Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Zhou Rui frantically flipped the pheasant over; some parts of the side that had been facing down were already burnt, emitting a pungent, burnt smell.

Zhou Rui took the knife and carefully removed the charred parts of the pheasant, then quickly sprinkled it with spices.

The pheasant on the fire was saved, but Zhou Rui's train of thought was interrupted, and he couldn't recall the clue that had just flashed through his mind.

"Brother Wang, it's so good to meet you. We were gathering herbs on the mountain, and just when we were about to have a harvest, we were caught in a blizzard."

"I lost the medicinal herbs, and all my supplies. If I hadn't met you, I might have starved to death in these mountains."

Tong Jinjun walked up to Wang Shouye, took his hand, and poured out his grievances, almost bursting into tears at the depth of his emotions.

After all, what he said before was a lie, but the last sentence was true. He hadn't eaten anything all day, and had only managed to find a few tender blades of grass in the snow, which he swallowed without even chewing them.

If he weren't afraid his feet would freeze off, he would have roasted and eaten his leather boots.

"Haha... It's fate that we met. Come, come, dinner is almost ready, just wait a moment." Wang Shouye warmly welcomed them.

This was the second time Wang Shouye had encountered someone he knew, not a complete stranger, so he lowered his guard. Especially Tong Guwei; his status as a doctor gave him an advantage.

"Thank you so much, you've gone to so much trouble. Next time you go to the capital, you must come and find me so I can show you my hospitality."

"Definitely, definitely! Come and sit down, warm yourself by the fire. And young Brother He, you come over quickly too. And who is this?"

Wang Shouye and He Hongbing, the mute farmers, had met each other before, but this was the first time they had seen the old man. He looked so old; why was he coming up the mountain at this time?

"Oh, you mean Lao Luo? He's the mountain herder I specifically hired to help me find medicine," Tong Guwei simply introduced.

"Let me tell you, Xiao He's mother's illness can't be delayed any longer. We couldn't find her last time, so we dragged Lao Luo to the mountains in this freezing weather."

We never expected to encounter such terrible weather; we were almost frozen to death. The snow just stopped, and we couldn't even find anything to eat. If it weren't for Brother Wang, we really don't know what we would have done.

Tong Guwei kept complaining to Wang Shouye so that he wouldn't have time to talk to Lao Qin and thus avoid revealing any flaws that might arouse suspicion.

Park Bo-sang had it easy; he just had to pretend to be mute and didn't have to speak.

But he was extremely hungry, and the aroma of roast chicken made his eyes light up. Unable to speak, he could only swallow his saliva repeatedly.

Fortunately, Wang Shouye noticed Park Boshang's condition: "Xiao He, are you starving?"

When Park Bo-sang heard Wang Shouye's question, he nodded hurriedly, almost shaking his neck off.

"Stone, is the chicken soup ready? Bring a few bowls over so that Doctor Tong and the others can have something to eat first."

"Yes, Master. Although it's not fully cooked yet, it's ready to eat."

As Zhang Shitou spoke, he contributed their own lunchboxes, filled four bowls with chicken soup, and added a lot of wild pheasant meat.

Slurp... Park Bo-sang snatched a lunchbox and took a big gulp, his mouth burning from the heat, but he just couldn't bear to spit out the soup.

The other two were more refined, even thanking Wang Shouye before eating, but their table manners were equally rude. They stuffed large mouthfuls of chicken into their mouths; the meat was a bit chewy, and the chicken bones crunched loudly as they chewed.

Just then, the roast chicken in Zhou Rui's hands was ready. Originally, only five chickens were roasted, but now that there were three more people, it was naturally not enough to eat. Zhou Rui had no choice but to tear each chicken in half and share them.

Following the principle of serving guests before hosts, Zhou Rui first distributed the pheasants to Tong Jinjun and the other two.

Tong Jinjun reached out and took it: "Thank you, Xiao Zhou."

Next was Lao Qin, but before Zhou Rui could hand it over, Park Bo-sang snatched it from Zhou Rui's hand.

Zhou Rui frowned, and Wang Shouye also looked somewhat displeased.

Northeasterners are very polite. In their eyes, Tong Guwei is a doctor, so he should be allowed to eat first, then the older mountain herder Lao Luo, and finally He Hongbing.

Zhou Rui hesitated for a moment and didn't speak. He simply took another half of the pheasant and handed it to Lao Luo, using both hands to express his apology.

A filthy hand reached out. These past two days, Old Qin had suffered a lot in order to survive, and he had long since neglected personal hygiene.

Perhaps due to the excessive movement and the tear in the cuff, a section of her fair wrist was exposed.

Zhou Rui had been slowly glancing at it when a thought suddenly struck him.

"These don't look like the hands of a mountain herder."

Zhou Rui quickly lowered his head, trying not to let anyone notice the strange look in his eyes. Then, he casually distributed the remaining roast chicken to Wang Shouye, Gu Shaofeng, and the others.

Zhou Rui took the roast chicken, walked silently to the side, and sat down in a spot furthest away from Doctor Tong and the others.

He chewed the chicken carefully, but couldn't taste what the food in his mouth actually tasted like, while his mind was racing.

If this man surnamed Luo is not a mountain herder.

What about Doctor Tong?

What about farmer He Hongbing?

What are their identities?

Once doubts arise, they grow wildly like weeds, and previously unreasonable points also come to light.

Putting aside the last time, there are many unreasonable aspects to today's situation alone.

Zhou Rui and his group noticed that Dr. Tong and his two companions were coming because the dogs were barking as a warning.

At that time, the two sides were hundreds of meters apart, and the light was dim. Even Zhou Rui's modified eyesight could not see the person clearly. How did Doctor Tong know that it was Uncle Wang here?

Also, they just went through a blizzard yesterday, and Dr. Tong said they lost their supplies. Why would they continue into the mountains without food instead of going back home?

Supply. Yes, supply, Tong Guwei used this word.

The common people all say they lost things, lost food, who would say they lost supplies? That's clearly the army's version of events.

Zhou Rui remained calm and began to eat the roasted pheasant in large bites. Then, he pretended to chat with Zhang Shitou next to him, turned around, and silently sized up the three of them.

Two old-fashioned hunting rifles, one for He Hongbing and one for Lao Luo. It's not yet clear whether there are any other weapons.

Everyone was dressed similarly, in ordinary cotton cloth, which was available at the supply and marketing cooperative.

As for shoes, Lao Luo was wearing what looked like the kind of cotton-rubber shoes issued by the forest farm, and Zhou Rui was wearing the same kind, which he got from the warehouse managed by Zhang Zhenbei.

Tong Guwei and He Hongbing were wearing leather boots, military leather boots.

With so many clues connected, it would be foolish for Zhou Rui not to know who they are.

Spies. Spies announced by the county. Tong Guwei is the 1.85-meter-tall Russian-American, and He Hongbing is the 1.7-meter-tall Asian.

As for Lao Luo, although he wasn't mentioned in the announcement, he was hanging out with the other two, so whether he was a spy or not is no longer important.