gold and porcelain.

In later years, television stations often broadcast stories about exchanging a porcelain vase for a house, and Zhou Rui planned to hide dozens or even hundreds of houses in his cellar.

Unexpectedly, the rich old man was also grumbling to himself in his room, "This greenhorn doesn't know anything. He doesn't even care about these good things, and he even made me collect gold and silver jewelry for him." But money is really tempting. Who cares what he needs, as long as it makes me money, that's fine.

Zhou Rui glanced at his watch; there was still an hour until his appointment with the village chief and the others. Since he couldn't spend the money he had, he decided to go to the market and go on a shopping spree to cheer An'an up.

"Come on, your second brother will take you to the market to buy things."

"Second brother, can you buy us some candied hawthorns?"

"purchase."

"Can I buy grilled cold noodles and sticky rice cakes?"

"Buy it, buy it all. You little glutton, why do you only think about buying food?" Zhou Rui affectionately ruffled An An's hair.

"Pingwa, is there anything you want to buy?"

Zhou Rui asked Zhou Ping. Although Zhou Rui didn't usually pay much attention to his third brother, since it was market day, he could at least fulfill his wish.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ping shook his head: "Brother, there's nothing I want to buy. Could you find me a few more rubber bands? The rubber bands on my slingshot are all broken."

Ever since Zhou Ping drove Zhou Rui's Browning and Mauser 98K, he's lost interest in toy guns, marbles, and rolling hoops—things that little kids play with. Recently, he's become obsessed with slingshots, wanting to emulate Zhou Rui and become the slingshot master of Jiaolong Gorge.

Zhou Rui was somewhat surprised, but he didn't refuse: "That's easy, just come with me, it'll be ready in a bit."

Zhou Rui and the others came out of the clinic, the one where their uncle had been hospitalized last time. Zhou Ping held several compression bandages in his hand, his mouth agape with joy.

The process was indeed very simple. Zhou Rui found a janitor at a hospital, bought a pack of Yingchun cigarettes, and exchanged several rubber bands for them. Once these rubber bands were used up, Zhou Ping's mahjong skills were guaranteed to improve dramatically.

The market wasn't getting any smaller; in fact, it seemed to be getting even more crowded. People in this era might not have had much money, but their enthusiasm for shopping was no less than that of people in later generations.

Looking at the crowd, Zhou Rui couldn't help but worry: "Pingwa, you must hold on tight to An'an. If we get separated in this crowd, we really won't be able to find her."

Zhou Rui held Xiao Niangao in one arm and a candied hawthorn in the other, letting her lick it, but he couldn't free his hand to hold An'an's hand.

"Second Brother, you've told me so many times, don't worry, I won't let go." Zhou Ping replied, holding a candied hawthorn in one hand and grabbing An An's thick collar with the other.

It wasn't that Zhou Ping disrespected An An; it was just that An An was holding food in both hands, taking a bite from each side, so she didn't have a free hand for Zhou Ping to hold.

An'an, who was being held by the collar by Zhou Ping, did not feel disrespected at all. She fantasized about having more hands so she could take more delicious food and eat it while spinning around.

"Second brother, look there, so many horses and cows!" An'an pointed ahead with a candied hawthorn.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhou Rui and his group had arrived at the livestock market.

"Come on, I'll take you to find Grandpa Zhao." Zhou Rui thought that since they were already here, they might as well find the village chief and the others and go home together later.

"Horse, big horse. Second brother, let's buy a horse?" Unexpectedly, An'an refused to leave, wanting to buy a horse just because she saw a tall one.

Zhou Rui scratched his head. "I don't have enough money. Besides, I don't know how to ride a horse. I can ride a motorcycle though."

Zhou Rui only brought a thousand yuan with him. He had originally planned to buy more antiques, but he didn't spend any of it. With that, he only had about nine hundred yuan left, which he estimated would be enough to buy about a third of a horse.

"An'an, I don't have enough money to buy a horse," Zhou Rui said softly in An'an's ear as he crouched down.

"Are we out of money? Okay then, we won't buy the horse. We'll save the money for Xiao Nian Gao's milk powder."

Seeing An'an's low spirits, Zhou Rui wanted to slap himself. Why couldn't he have brought more money? He could have bought a horse, which would have been great—he could ride it and haul goods.

Just then, a loud cry for sale came from the market: "Mule! Mule! Selling cheap! Not two or three thousand, just one thousand will do!"

One thousand yuan, isn't that perfect timing? If we bargain a bit more, we can get it for nine hundred yuan, then An'an won't be disappointed.

"Come on, An'an, let's go see the mules." Zhou Rui waved his hand, his spirits rising again.

Zhou Rui arrived at the source of the sound and saw two young men in their twenties shouting loudly. People around them were keeping their distance, and a skinny, pot-bellied mule was standing in the open space in the middle.

The usually perceptive Zhou Rui didn't notice anything amiss, still absorbed in fulfilling An An's wish.

"Brother, is this mule yours? How much did you pay for it?" Zhou Rui asked directly as he stepped forward.

The man was young, probably around twenty-five or twenty-six, his eyes darting around as he sized up Zhou Rui's clothes. He was a wealthy man.

"Young man, it's not expensive, only a thousand yuan. Look at this big guy, he weighs six or seven hundred pounds, he works really hard, you won't regret buying him."

"This skinny thing can weigh six or seven hundred pounds? I think it's at most five hundred pounds." Zhou Rui may not know anything about animal husbandry, but he knows how to hunt. He can estimate the weight of an ordinary animal by just one glance.

"Is this some kind of sick mule?" Zhou Rui continued to find fault, preparing for the price negotiation later.

The man was startled and his mouth was suddenly covered. Had he been found out?

At this moment, another young man spoke up, "No way, young man. Our mule is pregnant, and there's no good food at home. She's starving, that's why she's so thin."

This young man looked older than the previous one, and had a more honest appearance. Zhou Rui was able to listen to what he said.

Seeing that Zhou Rui nodded, the young man continued, "Look, if you buy it and feed it more soybeans and eggs, it will grow back to its original size sooner or later. It'll be no problem to grow to over 700 jin."

"And in a few months, this mule will give birth, so you'll have another one. If our family weren't so poor we couldn't even afford to eat, we wouldn't sell it, would we? It's such a good laborer, it's worth several people."

Zhou Rui nodded, not noticing the young man's endless lies and his focus solely on how to negotiate the price.

"A thousand is too expensive. This is so thin. I'll have to use so much high-quality food to feed it."

"Then how much will you say?"

"Seven hundred."

"Seven hundred won't do, add some more."

After several rounds of negotiation, they finally settled on 820 yuan. Zhou Rui took out the money, counted it out, and handed it to the two young men.

Zhou Rui picked up An'an and stroked the mule's head: "An'an, look, your second brother bought you a big mule."

"Yay! We have a big mule now!"

"Hey, brother, what else should I be careful about when raising mules?"

Zhou Rui turned around. Where is he? Why did he walk so fast? He hadn't even finished asking the question.

At this moment, Zhao Youzhi and the village cart driver rushed over.

"Ruiwa, you bought it?" Zhao Youzhi asked before he could even stand up straight, his voice trembling.

"I bought it. Look, it even has a baby with it."

"Oh dear, why did you buy it?" Driver Liu Gu slapped his thigh, looking anxious.

"I heard from an acquaintance that a teenager was buying a mule here with several other children, and I knew it might be you. I didn't expect that even though I rushed here, I still couldn't stop you in time."

Zhou Rui was somewhat surprised to see Liu Gu like this.

"Uncle Gu, what's wrong?"

Zhao Youzhi slapped Zhou Rui on the head: "What's wrong? What's wrong with you? Does your mule have calves? You've been fooled."