Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"What's going on?" Chen Zhejiang, a newly arrived educated youth, was more rational and immediately sensed something was amiss when he saw everyone's expressions.

Wei Dazhi, eager to share, moved closer to Chen Zhejiang and said, "Let me tell you, this house belongs to Zhou Rui."

Wei Dazhi pointed at Zhou Rui and continued, "That Zhou Chen on the ground is really his cousin, but they broke off their relationship because of some things. I didn't expect them to actually come to Zhou Rui's house to steal things."

"Captain, they are villagers from this village, and we beat them up. What should we do now?" a young educated youth asked from the side.

Meng Huaiyuan pondered for a moment: "Regardless of whether they are villagers or not, they are indeed thieves, and we have done nothing wrong. Let's report this to the brigade leaders."

"Wei Dazhi, go to the village and call the brigade leader, the accountant, and the militia leader."

"I know the captain's house. But I've never been to the accountant's or the militia captain's house, so I can't find them." Wei Dazhi was a little embarrassed and didn't want to go; searching around was too tiring.

At that moment, a deep voice rang out: "There's no need to go door to door to search. Just ring the bell at the village entrance to signal the start of work, and everyone will come naturally."

Everyone looked at the person speaking, and it turned out to be Zhou Rui, the owner of the house.

Zhou Rui remained expressionless, but in his heart he was thinking, "Such a good show, it would be a pity not to invite the whole village to watch it together."

Meng Huaiyuan clapped his hands.

"That's right, I almost forgot. Besides announcing when people go to and from work, the bell at the village entrance also serves as an early warning system and a means of disseminating important information. Once the bell rings, the leaders will naturally go there; there's no need to look for them at all."

"That's great, I don't have to run around the whole team anymore. I'll go ring the bell right now." Wei Dazhi was willing to do anything that wasn't tiring and would make him look good. He ran off halfway through his sentence, afraid someone would take the job from him.

"Come on, everyone find some ropes and tie the three of them up," Meng Huaiyuan, the leader of the educated youth team, continued to give orders. Since four new educated youths had arrived, he also wanted to show off a bit more.

The educated youth didn't need to find the ropes themselves; Zhou Rui simply took a few from the kitchen.

"Captain, what if the brigade leaders come later? Will they blame us for hitting the villagers and try to cover it up?" Xu Jun asked anxiously.

He used to freeload at other brigades and had seen other brigade secretaries or brigade leaders cover up things to protect the village's reputation.

This time they beat up a villager, even though he was a thief, they were afraid Zhao Youzhi would do the same thing. In the end, the villagers would not only not thank these educated youths, but would blame them for exposing the matter and damaging the reputation of Jiaolongxia Village.

Moreover, Zhao Youzhi held both the positions of Party Secretary and Brigade Leader, making him a veritable local tyrant in the Jiaolongxia Production Brigade, where he had absolute power and his ideas were of paramount importance.

Meng Huaiyuan was also frustrated, sharing the same concerns as Xu Jun. Moreover, as the leader of the educated youth team, he hoped to gain the support of the brigade leaders, rather than their dislike.

"It should be fine. Everyone has a responsibility to catch thieves and bad guys, and no one can say we did anything wrong. Besides, we're not ordinary villagers; we're educated youth, and we have our own channels to voice our opinions. If the village tries to suppress us, we'll make a scene at the educated youth office."

"It's all that brat Zhou Rui's fault. If he hadn't been shouting, we wouldn't have gotten involved. We could have just stood by and watched the show." Xu Jun, as always, was good at shifting blame, completely forgetting the excitement he had when he first beat up the thief.

Xu Jun's voice grew louder and louder, and Yang Ping heard the last sentence, which immediately made her unhappy.

"Xu Jun, what did you say? Do you think it's wrong for us to catch thieves? Is this your level of awareness as a sent-down youth? I think you really need to study the leaders' quotations."

Upon hearing this, Xu Jun immediately panicked and hurriedly explained, "I didn't say that. I meant that this is a matter for the Jiaolongxia Production Brigade itself, and we outsiders don't need to get involved."

"What we mean by 'Jiaolongxia's own business' is that we, as educated youth sent to the countryside, are now also part of the Jiaolongxia production team."

"Besides, Zhou Chen and his gang of hooligans are always stealing chickens and dogs in the village. Now they even dare to break into people's homes to steal their belongings. If we don't deal with them this time, they will become even more unscrupulous in the future."

"You know, we live quite a distance from the village. If we sneak into the educated youth compound again, no one will help us."

Perhaps it was because she had spent a lot of time with Zhou Rui, but Yang Ping's tongue became increasingly fluent, and she spoke with reason and evidence.

"I think Yang Ping is right, that's how it should be done. It can also serve as a warning to others, so that other troublemakers in the village won't dare to mess with the educated youth settlement in the future." Lin Qiuyue unequivocally supported Yang Ping.

"Alright, stop arguing. Let's wait for the brigade to arrive before discussing anything. But one thing is certain: no matter what we say later, all of us educated youth are one group, and we should stick to the same story."

Meng Huaiyuan finally silenced all the dissent and gave a summary. However, everyone generally agreed with the suggestion, so there was no opposition.

Only Chen Zhejiang watched all this, lost in thought. He had simply arrived late and was unfamiliar with the situation in the brigade, making it difficult for him to speak up. But that didn't mean he had no thoughts about the educated youth team leader, especially since he had discovered that Meng Huaiyuan was somewhat weak and unable to balance the conflicts below.

Clang... clang... clang... The broken iron plate hanging on the tree at the village entrance kept ringing out as people who were having lunch or had already finished lunch came out of their houses one after another.

"What happened?"

"What's going on? Didn't we just receive our grain rations not long ago? Are we going to get money soon?" This is a family struggling financially, always thinking the best.

"Whatever it is, let's go take a look, it'll help digest our food." This person was bored at home and wanted to see some excitement.

A crowd slowly gathered at the village entrance. Seeing that the person ringing the bell was a former educated youth, they couldn't help but feel a little strange. But they were only a little strange; no one stepped forward to stop them. Instead, they kept asking each other what was going on.

"Wei Zhiqing, stop ringing. Don't you know that this bell isn't something you can just ring randomly?" Zhao Youzhi finally arrived, followed by Zhou Shumin, the accountant.

He looked somewhat impatient. He was enjoying his drink when he heard the village bell ring. Thinking something serious had happened, he rushed over. He found Wei Dazhi, the educated youth, banging the bell haphazardly.

"Captain Zhao, you've arrived. I don't ring this bell randomly. I really had something to discuss with the brigade leaders, that's why I rang it. See, you're all here now?"

Wei Dazhi pretended to be indifferent, but his face still revealed a little excitement, after all, there were not many opportunities to show his face in front of so many villagers.

"What exactly happened?"

"This noon, after we finished lunch, we were studying the leader's quotations at the educated youth settlement when we suddenly heard cries for help coming from Zhou Rui's house. All of us educated youth immediately grabbed our weapons and rushed to the crime scene, apprehending three masked burglars on the spot. However…"

Wei Dazhi was particularly quick-witted at this moment, not only explaining the situation clearly but also demonstrating the bravery and fearlessness of the educated youth. He only slightly belittled Zhou Rui, asking when Zhou Rui had asked for help.

"But what?" Zhao Youzhi hated people who talked in such a drawn-out way, and hurriedly asked.

"However, we eventually discovered that these three people were villagers from the Jiaolongxia Production Brigade."

A commotion erupted as Wei Dazhi's last words instantly ignited the crowd.