Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After Liu Jianguo ordered a few villagers to subdue Chen Dabiao and separate the three men on the ground, five dark-skinned men of varying heights and builds stood before everyone. Apart from Qian Fulai, who was relatively clean-looking, it was almost impossible to tell who was who among the others by their faces.

"Who can tell me what happened?" Liu Jianguo saw these people, some covering their arms, some covering their noses, some covering their groins, and they were covered in black ash and tattered rags on their clothes. He felt a headache coming on.

Zhou Chen and the others exchanged glances, none of them speaking. Perhaps they felt a little embarrassed because the process was different from what they had expected. Zhou Rui also remained silent, standing clearly on either side of the four, clutching his arm, his legs dangling, and a smear of blood mixed with dust on his face, as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Looking at Zhou Chen's large and powerful group and Zhou Rui's isolated and vulnerable state, Liu Jianguo directly called out, "Zhou Rui, you tell me, what happened?"

When Zhou Rui was asked, he didn't mince words and took a small step forward, deliberately dragging his leg along the way. "It's nothing. It's just that Zhou Chen and the others weren't working properly and came over to provoke me. I couldn't let them bully me, so I fought back, and that's how the fight started."

Zhou Rui's words were concise and to the point, summarizing the matter in one sentence. However, his words implied that the four of them had started the trouble, and he, Zhou Rui, was forced to fight back, resulting in the four of them attacking him and him getting injured.

"No, it was Zhou Rui who threw dust on me. When I went over to argue with him, he slapped me. Da Biao and the others came over to break it up, and Zhou Rui hit them too," Qian Fulai said angrily. Although it was a bit embarrassing just now, they still had to follow the agreement beforehand.

"Yes, Zhou Rui deliberately started the fight. We just went up to break it up and got beaten up."

"Yes, look, Zhou Rui even kicked me," Da Biao retorted, showing his clothes to others. But Chen Da Biao was covered in black soot that you couldn't see any footprints.

"We went up to break up the fight. Zhou Rui kicked my brother, that's why I intervened."

Liu Jianguo and the members of the third production team couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe that Zhou Rui, such a thin and weak kid, would provoke four grown men and even beat them up. So, before Liu Jianguo could speak, the people who had been working near Zhou Rui and his group started to speak up for him.

"Team leader, don't listen to their nonsense. Zhou Rui is such an honest kid, why would he start trouble? And with four grown men? They must have done it on purpose." This auntie was logical.

"Yes. I saw all four of them rushing towards Ruiwazi aggressively from the beginning. What else could they be doing but bullying him?" Hmm, this old lady knows how to talk. There were indeed four of them, although one of them was already on the ground at the time.

"Four grown men bullying a kid is shameful."

"I even saw Qian Fulai hit Zhou Rui with such a thick stick, the stick even broke." One person said, gesturing to the person next to him. But was that stick really that thick? You're probably gesturing to a beam from a house.

"How shameful, four against one, and with sticks too."

"Zhou Rui is ruthless enough. He didn't back down even against four adults, just went for it head-on, like a kid from our Jiaolong Gorge." This was the reaction of the men in the village. Regardless of right or wrong, as long as someone is ruthless and fearless, it doesn't matter if they take down several people. It's shameful to have a large number of people with weapons.

"That's too ruthless. Look, blood is gushing from Er Biao's nose, and Zhou Chen's lower body isn't doing well either; he's probably crippled. Zhou Rui went too far in harming his fellow villagers." This person lacked tact and contradicted others when everyone else was on Zhou Rui's side.

"Are you out of your mind? What do you mean by 'too ruthless'? How could Zhou Rui survive in this village if he wasn't ruthless? Without his parents protecting him, without relatives helping him, he'd be eaten alive if he wasn't ruthless."

"Hey, do you think Zhou Chen is deliberately causing trouble?"

"I think so. Last time, his father tried to take over Zhou Rui's house but failed. Yesterday, Zhou Rui sold his job at the forest farm. I'm afraid Zhou Chen is deliberately trying to cause trouble for Zhou Rui."

Zhou Rui heard this and thought to himself, "Finally, someone has told the truth."

"Zhou Dashan is really ruthless. His younger brother just died, and he was already thinking of taking advantage of the family he had lost. He failed, and then he sent his son to cause trouble."

"Zhou Rui's grandparents are no good either. They had the heart to abandon their own grandson. They're a whole family of beasts."

"I wouldn't dare get involved with a family like that, lest I get taken advantage of."

"Luckily, the girl next door of my second aunt's family didn't end up on a blind date with Zhou Chen last time, otherwise she would have fallen into a wolf's den."

"Yes, who would dare to be related to a family like that? They'd be incredibly unlucky."

The conversation veered off-topic, but Zhou Rui was secretly pleased. Zhou Chen, along with his uncle's entire family, had become infamous. Aside from his already married second cousin, let's see how your two sons find wives.

Liu Jianguo listened for a while and basically understood what he was hearing.

"Okay, I understand. Now I'll tell you my proposed solution."

"Zhou Chen, Chen Dabiao, Chen Erbiao, and Qian Fulai took the initiative to provoke Zhou Rui and participated in the fight. Each of them will be fined thirty work points and sentenced to shovel excrement for three days."

"Zhou Rui, although you were forced into the fight, you still participated in it. You are hereby fined ten work points."

"Does anyone have any objections?" Liu Jianguo announced loudly.

"Yes, I did! It was all fighting, why are we being punished so much? I'm not having it!" Zhou Chen protested. Zhou Rui was specifically targeting me, even rolling around on my body. Why should I have to shovel manure after taking so many hits?

"I didn't ask you; you were the one who got punished. I asked for the opinions of all the villagers in the third production group." Liu Jianguo didn't have a good look on Zhou Chen. This troublemaker was always causing trouble. If the third production group didn't get an advanced award at the end of the year, he'd kill him.

No objections.

"fair enough."

"We should have been even more ruthless."

"Actually, I think the punishment for Zhou Rui was a bit too harsh. He didn't cause any trouble, so why should he be punished as well?"

"Exactly. Although Zhou Rui also threw a punch, it was in self-defense. You can't just take a beating without fighting back."

Liu Jianguo pressed his hands down, and his voice stopped. After the land reclamation mission, Liu Jianguo gradually gained some prestige, and everyone was willing to listen to him.

"Since most people agree, let's go with this decision. Zhou Rui, do you have any objections?"

"I have no objections, I respect the team leader's decision." Zhou Rui knew when to stop, giving Liu Jianguo face. "It's just that I'm a little injured and was thinking of taking a few days off to rest at home. Please approve, team leader."

Liu Jianguo looked at the bloodstains on Zhou Rui's face, his clasped arm, and his dragging leg. Wait, wasn't he just dragging his left leg? How did it become his right leg?

"Okay, I approve. Zhou Rui will rest for five days, go home and recover before returning to work." Liu Jianguo still had to give him face, but he winked at Zhou Rui's right leg.

Zhou Rui quickly switched to dragging his leg.

Zhou Rui hurried home on tiptoe, but after walking for a short while, he saw no one and quickly ran home. He didn't see anyone at the village entrance either, so he turned onto the road home. Whether it would become gossip in the village after work was neither Zhou Rui's concern nor his concern.

"Brother, what's wrong? Did someone hit you?"

"Wow, second brother, you're bleeding from your head! Waaah..." An'an was terrified and burst into tears.

"It's alright, it's alright. This is someone else's blood, not mine. Your second brother is so powerful, I'm the one who beats up others, how could anyone hurt me?"

An'an wouldn't listen and kept crying loudly, waking up Xiao Nian Gao in the room, who also started crying. What should I do? I can't soothe her.

"Pingwa, hurry inside and take a look."

Zhou Rui squatted down and whispered to An'an, "This really is someone else's blood, it got on my face." He should have known better than to splatter it on his face; the blood all over his face scared An'an.

"Go back to your room and get me a towel and some clean clothes. You'll know I'm not hurt after I wash up."

After Zhou Rui washed himself clean in the water vat, Zhou Ping and An An were relieved to see that he had no wounds. However, An An was still a little distressed by the purplish-blue welt on Zhou Rui's arm and the bruises on his back, and she blew on them to warm them.

While they were throwing things on the ground, Zhou Rui was actually hit a few times, even though it was aimed at Zhou Chen. After Zhou Rui got dressed and sat down with An An in his arms, he recounted what had happened. Zhou Ping was no longer a child, and An An had been sensible since she was little; there were some things they should know to avoid worrying about Zhou Rui.

"I took a few days off under the pretext of the fight so I could go up the mountain and hunt some meat. We've almost finished the rabbits and pheasants we hunted before. But if you run into any other people in the village, just tell them I'm really injured and resting at home. Don't let it slip."

Zhou Ping and An An nodded in agreement.

"If someone finds out I'm not home, just say we ran out of vegetables and I went up the mountain to pick some wild ones."