Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Are bears really that powerful?" Gu Shaofeng asked with some skepticism.

Last time, he and Zhou Rui killed one of their own, but nothing serious happened. He only broke his leg and had to recuperate for more than a month.

"Shaofeng, don't be careless. Don't underestimate it just because you fought a bear once. You were lucky last time; Ruiwa's marksmanship was excellent, which is why you escaped unscathed."

"I've been hunting for twenty years, and the biggest bear I've ever seen weighed around 1,500 pounds and stood over three meters tall. A bullet hitting it was like a tickle; if you got a claw strike, your whole village would be doomed."

Wang Shouye gave very serious instructions. Of these apprentices, Gu Shaofeng had the most impulsive personality and was too prone to getting into trouble.

It's fine when he's around as a master, but I'm afraid he might not be vigilant enough when he's alone and could harm himself.

Just as Wang Shouye was teaching his apprentices hunting skills on the road, Zhao Youzhi arrived at Zhou Rui's house.

"Pingwa, where's your second brother?"

"My second brother went up the mountain. Grandpa Zhao, is there something you need from my second brother?" Zhou Ping was hand-rubbing a diaper for Xiao Niangao. This little baby is so difficult to take care of; he has to change diapers countless times a day.

"Oh dear, why is he coming up the mountain at this time? This is bad."

Zhou Ping noticed Zhao Youzhi's expression and realized something was wrong, which immediately made him anxious.

"What's wrong, Grandpa Zhao? Has something happened in the village?"

"It's not the village, it's Ruiwa. I was chatting with your Sesame Grandpa today, and he told me that there will be a blizzard in our area in three days. He asked me to remind the villagers to clear the snow off their roofs in time so that the roofs don't collapse."

You know how powerful this blizzard is, with strong winds and heavy snow. Not only will the temperature drop even further, but the worst part is that you won't be able to see clearly in the mountains and won't be able to get down.

"Oh! That's dangerous? But... but the radio said it's been sunny lately, hasn't it?"

Zhou Ping was young and didn't know what a blizzard meant for people going into the mountains. When he heard Zhao Youzhi describe the danger, he became anxious.

"The weather forecast on the radio is nowhere near as accurate as Old Sesame's. In all these years, Old Sesame has never been wrong in his weather predictions. If he says there will be a blizzard in three days, he won't wait until the fourth day."

The more certain Zhao Youzhi was, the more anxious Zhou Ping became. He didn't even bother to wash the diapers and stood up, pacing around in circles.

"What should we do? What should we do? My second brother has already gone up the mountain with Uncle Wang. Aren't they in danger?"

"Oh, with Wang Pao around, there's not much danger. Wang Pao is very experienced. With him around, we can stay in the mountains for a couple more days at most, and nothing will happen."

Zhao Youzhi belatedly realized that he shouldn't have mentioned the dangers of the mountain in front of the child. Look how frightened Pingwa was! The boy was only thirteen years old, and his father and older brother had only recently passed away. Zhou Rui was his pillar of support; how could he not be worried?

"Really?" Upon hearing that there was no danger, Zhou Ping immediately stopped circling around, but looked at Zhao Youzhi with some uncertainty.

Zhao Youzhi nodded firmly: "Of course. Wang Pao is a well-known artilleryman in the surrounding area of ​​Hongqi Town. He's very experienced, he'll be fine."

"However, it would be best if you could notify them. After all, although there's no real danger, staying in the mountains for too long in such heavy snow is quite tiring. It would be best to wait until the snow stops before going up the mountain."

Fortunately, Zhao Youzhi didn't gasp for breath when he spoke, otherwise, even a single mistake could have scared Zhou Ping to death.

"I don't know where Uncle Wang lives. I only know that Uncle Wang is from Wangjiazhuang."

"By the way, Uncle Wang and Sister-in-law Xinghua are relatives, she must know where Uncle Wang lives. I'll go to Brother Dazhu's house and ask her, it would be best if we could inform them."

Zhou Ping slapped his forehead, finally remembering this matter.

"Alright, then hurry up and go. I still need to inform the others, and talk to the educated youth compound as well, reminding them to prepare more firewood. Especially the male educated youth, they shouldn't freeze to death."

Zhao Youzhi grumbled as he left. He particularly looked down on the male educated youth who had been sent to their village. They were incompetent, lazy, and not even as good as the group of female educated youth.

Zhou Ping hurriedly took An'an and Xiao Niangao to Zhao Dazhu's house to ask Wang Xinghua for Wang Shouye's address, wanting to make a trip to Wangjiazhuang.

Wang Xinghua was very familiar with Wang Shouye's address, but she didn't let Zhou Ping go. Zhou Ping was too young, and she was worried about him, so she had Zhao Dazhu go on her behalf, as if he were going back to her parents' home for her, and he could stay at her parents' home for one night.

Zhao Dazhu rode his bicycle there, but he was too late. Zhou Rui and the others had gone into the mountains without even having lunch, and they couldn't catch up.

However, the words Zhao Dazhu brought back reassured Zhou Ping.

"Sixth Aunt said that Sixth Uncle often went into the mountains in winter when he was young. He has encountered many blizzards and is very experienced. Nothing will happen to him."

However, this was just to fool the children. They all knew the power of blizzards in the village, and it would be even greater in the mountains, where the danger was incomparable to that in the village.

After Zhou Ping left, Wang Xinghua was still somewhat worried: "Ruiwa and the others can't be in any trouble, can they?"

"Don't worry, Uncle Liu is experienced. Besides, there are many of them, and they brought more than ten dogs with them, so nothing will happen."

Zhao Dazhu patted Wang Xinghua's hand to comfort her. Over the past six months, their family had maintained close ties with Zhou Rui's family, and they had even adopted Xiao Niangao as their goddaughter. They had always treated each other like true relatives, so their relationship was naturally very deep.

"Then you'll have to visit Ruiwa's house more often these next few days. When the snow gets heavy, you'll need to clean his roof promptly. Pingwa is too young; there are some things he can't do."

"I know, I know. Don't worry, I remember everything." Zhao Dazhu put his arm around Wang Xinghua, his tone very gentle. His wife was kind to begin with, and after having a baby, she became even more sentimental.

Zhou Rui and his companions were unaware of what was happening in the village and were still immersed in the excitement of their impending harvest.

"Ruiwa, do you see this tree? There are black bears in there." Wang Shouye pointed to a big tree about ten meters away.

Zhou Rui looked at the centuries-old tree in front of him, so large that it would take eight or nine people holding hands to encircle it. He scanned it with his senses and knew that Wang Shouye was right, but he didn't know how Wang Shouye had made that judgment.

"Uncle Wang, how did you know there were black bears in this tree? And even if there were, couldn't it be a bear?"

"Look there," Wang Shouye said, pointing to a tree hole four or five meters above the ground.

"See the cave entrance? It's covered in frost. That's the warm breath from hibernating bears, which condenses into frost when it meets the cold air outside the cave. If there's no frost at the entrance, then it must be empty inside."

Zhou Rui nodded. He had attended junior high school and knew the physics of hot air condensing when it cools, but these ancient wisdoms were summarized from thousands of years of experience.

"Also, this tree looks big, but the hole inside might not be big, otherwise the tree would have fallen long ago. Bears are generally much bigger than black bears and need more space, so the granary is usually filled with black bears."

Of course, this isn't absolute, but the possibility of it being Hei Xiazi (a bear) is much higher.