Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Cough cough... Ha... Waaah..." A small head peeked out from the edge of the kang table, tears streaming down its face, and it kept coughing.

"Haha... Little Rice Cake wants to drink?" Zhao Dazhu was carefree, and his mood, which had just been dampened by Zhou Rui, instantly improved.

Zhou Rui grabbed Xiao Niangao's clothes from behind, pulled her to his side, picked up An'an's water cup, and slowly brought it to Xiao Niangao's mouth.

Little Rice Cake took a small sip, it wasn't spicy, then grabbed Zhou Rui's hand and lifted it up, gulping it down.

After it was over, she stopped making a fuss, her eyes red, and quietly nestled in Zhou Rui's arms.

"Little one, now you know how spicy it is, huh? See if you dare to steal alcohol again!" Zhou Rui didn't dare to scold him loudly, so he could only educate him gently, patting Xiao Niangao's back to comfort him.

An'an was taking care of her two little nieces when, in a moment of inattention, Xiao Nian Gao started crying, so she quickly came over.

"Second Brother, why is Little Rice Cake crying?"

Looking into An'an's clear, big eyes, Zhou Rui realized that An'an wasn't exactly easy to deal with, and he needed to make things clear with her.

"Little Rice Cake, you stole some wine and drank it spicy. It made you cry. You can't do that again. If your second brother wasn't around, you would have cried from the spiciness."

"Is it that spicy? Then I won't drink, I don't want to cry." An'an was so frightened by Zhou Rui that she covered her mouth with both hands, shook her head incessantly, and her two little braids flew up.

Zhou Rui nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that his education had been very successful; An'an now knew that she couldn't drink alcohol.

At this moment, Wang Xinghua brought in a small dish of pickled mustard tubers and placed it on the table.

"Have some pickled vegetables to go with your drinks first; the main dishes will be ready in a bit."

"Okay, thank you for your help, sister-in-law."

"It's nothing troublesome, just some simple home-cooked dishes. But I'm not as good as you, so please don't mind." Wang Xinghua said as she turned and left.

Zhou Rui ate one; it was salty, fragrant, crispy, and tender, with a hint of spiciness—delicious.

"How are Zhou Chen and the others?" Zhou Rui asked himself, seeing that Zhao Dazhu was not getting to the point.

"You mean your cousin... um, Zhou Chen?" Zhao Dazhu quickly corrected himself, remembering that Zhou Rui didn't like to talk about this relationship.

"Their case had solid evidence, with witnesses and physical evidence, and the verdict was swift. It was announced directly at a public trial in the town, and many people from our village went to watch the spectacle."

"Oh, how were they all judged?" Zhou Rui wasn't in a hurry now that he had started the conversation.

"Zhou Chen, as the mastermind, was sentenced to ten years of re-education through labor because the amount of money involved in the case was too large."

Chen Dabiao and Chen Erbiao shifted all the blame onto Zhou Chen, and then reported a group of young men from the town's textile factory for stealing and reselling factory materials. This reduced their sentence, and they were sentenced to one year and six months.

"Oh, right, and Qian Fulai too. Zhou Chen and the others wanted to have another person share the blame, saying that Qian Fulai was also involved, but in the end there was no evidence, so they let him go."

Zhou Rui was very satisfied. Zhou Chen had been in prison for ten years, and when he came out, he was over thirty years old. He had neither a skill nor an assistant, so his life was basically over.

As for Chen Dabiao and his brother, they're not very bright and their fighting skills aren't as good as his. If they provoke him again after they get out of prison, he'll beat them up every time he sees them.

Qian Fulai has nothing to worry about. He used to be able to bully others because of his small group of four, but after this, he'll probably have to keep a low profile. He also has to worry about Chen Dabiao and Chen Erbiao causing him trouble after they get out.

"That's all?" Zhou Rui wanted to hear more, but Zhao Dazhu remained silent.

"What else? These are the only two things that have happened in the village these past few days."

"Didn't anyone come to their homes to collect the debt?"

Zhao Dazhu's eyes lit up: "No one's come to the door. Ruiwa, do you know something?"

Zhao Dazhu raised his glass to toast Zhou Rui. He not only liked to gossip, but also loved to listen to gossip, so he could have something to talk about with the villagers.

"I overheard it by chance in town. They said that a few of them liked to gamble at gambling dens, and when they lost, they would borrow money from others to continue gambling. They borrowed quite a lot of money."

"How much is 'a lot'? Did you borrow it from the gambling dens?" Zhao Dazhu wanted to know more details so he could show off in front of others.

"I heard it's several hundred. It must have been lent to them by the venue; otherwise, if people knew who Zhou Chen was, would they lend him money?"

"The interest rate must be incredibly high, right?" Zhao Dazhu's eyes gleamed as he pondered where to go and who to chat with.

Seeing Zhao Dazhu's reaction, Zhou Rui knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Don't let anything slip these next couple of days, or those two families will get wind of it and run away. I'm even planning to watch the show when the people from the gambling den come knocking on our door to collect the debt."

Zhao Dazhu was planning to go out and chat with people in the afternoon, but Zhou Rui saw through his plan. However, after hearing Zhou Rui say that someone would come to collect a debt and that things might escalate, Zhao Dazhu had no choice but to suppress his desire to show off and wait quietly.

"Ruiwa, you mean the people from the place will be coming soon?"

"Of course." Zhou Rui tapped his fingers on the table, his tone very certain.

"Zhou Chen and the others have already been sentenced, and Zhou Chen even got a ten-year sentence. Do you think those people who borrowed money are going to wait that long? Impossible. When they come knocking on our door with the IOUs demanding repayment, I reckon it'll be quite a spectacle."

Zhao Dazhu stroked his chin, thinking that Zhou Rui's words made a lot of sense. "Then I'll just hold back a bit longer and show off even more when there are more people around."

"The food is here. Stop chatting and let's eat."

Wang Xinghua brought the dishes over: scrambled eggs, stir-fried vermicelli with pickled cabbage and minced pork, and mixed flour steamed buns as the main dish.

This is what a typical rural family's daily meals look like, and that's only because Zhao Dazhu's family is relatively wealthy in the village. Families like Zhou Rui's basically live the life of rich landlords, something ordinary people can't even imagine.

Having obtained the information he wanted, Zhou Rui naturally no longer wanted to drink slowly with Zhao Dazhu. He finished his drink in one gulp and started eating.

After a satisfying meal, Zhou Rui naturally wanted to go out for a stroll. Besides, he had promised to babysit Xinghua's child that afternoon.

Zhou Rui went out with two children hanging on his chest. The sun was high in the sky, and it felt very comfortable on his body. The temperature was also higher than in the morning.

This is where the cloth straps in Zhou Rui's pocket came in handy; he could hang one on each side of his chest without much effort. And with his sister's company, Xiao Niangao stopped fussing, and the two of them played together perfectly.

The sun was shining brightly today, and many people were out and about; the village information center was packed with people. Suddenly, An'an ran off on her own, followed by several puppies.

"An'an, where are you going? Slow down!" Zhou Rui shouted.

"I went to find Little Sparrow to play with, but she's playing with other people there."

Zhou Rui looked in the direction An An was running and saw Xiao Que'er playing shuttlecock with several little girls.

Zhou Rui felt a little guilty, mainly because he had talked behind Xiao Que'er's back about how she was disciplining An'an on the issue of eating. He quickly turned around and headed towards where the adults were chatting.