Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Because Zhou Rui was so enthusiastic, Chen Huaihua and her companion ate until they were stuffed. Little Huaishu, in particular, kept burping after eating, and even drinking water couldn't stop it.

Zhou Rui found some dried hawthorns and gave a few to the little locust tree, which made it feel a little better.

After finishing their meal, Chen Huaihua and Xiao Huaishu sat for a while before leaving. If Zhou Rui hadn't insisted that they stay for dinner, they wouldn't have stayed at his house for so long.

Feeling sleepy after a full meal, Zhou Rui lay down on the kang (heated brick bed) as soon as he finished cleaning up the dishes and immediately drifted off to sleep. An'an was also a bit tired; chasing the dog in the yard that morning had used up a lot of energy, and now the power was out.

Only Little Rice Cake still had boundless energy, rolling around on the kang (a heated brick bed). Zhou Rui ignored her, placed the rattle drum and tiger doll in front of her, and lay down on the edge of the kang to prevent her from falling off.

As Xiao Niangao was playing, she heard Zhou Rui and An'an snoring in her ears. Then she felt her head getting heavy and suddenly collapsed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and didn't move.

Zhou Ping had been playing so wildly outside that he didn't realize he hadn't eaten until his stomach started growling. He ran home like a whirlwind, but the house was quiet and seemed deserted.

Zhou Ping peeked into Zhou Rui's room and saw that Zhou Rui and the others were fast asleep. Little Niangao was kneeling in the center of the kang (a heated brick bed), looking like a little pig with its head buried.

An'an lay across the pillow, one foot resting on Zhou Rui's big mouth.

Zhou Rui was relatively normal, except that his mouth was blocked by a foot, and his snoring was somewhat intermittent.

"Hehe..." Zhou Ping chuckled to himself as he looked at the scene. It was a pity he couldn't draw, otherwise he would have recorded the whole scene and enjoyed it every day.

*Gurgle*. His stomach growled again, so Zhou Ping turned and went to the kitchen. There was a pot on the stove. Zhou Ping opened the lid; there were two dishes heating up inside, but no staple food.

Zhou Ping casually opened the cupboard, took out a handful of noodles, and put them into the pot.

"Slurp, this is delicious. Who sent this toad?" Zhou Ping muttered to himself as he ate.

"We're free tomorrow, so let's ask Second Brother to take us to catch some more frogs. There are only a few, not enough to eat." Zhou Ping finished his noodles, even licking up the last bit of broth from the frogs, still feeling a little unsatisfied.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Ping ran into Zhou Rui's room.

"Second brother, get up, get up."

"What's wrong?" Zhou Rui opened his eyes, feeling a little dazed.

An'an was startled awake by Zhou Ping's shout, but her eyes were vacant, her pupils unfocused. Only Xiao Niangao, with her left thumb in her mouth, remained unawakened.

"Didn't we say we were going to catch toads today? I already told Ping An and Shunli, they'll be here soon." Zhou Ping kept shaking Zhou Rui's arm.

Zhou Rui was still not fully awake when An An, who was sitting there, heard the words "frog" and her eyes lit up, as if her battery had been instantly fully charged.

"Frog, hehe...slurp."

Zhou Rui turned his head and saw An An grinning foolishly, drool dripping from her mouth. Yesterday, he saw her only take a few bites and then stop eating, so he thought she didn't like it anymore. He didn't expect her to be so greedy.

Zhou Rui reached out and wiped away a damp patch from the corner of An An's mouth with his finger: "Silly girl, if you like it so much, why didn't you eat more yesterday?"

"My third brother still hasn't come back from yesterday. I've already finished eating, so he won't have any left to eat."

Hearing An An's cheerful reply, Zhou Rui's eyes lit up with relief. He hadn't expected that An An had been thinking about that wild child she'd mentioned yesterday.

Zhou Ping was also very moved, but he didn't know how to express it, so he just scratched his head and smiled foolishly.

An'an perked up immediately. Catching toads was fun and delicious, so it was a win-win situation. As for the cold outside? Kids aren't afraid of the cold.

An'an flitted around the room, trying on this dress one moment and looking for that pair of shoes the next. She was as busy as a little bee.

The noise inside was so loud that Zhou Rui couldn't sleep anymore and had no choice but to get up. At this moment, Xiao Niangao was also finally woken up and started crying loudly.

Zhou Rui was immediately busy, picking up Xiao Niangao to soothe the baby, changing her diaper, and feeding her formula. By the time everything was arranged, more than half an hour had passed.

"Why haven't they come yet?" Zhou Ping paced back and forth in the yard, feeling a little anxious.

Zhou Rui pulled out the snow sled and laid thick cotton quilts on it; one quilt wasn't enough, so he laid two.

"Second brother, what are you doing?"

"We caught them in the streams around here last time, and villagers also occasionally go to catch them, so the area should be cleaned up."

Even if there's some left, it's not much. Let's go a bit further away. We'll take Mao Dazhuang with us, drive the snow sled, and let An'an and Xiao Niangao stay under the covers so they won't get cold.

Zhou Ping nodded, indicating that he had learned something. However, when he looked up outside the courtyard, there was still no one there.

"Second brother, I'm going to check on Ping An's family. Why aren't they here yet?" With that, she took off running.

Seeing this, Zhou Rui shook his head: "So impulsive. I'll have to keep a closer eye on him when he starts school next year."

Zhou Rui continued moving things, preparing snacks and hot water, stuffing them all into the quilt to keep them warm.

Just as Zhou Rui was busy, a loud noise suddenly came from the neighboring educated youth settlement, with people cursing and directly insulting the other party's mother.

Zhou Rui quickly looked over and saw several male educated youths entangled in the courtyard of the educated youth settlement. Some were slapping each other, some were fighting back, and others were trying to mediate.

Several female educated youths stood aside and watched quietly, neither participating nor helping to break up the fight.

A moment later, a figure cried out in pain as he was kicked out. Zhou Rui looked closely and saw that it was Meng Huaiyuan, the leader of the educated youth team. It seemed that he was the one who had tried to break up the fight.

Meng Huaiyuan got up from the ground, clutching his thigh, somewhat exasperated.

"Fine, fine, you won't listen to me, huh? I'm going to find the production team leader and have him take charge of you."

As he spoke, he turned and left the educated youth compound.

After Meng Huaiyuan left, the fighting in the courtyard became increasingly fierce. People were grabbing hair, pulling necks, and slapping each other.

However fierce they were not evenly matched; it was a three-person team on one side attacking one person at a time.

Zhou Rui jumped out of his fence and walked to the outside of the educated youth compound. Instead of going in, he looked inside through the fence.

The four male educated youths fell silent, focusing solely on their brutal beating. Wei Dazhi, Lu Yan, and Chen Zhejiang surrounded Ma Jun and unleashed a relentless assault, leaving Ma Jun crying out in pain.

Unable to get any useful information, Zhou Rui could only wave to Lin Qiuyue and the others. Unexpectedly, Lin Qiuyue and the others were so engrossed in watching that they didn't even see Zhou Rui outside the courtyard.

Fortunately, Zhou Rui's gesture of beckoning wealth with one hand worked, and Yang Ping finally caught a glimpse of Zhou Rui out of the corner of her eye.

Yang Ping walked over, and Zhou Rui leaned over and asked softly, "What's wrong with them? They seem to be at each other's throats."