Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"I can't believe my eyes, can I? What an idiot!" Gu Shaofeng rubbed his eyes. Although he saw it clearly, he still couldn't believe it.

"Don't just stand there, come on, let's go take a look." Zhou Rui pulled Gu Shaofeng, who could barely move, and walked straight over.

Those red, flower-like things are ginseng seeds. Since the leaves have all fallen this season, the seeds are even more noticeable. Zhou Rui examined the other two; they were the same, indicating that the other two plants were also wild ginseng.

"What do we do now? Should we continue chasing the deer?"

"What do you mean, what should we do? Now that we've seen them, we should dig them out. How can we leave them? As for the deer, let's finish carrying the clubs first. They can't escape." Zhou Rui said calmly.

"But we don't know the rules, and we don't have the tools to carry the mallet." Gu Shaofeng was still a little worried, feeling that the two of them were not professional enough.

Zhou Rui looked at Gu Shaofeng with some disdain: "What, you're not eating without a chef? We can't dig for ginseng without ginseng gatherers?"

"Just like some ordinary people, who are not hunters, does that mean they can't hunt a pheasant or catch a rabbit in their spare time? It doesn't matter if you don't know the rules of ginseng harvesting. Finding ginseng is a blessing from God, and we can't refuse it."

"You can't possibly go down the mountain to find someone knowledgeable to ask about the rules before coming back to carry the club, can you?"

Gu Shaofeng thought about it again and realized it was true. He couldn't possibly go down the mountain specifically to ask someone about the rules. If he did, he wouldn't even know if those few clubs were still there when he came back. Then he would truly be a club-headed fool.

"Then what are we going to use to dig? We don't have any deer bone shovels."

Zhou Rui stroked his smooth chin: "If you don't have a deer bone shovel, just find a sturdy piece of wood to make one. As long as it's not made of metal, it'll be fine."

Both of them were ordinary people, having only heard stories of ginseng harvesting from the older generation and possessing only a vague understanding of the subject.

"So what do we do now?"

"Let's set up camp first. I'll fence off this area with sticks and ropes. Keep the dogs in check and make sure Da Mao and the others don't wander around here, lest they trample on the clubs."

Zhou Rui was quick-witted. Since he didn't understand it, he would just follow his own understanding and be careful.

The two quickly divided the tasks. Gu Shaofeng cut down timber to build the camp, while Zhou Rui found some sticks to surround a few wild ginseng plants and hung the warning bell for the night on the rope.

Gu Shaofeng quickly returned with several pieces of wood about the thickness of a bowl. "How do we build it?"

"Put the shelter in front of the club, so that even if someone passes by, they won't see the club behind it." Zhou Rui had already planned it out, prioritizing caution above all else.

Gu Shaofeng worked quickly and efficiently, using five pieces of wood to build a frame, and then he went to weave straw curtains to seal off the four sides.

"Senior brother, stop making things up, just cover it with the tarpaulin we brought."

Gu Shaofeng turned around: "Cover with a tarpaulin? How are we going to sleep at night? Aren't we going to put something on the floor?"

"You still want to sleep tonight? We'll keep it lit all night. How can you sleep without bringing out the whole club?"

"You mean? Hehe... I definitely won't be able to sleep." Gu Shaofeng scratched his head.

"But we still need to look for deer tomorrow. If we don't sleep tonight, we might not have the strength to catch up with the deer herd the next day."

"After we finish carrying the clubs tomorrow, we'll search for half a day at most. If we can't find the deer herd, we'll go down the mountain immediately. I'm rich, so why would I be afraid of not having meat? At most, I'll pay for two animals myself to buy from the black market and send them to my Uncle Anti-Japanese."

Zhou Rui had only agreed to Liu Kangri's request to prepare a feast of wild game for him; as for how the wild game came about, he had other ways of doing so.

"You're so quick-witted, I'll get right on it."

Laying out this tarpaulin was much faster than weaving straw mats; it was done in just a few minutes. Afterward, the two started a fire, baked flatbread, whittled wood to make shovels, and crafted torches for nighttime lighting. They kept things as simple as possible, wasting no time whatsoever.

It was past eight o'clock in the evening, and all around was quiet except for the occasional crackling sound of the fire burning through the knots of the wood.

The shelter was very quiet; there was no snoring from anyone, only four dogs lying side by side inside.

Zhou Rui and Gu Shaofeng had been working quietly behind the shelter for over three hours.

Snapped……

"What's wrong?" Zhou Rui turned his head and asked. The voice, which was not loud to begin with, sounded particularly loud in this time when all things were resting.

"The wooden shovel broke."

From the other side came Gu Shaofeng's muffled voice, which lacked the excitement he had during the day and even had a nasal tone.

Zhou Rui knelt on the ground and stretched his back. A creaking sound came from his bones as his joints moved—it felt so good.

"Senior brother, take a break and have a drink. It's so windy tonight. If you don't have a drink to warm up, you'll catch a cold."

"Coming! Ouch!" Gu Shaofeng hurriedly got up, but his legs gave way and he almost fell.

"Your legs are numb, aren't they? Be careful." Zhou Rui stood up steadily, took the backpack hanging on the tree, and took out a bottle of strong liquor.

Don't let the low price fool you; in the dead of winter, you need a strong spirit like this to really kick things in.

"Ah..." A surge of heat went straight down her throat to her stomach.

"Quick, quick, give me a sip, I'm freezing!" Gu Shaofeng was already craving the aroma of the wine and snatched the bottle from Zhou Rui's hand.

"Gulp... gulp..." Gu Shaofeng was much more unrestrained than Zhou Rui.

"Don't drink too much. If your hand shakes and you scratch the ginseng skin, you'll regret it."

Gu Shaofeng immediately lowered his hand; Zhou Rui's reminder had stunned him. Gu Shaofeng preferred money to the wine in his glass. With money, he could buy more fine wine.

"How's your digging going?" Gu Shaofeng asked, taking the cigarette Zhou Rui offered him.

"Almost there, it's almost completely out."

"You're so fast? Mine's only half done."

Zhou Rui rolled his eyes in the pitch-black night. Me, faster? How faster? His progress was indeed much faster than Gu Shaofeng's, but that was because he had amplified his perception, allowing him to clearly know the direction of the wild ginseng roots and easily avoid them.

"If we don't finish this soon, we won't have time to chase the deer herd tomorrow."

"Junior brother, how much do you think these clubs are worth?" Gu Shaofeng took a deep drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled.

"I don't know either, I've never sold any. You've been with Uncle Wang for so many years and you don't know either?" Zhou Rui leaned against the tree and asked, turning his head to the side.

"No. We're not ginseng gatherers. We usually only go up the mountain to hunt. We've never even seen this fresh ginseng before."

"Then let's deliver it directly to Director Zhang of the forest farm tomorrow. He's a fairly honest man; the things I've delivered there before were generally priced a little higher than the market price."

Besides, even if the price is a bit low, it doesn't matter. The forest farm has purchased such a large amount of meat this time; if I deliver these few logs, he can't very well share them with others."

Zhou Rui had already made up his mind. No matter how much money he could make from these few ginseng roots, the most important thing was to ensure a stable supply of meat for the forest farm canteen, because that was where the big money would come from.

Gu Shaofeng then threw his half-smoked cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out: "You're right, the cafeteria is the foundation, this is a windfall. Let's get to work, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest easy."