Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"I met Zhou Rui today. He's about our age, right? You admire him that much and think everything he says is right?"

Yu Sitian looked at Lin Qiuyue's profile illuminated by the firelight and felt a little strange. She had never seen Lin Qiuyue admire a boy so much back in school.

"It has nothing to do with age; he's more than a year younger than me. But he understands a lot of principles and has even given me, Yang Ping, advice. He's smarter than us."

Yu Sitian noticed the hint of excitement in Lin Qiuyue's eyes when she talked about Zhou Rui, and a sense of worry immediately welled up in her heart.

Although Lin Qiuyue's family has experienced hardship, she can still return to the city once the overall economic situation improves. Zhou Rui, after all, is just a farmer, and the gap between them is too large; hopefully, things won't end badly.

"What are you staring at? Take this dish out." Lin Qiuyue, unaware of Yu Sitian's thoughts, handed the plate to her.

Lin Qiuyue prepared three dishes: cured pork, stir-fried cabbage with pork cracklings, and steamed egg. There weren't many dishes, but the portions were generous.

After Lin Qiuyue sat down, she naturally picked up Xiao Niangao and carefully fed her steamed egg with a spoon, without showing any impatience. Yu Sitian became even more worried.

"Eat up, what are you standing there for? Do you want me to treat you?" Lin Qiuyue was a little puzzled. Why did her childhood friend seem a bit silly after not seeing her for several months?

"Sister, eat your food." Seeing that Yu Sitian hadn't touched her chopsticks, An'an thought she was shy, so she directly put the cured meat into her bowl, picking up several pieces of meat with her chopsticks.

With her second brother away, she was the mistress of the house, and it was her duty to entertain the guests well.

"Oh, oh, okay. Thank you, An'an." Yu Sitian picked up her rice bowl, glistening oil dripping from the cured meat and mixing into the glistening rice, it smelled so good.

"Sister Qiuyue, would you like some wine? We still have some baijiu at home," Zhou Ping asked, turning to the side. He noticed that Zhou Rui usually asked guests the same question. Besides, most of the women in their village drank alcohol, like Sister Xinghua and Aunt Changchun.

Yu Sitian was startled and quickly waved her hands, "I won't drink anymore, I won't drink anymore."

As a girl from the south, she had never seen anything like this before. They started with strong liquor, and the liquor she drank last night was so spicy that it made her throat hurt.

"Let's not drink, let's eat." Lin Qiuyue had been here for a few months but hadn't gotten used to drinking baijiu.

"Okay." Zhou Ping was a little dejected, both because his suggestion hadn't been approved and because his family's good stuff hadn't been shown off.

If it were Brother Dazhu and Uncle Kangri, they would have been happy to ask for wine long ago.

An'an didn't understand any of this. She kept putting meat on Lin Qiuyue and Yu Sitian's plates, and then she mixed steamed eggs with rice and kept eating cabbage.

"An'an, why aren't you eating meat?" Yu Sitian felt sorry for An'an. This girl was too sensible, giving all the good food to the guests.

"Don't worry about her, she's on a diet," Zhou Ping replied from the side.

"Losing weight?" Yu Sitian looked at the chubby An'an. Although she looked a bit chubby, she didn't seem to need to lose weight.

"Yes!" An'an nodded vigorously. "I need to lose a little weight, so I can be as pretty as Sister Qiuyue."

Yu Sitian shook her head, unable to understand the little girl's thoughts.

"Does your second brother not care about your mother?"

Unexpectedly, An'an put on a serious face and said, "Second brother would do this. An'an, you've only had enough to eat for a few days, and you're already being so picky. You can't be like this. You need to eat more meat." As she spoke, she picked up another piece of cured meat and put it in Yu Sitian's bowl.

Lin Qiuyue watched from the side and burst out laughing. She hadn't expected An'an to have such a talent for acting, mimicking Zhou Rui's expression perfectly.

Yu Sitian stared in disbelief at the bowl, which was overflowing with several more pieces of meat, even though she hadn't eaten much yet. "Eat it," she said, "the little girl's good intentions shouldn't be wasted."

While Lin Qiuyue and the others were eating, Zhou Rui and his group were building snowdrifts. Many hands make light work, and in no time, they had built two snowdrifts, one about 1.5 meters high and two meters long and wide.

Then they used several wooden shovels to hollow out the inside, revealing the shape of a cave. Of course, the snow was too soft and they were afraid it would collapse at night, so Zhou Rui and the others kept boiling water and pouring it onto the roof until the snow froze solid.

Zhou Rui patted the snow off his gloves and looked at the few wild rabbits on the ground.

"Uncle Wang, I'm going out for a walk and will bring back some things."

Before Wang Shouye could speak, Gu Shaofeng shouted, "I'm going too! I'm going too! Wait for me, I'm bringing my gun."

It's more fun following the junior brother. The second and third brothers are either cunning or taciturn, which is boring.

Wang Shouye didn't object, but said to Zhou Rui and the other man, "Bring Shaofeng's dog along. It might not be able to spot the prey, but at least it can give a warning from the side."

Zhou Rui and his companion knew that Wang Shouye was worried about their safety, so they did not refuse.

As darkness fell, Zhou Rui activated his senses. There were no large prey nearby, but there was no shortage of small game.

"Junior brother, what are we going to fight?"

Zhou Rui glanced at Gu Shaofeng: "Just fight with whatever's at hand. What, what else did you want to pick?"

"Haha... I'm not picky, I'm not picky. It's just that following you makes me feel like I can achieve something big, right?"

"What, am I some kind of magnet for bad luck? Every wild beast seems to want to pounce on me?" Zhou Rui was amused by Gu Shaofeng's antics. "Speaking of which, wasn't that giant bear you attracted because you were going to collect honey?"

Gu Shaofeng turned his head and thought about it, and it seemed to make sense. The first time they chased the leopard, it was their own doing, but the second time it seemed he really provoked the bear.

"No, it's just that working with you is exciting. Not only is hunting exciting, but making money is exciting too," Gu Shaofeng said sincerely. He and his wife had discussed this at home and felt that Zhou Rui was a lucky charm who could bring wealth.

If Zhou Rui could see how he appeared in Gu Shaofeng's mind, he'd probably trip him up. What, am I supposed to be a chubby baby holding a gold ingot, not a God of Wealth with a scepter?

Zhou Rui stopped chatting with Gu Shaofeng. It was already late, and Zhou Rui wanted to quickly hunt enough meat to get back so he could rest early. After all, he didn't know how long he would have to stay in the mountains, and he needed to maintain his strength.

Then, naturally, it was Zhou Rui's turn to put on a show. Sometimes, before Gu Shaofeng could even see anything, a dying prey would suddenly appear on the snow.

On the contrary, Da Mao's dogs cooperated well with Zhou Rui. Almost as soon as Zhou Rui fired his slingshot, the dogs would dart out and bring back a pheasant, a greyhound, or something similar.

In the end, Gu Shaofeng could only be reduced to a laborer, carrying Zhou Rui's harvest.

Just then, a grayish-white shadow fell from the sky in the distance, instantly landing on the head of a roe deer under a tree. A fatal headbutt!

Zhou Rui reacted in a flash, his hands naturally releasing their grip, and the slingshot fell to the snow. With a flick of his right shoulder, the Mauser 98K appeared in his hand with a nimble flourish.

Two hundred and eighty meters away, wind speed: light breeze, level two, wind direction: northwest. Zhou Rui quickly calculated all the parameters, his finger about to pull the trigger.

Just then, something furry bumped into my elbow. Bang! The bullet embedded itself in a distant tree, scattering a shower of snow. A greyish-white shadow fell to the ground, then leaped up and vanished without a trace.