Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After lunch, it was almost 2 p.m. Lu Cheng was in a hurry to leave, and Wang Shouye tried to persuade him to stay, but to no avail.

Watching the man and dog disappear into the snowfield, Zhang Shitou felt a little worried.

"Master, it will be dark in less than two hours. It might not be safe for Lu Cheng to walk alone. Why don't you try to persuade him more?"

Wang Shouye looked at Zhang Shitou's honest face and patted him on the back.

"Stone, you're still young and don't understand people's thoughts. This is our first time working with him, and we don't have a deep relationship yet. He's actually a little afraid of us right now."

"Afraid of us? What do we have to be afraid of? We won't eat people." Zhang Shitou's eyes were clear and transparent, and his doubts were written all over his face.

Looking at the simple-minded Zhang Shitou, Wang Shouye felt that although the third brother had been in the mountains for a long time, he lacked experience and should be taught something else.

However, although I understand these social etiquettes, I'm not very good at expressing them.

"Ruiwa, your third senior brother doesn't understand. Explain it to me."

"Because he has a lot of money in his pocket today," Zhou Rui said succinctly.

"So what if he has a lot of money? We gave him that money." Zhang Shitou was even more confused.

"It's not about who gave the money, but that it's far too much for an ordinary person. So much that it makes them feel very insecure."

"Think about it, what were you thinking on the way back with so much money for the first time?"

Instead of giving a direct lecture, Zhou Rui mentioned the time when they divided the spoils from their first hunt.

Hearing his junior brother say this, Zhang Shitou recalled the first hunt this winter. That day, they sold the meat to Xiangyang Forest Farm, and later sold the tiger cub skin to Old Xing.

He received over 700 yuan, a 50-60 yuan semi-automatic rifle, a brand-new military backpack, and some other equipment.

After separating from my master and the others, I was constantly on edge. I would frequently touch the spot where the banknotes were, and I would subconsciously keep my distance when someone passed by.

Back then, from Hongqi Town to Hongxing Town, and then from the town to the village, the safety on my Type 5 or 6 semi-automatic pistol was never turned off. I felt that if I suspected someone was trying to steal my money, the bullets in the gun would just go off.

Zhang Shitou nodded: "I understand. It's just like the first time I made a lot of money. When I walked down the street, I felt like everyone was a thief and wanted to steal my money."

I wish I could run home right away, dig a hole, and bury the money.

That's it.

Zhou Rui picked up his lunchbox and clinked it against Zhang Shitou's; there was still one last sip of wine inside.

"Although we paid him the money, he won't think that way. Lu Cheng will only think that since he has so much money on him, we might rob him."

"Alright, that's enough. Let's continue skinning the sheep, and then we need to make the sled. We have to finish this afternoon so we can get up first thing tomorrow morning to go down the mountain."

Wang Shouye ended the conversation, knowing that showing Zhang Shitou the ways of the world wouldn't happen overnight. There was simply too much prey; the five of them worked until after dark, even using the firelight for another two hours.

More than two hundred hides were piled together, and the weight was considerable. More than two hundred serows, plus wolves and leopards, meant tens of thousands of kilograms of meat.

"Master, what should we do next? Which way should we go down the mountain?"

"I'm not familiar with this place either. Let's go down the mountain the way we came. We can hide the meat in the cave we're going to pass through."

Wang Shouye paused here and said, "The troublesome thing this time is that the journey is long and the goods are heavy, so it may take several round trips."

Each trip takes at least two days. With five people, eleven dogs, and a large mule, we'll need at least four trips. The total time is too long, and the chances of an accident increase significantly.

Zhou Rui was also troubled after hearing this. There were no villages nearby and no acquaintances. If it dragged on for too long, it would not only be dangerous, but his family would also be extremely anxious.

"It might be more than that. We can't leave people and dogs here. That means we can't actually have that many people and animals to participate in the transportation. In the end, we might have to make one more trip."

"If that's the case, it will take ten days just to transport all this meat back and forth." Wang Zhen counted on his fingers, feeling numb with exhaustion.

For a moment, everyone fell silent. They had wanted to go to bed early, but now they couldn't sleep at all. They scratched their heads, racking their brains, trying to come up with a good solution that would satisfy both sides.

"How about I go down the mountain tonight and ask the forestry station for help?" Zhou Rui's solution was to ask for help when he had no other options.

"It doesn't seem easy. Last time I went, Director Zhang said that the forest farm is busy right now and there's no one available. Even if we borrow a car, we still can't get up here."

"People, vehicles? We're still short of people." Zhou Rui stood up and kept turning around in the snow, leaving a rut in the frozen snow.

"I still want to go, but I need to go to Senior Brother Gu's house first." Zhou Rui said firmly, looking at Gu Shaofeng.

"You mean...?" Gu Shaofeng stood up.

“You have many relatives, and your family lives close to town. I’ll go find Uncle Gu and ask him to help organize a group of people to come with me to Xiangyang Forest Farm. I’ll go to the forest farm and call a truck to bring everyone here.” Zhou Rui’s eyes lit up as he spoke.

"Yes, how come I didn't think of that? I have many uncles and brothers, so I don't need to ask others for help." Gu Shaofeng became excited.

Wang Zhen glanced at Gu Shaofeng and said, "With your pig-brain, what good ideas could you possibly come up with?"

"Okay, this is good. It's fast and quiet. But you don't need to be in such a hurry, go after tonight."

Wang Shouye also felt that this was the best solution, but he was still worried about Zhou Rui traveling alone at night, as it would be too dangerous.

"It's okay, I can ski. Get me two skis, I'll ski down. I just don't feel safe staying here any longer."

"With such a large flock of blue sheep here, even wolves and leopards have come looking for them. I'm afraid other hunters will also come to hunt them. It's best to go down the mountain as soon as possible."

Seeing that Zhou Rui insisted on going down the mountain that night and that he couldn't dissuade him, Wang Shouye had no choice but to nod in agreement. He then asked Zhang Shitou and Wang Zhen to help Zhou Rui make skis.

An hour later, Zhou Rui received a rough pair of skis and two sturdy wooden sticks.

Zhou Rui tied his feet tightly with a rope.

"Uncle Wang, I'm leaving now. After I'm gone, make sure the snow hut is sturdy, and it would be best to fence off all the game we've hunted. The smell of blood in this valley is too strong; it might attract wild beasts at night."

"I know all that. I still have your senior brothers and all these dogs here. On the contrary, you need to be careful. You can't be careless when traveling alone at night."

"Uncle Wang, I understand. My fellow disciples, please take good care of Master."

"Go ahead, junior brother." "Don't worry, we're all here."

"Ruiwa, don't worry, the guns we have aren't just for show." After so many bullets used in target practice during the day, Zhang Shitou's confidence had increased considerably.

Zhou Rui turned around, exerted force with both hands, and flew off onto the snow.