Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Thirty or so snow sleds formed a long, winding line in the mountains, each sled piled high with cargo. With so many people, Wang Shouye and his team no longer had to pull their own sleds; they were only responsible for the safety of the convoy and would lend a hand when there were difficult sections to traverse.

Outside the brigade headquarters, car horns blared. Zhou Rui quickly told Village Chief Yang, then pushed open the door and went out.

The forest farm's vehicle arrived quite quickly, but I didn't recognize the driver; it wasn't the same one as last time, and he was even younger.

Zhou Rui stepped forward and extended his right hand: "Comrade, hello. I am Zhou Rui from the Logistics Department."

"Hello, hello. Director Zhang told me to cooperate with you as much as possible. Deputy Captain Wang also mentioned to me that you're a very capable person; you've been getting all the meat for our canteen lately."

"Oh, not at all. That's Brother Wang praising me. May I ask your surname, brother?" Zhou Rui offered him a cigarette. With Wang Jianping acting as the middleman, it was natural to treat him well.

Truck drivers in this era are incredibly capable because they are the only ones who can travel all over the country. They are also the only ones who know how to handle many goods transported across the country.

"My surname is Hu, and my name is Hu Bin. You can just call me Brother Hu." Hu Bin took a deep drag on his cigarette, looking like a seasoned smoker.

"Didn't you say you were going to hunt wild boars? Where are the boars?" Hu Bin looked around outside the brigade headquarters, but there was nothing there.

"I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly? The wild boar is still on its way down the mountain. Come on, let's go inside and have a cup of hot water and warm ourselves by the fire." Zhou Rui warmly pulled Hu Bin into the brigade headquarters.

Inside the house, Village Chief Yang was reading a newspaper by the stove.

"Come, let me introduce you. This is Village Chief Yang. We really owe him a lot of help this time. He called over thirty people to help us move the pigs; otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get them down."

"This is Hu Bin, the driver for Xiangyang Forest Farm."

"Hello, driver Hu. Come, come, have a cup of tea. It's nothing special, please don't mind."

Village Chief Yang warmly poured tea for Hu Bin, a treatment that neither Wang Shouye nor Zhou Rui received. In this era, the "Eight Great Officials" were practically the pinnacle of all jobs in the eyes of ordinary people.

Hu Bin took the teacup and replied with a smile, "Village Chief Yang, I really have to thank you this time! On behalf of the forest farm, I thank Xiaomao Village for its support. Just as the leaders said, this reflects our spirit of mutual assistance between workers and peasants."

Hu Bin, as expected of the forest farm's driver, even knew how to speak eloquently.

"Not at all, we help each other out." Village Chief Yang smiled so much that his face became even more wrinkled.

After Hu Bin arrived, the atmosphere in the room immediately became lively. Just now, Village Chief Yang and Zhou Rui, one big and one small, really didn't have much to say to each other.

The three were quite different: a knowledgeable driver, a village chief who read newspapers all day to understand policies, and Zhou Rui, who never stopped the conversation from going off-topic, turning the brigade headquarters into a tea party.

"Village chief, village chief, come out quickly! We're back!"

The three people inside were chatting happily when a loud shout came from outside. Village Chief Yang led the way out, with Zhou Rui and the other two following behind.

Two snow sleds were already parked on the ground, and several wild boars were piled high. More and more were being brought in, forming a line.

The commotion drew many villagers out to see what was happening, and the convoy was lined with onlookers. The children, in particular, were seeing so many wild boars for the first time; their large tusks made them want to touch them, yet they were also a little scared.

"Come on, Lao Yang, you can pick three first. The rest can be loaded onto the truck." Wang Shouye had already seen the trucks parked in the yard and generously offered.

The village accountant pulled Village Chief Yang aside: "Village Chief, pick the big ones. I've looked at them, over there, over there, and over there too, they're all huge."

"I think I'll just pick a few mediocre ones. Wang Pao is generous, so we can't be ungrateful," said Village Chief Yang, who was a little shy.

"Village chief, why are you so stubborn? Our village contributed our labor. If he tells us to choose, we should definitely choose the bigger ones so that the villagers can get half a pound more meat." As expected of an accountant, he's good at math and figured out the accounts in no time.

"That's actually what I'm thinking. Wang Pao has been harvesting meat for the forest farm all winter, so it can't be just this once. What if we're too greedy and he doesn't come next time?"

The accountant's small eyes darted around: "That makes sense. The village chief really thinks ahead. Let's not choose the biggest one, let's choose the smaller one. And we can get the villagers involved to see if anyone knows where there are big things in the mountains. We can notify Wang Pao and the others and ask them to come and hunt them. What do you think?"

Village Chief Yang clapped his hands: "That's a great idea! It turns a passive situation into an active one. If the information is accurate, we don't need to worry about Wang Pao not coming."

Village Chief Yang was very pleased. The more he looked at the accountant, the more he resembled Wu Yong, the strategist from the Water Margin. He was very much to my liking.

The two discussed it and finally chose the larger one, with the middle one being neither.

Unexpectedly, Wang Shouye refused and personally selected two large, fertilized sows to replace two smaller, older sows.

"Sixth Uncle, they all picked the smaller ones, why did you switch to the larger ones? This means we lost almost two hundred pounds of meat, which is a lot of money," Wang Zhen whispered to Wang Shouye when no one was looking.

Wang Shouye glanced at Wang Zhen. This kid was still too short-sighted, lacking the magnanimity of Ruiwa. But since he was a junior relative within the five degrees of kinship, he still needed to be taught a lesson.

"Don't just focus on what's in front of you. Hunting is our profession, and we get our prey not only from our own searches, but also from information about all the villagers in the surrounding area."

Be more generous; more people will like you, and they'll be more willing to share information with you. Otherwise, why would anyone tell you anything?

"Oh, so many rules?" Wang Zhen scratched his head, seemingly not quite understanding.

After all, modern society doesn't encourage people to travel around; you need a letter of introduction to go anywhere. Aside from hunting, Wang Zhen mostly plays with his peers in the village, and has seen very few people.

"You've been staying in the village too much and haven't had much contact with the outside world. You should spend more time with your senior and junior brothers; it'll open your mind."

"I know Senior Brother; he loves going to town and treating his friends there to meals. But Junior Brother is so young, how could he possibly understand these things?"

Wang Zhen's eyes widened, seemingly unable to believe that the boy was more worldly-wise than him. He could understand Zhou Rui's marksmanship; some people are just born with a knack for shooting. But things that require age and experience couldn't be learned without a teacher.

"You're such a blockhead, while Ruiwa is incredibly perceptive. He may not have formally learned how to interact with people, but he's naturally generous and magnanimous, and everyone likes people like that."

Wang Shouye had a high opinion of Zhou Rui, thinking that Zhou Rui's personality was innate and he could never imagine that Zhou Rui was a seasoned veteran who had been reborn.