Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Hearing the shout, Zhou Rui slapped the woman twice more before releasing her. Turning around, he saw it was the old village chief, whom Zhou Rui should call "Grandpa" according to seniority. The neighbors had heard the commotion and summoned the village chief, Zhao Youzhi. In his previous life, Zhou Rui had fainted and didn't know if the village chief had come. However, when Zhou Rui went to the village chief's house to cause trouble afterward, the village chief said that the matter was decided by Zhou Rui's elders, and he couldn't stop them. He told Zhou Rui to go home and find his uncle and grandparents to resolve the issue. The old village chief had been in office for over twenty years. He had never been to school and had never traveled to any major cities. He was a conservative, stubborn old man, and his management style was simple and brutal. In Jiaolong Gorge, his word was law.

After being reborn, Zhou Rui's resistance resulted in him beating the couple from town so badly that they cried for their parents, which finally alerted the old village chief.

"Village chief, you've come at the right time! Look at this little beast! He's beaten us up so badly! My husband is practically ruined! Arrest him! I'm going to beat him to death and make him pay my husband!" The fat woman got excited again when she saw the village chief arrive, and as she spoke, she reached out to scratch Zhou Rui's face again.

Zhou Rui glared at her and was about to raise his hand to strike, which frightened the fat woman so much that she quickly dodged backward.

"Stop right there! What, you still want to fight when you see me? Stop right there and talk this out. If you do another thing, I'll arrest you all!" The village chief's anger flared. "I'm already here, why aren't you giving me any face? You still want to fight?"

"Don't arrest my brother! They started the fight! Arrest them, not my brother!" Zhou Ping was terrified when he heard the village chief was going to arrest someone, and immediately shouted for his brother not to be arrested.

"Where did you come from, woman? You and that guy on the ground aren't from our village, are you? What are you doing here?" The village chief looked closely and realized that apart from these few boys, he didn't recognize the other two members of the Zhou family.

"Village chief, my husband's surname is Zhang, and he's a cook at the woodworking factory in Hongqi Town. We live in town, but my husband and I can't have a child. We heard from a fortune teller that if we take another family's baby to bring good luck, we'll be able to have our own. So, someone introduced us to this family, saying that all the adults in their family have gone, and the few children can't even support this newborn. I was just trying to be kind, I thought if I took the baby, they would raise it well and I even gave them fifty yuan. And they still made a fuss, look what they did to my husband. Look at my face, I even lost my front tooth!" As soon as the village chief asked her a question, the fat woman launched into a long, rambling monologue.

Zhou Rui simply hung his arms at his sides, remaining silent, listening intently with his eyes fixed on the fat woman. In his past life, it was this couple who caused the separation of Zhou Rui's family, leaving him with a lifelong inner demon; he couldn't forgive them. Of course, there was also his nominal uncle and his biological grandparents.

The village chief turned to Zhou Rui and asked, "Rui, what do you think? Is what she said true?"

"Grandpa Zhao, I didn't take any fifty yuan. I don't know these two people. They came to my door trying to snatch my child and even broke my head. Isn't that what robbers do? It's not illegal for me to beat up a robber, is it?" Zhou Rui wasn't going to tell the village chief that his uncle had taken money or anything like that. His main point was that he didn't know them and they were trying to snatch his child. He wanted to be in the right first. "Besides, listen to what she just said. A fortune teller, and she's talking about 'bringing good luck' (a traditional Chinese custom for warding off evil spirits). The commune leaders said they're going to overthrow all monsters and demons. And she's promoting feudal superstition. I think they should both be arrested and paraded through the streets."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Youzhi realized that bad elements had come to the village to snatch children, and he shouted to call the militia to arrest them.

"No, no, we're not trying to kidnap the child, we really did pay. I'm not promoting feudal superstition, I just don't have children, I really love my baby." The fat woman quickly shouted when she heard that they were going to arrest her and her husband.

"Look, it's him. I gave him the money, and he said he's the child's great-grandfather. He said he couldn't support the child, so he asked us to take him away." The fat woman suddenly pointed to Zhou Dashan behind the crowd outside the courtyard gate.

The neighbors who had been watching the commotion noticed the plump woman pointing and the crowd automatically parted to the sides, revealing Zhou Dashan. Zhou Dashan was tall and thin, his eyes darting around constantly; he was clearly a shrewd man.

"Hehe, Uncle Zhao, well, I just thought Ruiwa was too young. He couldn't even support his younger siblings, so how could he possibly support such a tiny baby?"

"Look, I'm just trying to help. My brother and Fengwazi are gone, and my nephew's wife has run away too. This child without parents will probably never grow up. Besides, my brother's family still owes several hundred yuan in debt for building a house. I'm just trying to ease Ruiwazi's burden. I'm doing this out of kindness. The Zhang cook's family is well-off. Giving this baby to them will definitely make them live well, and they can also make a good relative. They'll definitely help Ruiwazi and his family in the future. Ruiwazi and his family shouldn't be so irritable. Look how they beat people up. Aren't they treating their benefactors as enemies?" Zhou Dashan started by stammering, but as he spoke, he became more and more fluent, as if he really was a great philanthropist, as if he really wanted to do a good deed.

"Yes, how can such a small family support themselves and their niece? This uncle is right."

"With this fifty yuan, it should be enough for Ruiwa and the others to get by for a while. They'll all be able to survive when they're older, provided their elders are considerate of them." Hearing Zhou Dashan say this, some of the less bright neighbors whispered among themselves.

"You're talking nonsense! We can support ourselves and my niece. We're not going to sell Xiaoniang!" Zhou Ping became agitated upon hearing these rumors and shouted. "Zhou Dashan, you son of a bitch, get out of here!"

Seeing this, Zhou Rui quickly stopped him. Shouting loudly was useless, and incoherent words were more likely to cause trouble. Zhou Ping's unwarranted insults against his elders were more likely to be criticized. This was a lesson Zhou Rui had learned over the decades since his rebirth.

"Oh, so Uncle is saying this all for my own good? Then why didn't you tell me beforehand? And these two people came to my house to take the baby while I wasn't home. If I hadn't been quick to gather pig feed and come back early today, I probably wouldn't have run into them. Is this something relatives should do? Should I find you a few relatives like that so they can take your grandson when you're not home?" Zhou Rui spoke calmly and slowly, making sure the village chief and the people around him understood clearly. They were determined to tear off Zhou Dashan's hypocritical mask and show everyone.

"And look at these two, did they come here after discussing things properly? They even talked about claiming kinship and helping each other in the future. Look at the blood on my head, look at the footprints on my brother's body, look at the scratches on my sister's hands. Tell me again, what is a benefactor, and what is an enemy?"

The crowd looked at the thin Zhou Rui and his younger siblings, as well as the blood still wet on Zhou Rui's head, and immediately started discussing it again.

"That's really ruthless. How could you hurt such a small child? No wonder Ruiwa was so desperate."

"Ruiwa is right. How can someone hug someone when their eldest brother isn't around?"

"Yes, it's unreasonable for the uncle to let a stranger come and hold the baby without even telling his nephew."

Aunt Changchun next door chimed in, "Those two are really fierce. When I came out after hearing the commotion, Ruiwa was already lying on the ground. Instead of checking if Ruiwa was alright, they were fighting over the child. Pingwa tried to stop them from leaving and got kicked; he flew through the air."

"That couple doesn't seem like good people; they should be arrested. His uncle isn't a good person either; he definitely sold the child for money..."

Zhou Rui's few words immediately turned the situation around.