Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Just as Yang Ping and the others were having a great time playing with the ice chisel that Zhou Rui had snatched from him, Ma Jun was experiencing the most embarrassing moment of his life, amidst the protests of the other male educated youth.

"What exactly happened? Can someone tell me?" Although Zhao Youzhi wasn't trembling with anger, his expression wasn't good either.

Is the feng shui of this place really that bad? First, Zhou Chen, along with Chen Dabiao and Chen Erbiao, broke into Zhou Rui's house and moved things while no one was around.

Later, right under the noses of a group of educated youth, Ma Jun kept stealing their food and personal belongings and secretly selling them.

Zhao Youzhi's face was gloomy, which frightened the educated youth so much that they dared not speak. Fortunately, Chen Zhejiang was from an official family and had often been scolded by his father at home, so he was used to Zhao Youzhi's official arrogance.

"Let me speak," Chen Zhejiang stepped forward, making himself stand out at the front.

"Since I came here, in order to integrate into the group, I have been cooking with the other educated youth who came earlier."

Our educated youth compound is now divided into two groups: one for male educated youth and one for female educated youth. After Lu Yan and I arrived, we had enough to eat for the first half of the month, but for the second half of the month, we were always short of food.

This was because Lu Yan and I brought some food from home when we went to the countryside.

As Chen Zhejiang spoke, he took two more steps closer to Ma Jun.

"At first, I thought that we male educated youths were all big eaters and didn't know how to distribute the daily food, so I didn't pay much attention. When we ran out of food, we spent money to exchange for some food at the homes of the villagers, so at least we didn't go hungry."

"I didn't expect that." Chen Zhejiang suddenly raised his voice. "It was Ma Jun. He actually secretly hoarded grain behind our backs."

If Lu Yan hadn't gotten up to relieve himself in the middle of the night and seen someone carrying a sack going out, he wouldn't have followed them out of the blue.

We never realized that Ma Jun, this bad element among the people, would be after our grain. He secretly hid our communal grain in a hole outside.

"Exactly. This Ma Jun is absolutely rotten. I've been so good to him, treating him like a brother."

As a result, he made a fool of me, often secretly hiding grain from us to sell. This left us hungry, while he got rich all by himself.

Wei Dazhi seemed somewhat exasperated. Because he was one of the earliest educated youth to arrive, and he usually had a bad temper, the other educated youth didn't like him.

Only Ma Jun consistently helped him and stood by his side. He helped him come up with ideas, stood up to Meng Huaiyuan, the educated youth team leader, and even helped him pick fights with Lin Qiuyue and Yang Ping.

As it turned out, he was the dumbest one, having been played by Ma Jun for months. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, almost wanting to rush up and slap him a few more times.

When Ma Jun saw Wei Dazhi's imposing appearance, he trembled uncontrollably, fearing that Wei Dazhi would bypass the village chief and beat him up again.

Normally, Ma Jun wouldn't necessarily be afraid of him; he could easily be considered an equal opponent to Wei Dazhi. But now, he was badly injured and in the wrong, so he was no match for Wei Dazhi.

"That horse-faced educated youth is really something. He managed to steal grain for months without being caught, right under the noses of so many people. He's quite a talent," a young man said with a laugh as he watched the spectacle from the sidelines.

"You call a thief a talent? I think your thinking is wrong." A middle-aged woman said righteously.

"Auntie, don't take this so seriously. I was just being sarcastic. You know? Sarcasm."

"You little brat, are you asking for a beating? So what if you went to elementary school for a few years? What, to make yourself seem cultured?"

"Actually, they didn't steal that much grain. These educated youths were so ruthless. They beat that educated youth Ma so badly that he was unrecognizable." An old woman couldn't stand it anymore and felt that the other educated youths had gone too far.

"Grandma Tie Niu, it's easy for you to say that when you're not in his shoes. What would you do if he stole your Tie Niu's food rations and your precious grandson went hungry for months?"

"He dares? I'll break his legs!" Grandma Tie Niu's gray hair flew wildly, her cane whirling in the air, startling several young people nearby who quickly dodged away. Otherwise, getting hit by a stick for no reason would be too unlucky.

"It's not necessarily about how much was stolen, but rather that we were all educated youth who had gone to high school, and we were made fools of by this person for months. We lost face and were just angry."

Liu Jianguo stroked his stubble and analyzed the situation with feigned profundity. He had originally intended to go to Zhou Rui's house to inquire about information when he first arrived, but no one was home.

However, this did not stop him from being a Monday morning quarterback and showing off in front of the villagers.

"It must be, otherwise why would they be so ruthless? They must be furious. Jianguo, you're amazing, you even guessed that."

Chen Zhejiang waved his hand, signaling Wei Dazhi, who was jumping up and down, to stop for a moment.

Then he continued to say to Zhao Youzhi, "Captain Zhao, look, these are the things we found when we followed him into the underground cave."

There was rice, corn kernels, and potatoes, weighing about twenty pounds in total. And there was also this seven yuan and fifty-three cents.

I heard from Comrade Wei Dazhi that when they arrived, they spent almost all their money on buying some daily necessities, and he never saw Ma Jun spend any more money after that. Moreover, his family never sent anything to them.

And this pen. It was a gift from my father, and I couldn't find it last week. I thought I had lost it outside, but now it's in the hole in the ground.

And this Chairman's Medal, I remember it belonged to Comrade Lu Yan..."

Chen Zhejiang, perhaps due to his family's scholarly background, recounted the entire incident as if giving a report, making it clear and understandable to everyone.

Zhao Youzhi's face grew increasingly grim as he listened. Although the matter of the educated youth compound was not his primary responsibility, since these educated youth had been sent down to the Jiaolongxia Production Brigade, he, as the brigade leader, could not escape responsibility.

He had already suffered a setback with the commune secretary because of Zhou Chen's matter. Finally, the Jiaolong Gorge patrol team had achieved a meritorious service, capturing a wanted criminal from the province, thus salvaging some of their reputation.

If this matter is reported to the commune again, he'll lose all face.

"Chen, what do you want to do about this?"

"Captain, of course we want to take him to the police station. But..."

"He should be sent to the police station. Why not arrest him?" Wei Dazhi immediately objected when he heard there was a possibility of him being released.

Chen Zhejiang gave Lu Yan a wink, and Lu Yan hugged Zhao Youzhi from behind and pulled him away.

Wei Dazhi wanted to make a scene, but Zhao Youzhi turned his head and stared straight at him, causing him to swallow his words.

"But this is not a good choice." Chen Zhejiang looked closely at Zhao Youzhi, trying to see some clues on his face, but Zhao Youzhi was rarely calm, leaving Chen Zhejiang empty-handed.

"Firstly, the amount of money involved isn't much, so even if he's arrested, he won't be detained for long. Secondly, this kind of incident is bad for the reputation of the educated youth settlement and will also have some impact on the Jiaolongxia Brigade."

My suggestion is, could we find another reason to send him away, so he can't stay here anymore?

"Do you know how difficult it is to send them away? When you went to the countryside, you were all assigned by the state, and your files were distributed layer by layer by the educated youth office. It's impossible to transfer them without a legitimate reason, unless they are seriously ill and need to return to the city."

"Impossible. Going back to the city would be too easy on him. We still want to go back to the city." Chen Zhejiang directly rejected this reason.

"Then what's your solution?" Zhao Youzhi didn't want to get involved in this matter right now, so he kept pressing for an answer.

"I heard my father say that if an educated youth sent down to the countryside fails to pass the ideological education test and does not accept re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, I think he should be sent to a more difficult place to be tempered." At this moment, Chen Zhejiang revealed his fangs.

Zhao Youzhi glanced at Chen Zhejiang with interest, then at the oblivious Meng Huaiyuan, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

Interesting. Looks like this kid wants to seize power.