Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Uncle Zhang.

"Director Zhang, welcome, welcome."

Wang Shouye also stepped out from the crowd. Since no one else recognized Zhang Zhenbei, as Zhou Rui's mentor, he naturally stepped forward to greet him.

The man got out of the car, untied his scarf, and it was indeed Zhang Zhenbei.

He unloaded a case of liquor from the back seat; the outer packaging bore the large characters "Guizhou Maotai Liquor".

"Phew, I'm freezing!"

Zhang Zhenbei exhaled a puff of white breath. The motorcycle was fast, but the wind was too strong.

"This must be the director of Xiangyang Forest Farm, right?" Zhou Shumin asked Zhao Youzhi.

"It should be right. Didn't you see that Ruiwa's master called him Director Zhang?"

Zhao Youzhi nodded. He was the one who initially connected Zhou Rui with Zhang Zhenbei when Zhou Rui was selling jobs. However, he only did so through his son; he had never actually met Zhang Zhenbei in person.

Moreover, Zhang Zhenbei was the director of the logistics department of the forest farm at that time, but now he has been promoted to deputy director of the forest farm.

"Then you must have a good drink with Director Zhang to thank him for giving our village more work opportunities during the winter."

Zhou Shumin offered suggestions from the side. In his view, although Qin Zhan, who drove the car, seemed to have a higher status, it couldn't compare to the actual benefits Zhang Zhenbei brought to their village.

"Ruiwa, take this, my hands are frozen. This is Moutai liquor, you'll be at a huge loss if you spill it."

Zhang Zhenbei shouted loudly, partly to show off and partly to support Zhou Rui.

After all, Moutai is not like other liquors; people without status simply cannot buy it.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, everyone in the village with a bit of knowledge was immediately impressed. They had only heard of this wine before, but had never actually seen it.

The best liquor they'd ever drunk was the Wuliangye that Zhou Rui had bought; they never expected to see Moutai today.

Zhang Zhenbei overheard the villagers' discussions; whether it was the motorcycle or the Moutai liquor, it all boosted Zhou Rui's prestige.

Zhang Zhenbei raised his chin slightly, feeling that his decision to borrow the motorcycle was correct, but he still sensed something different.

Zhang Zhenbei looked to the side and saw Qin Zhan's family.

He was dressed well, had an extraordinary air about him, and most importantly, there was a car parked next to him.

Zhang Zhenbei's smug expression faded slightly: "Ruiwa, what's this?"

"Oh, this is Brother Qin Zhan, who works at the Forestry Bureau in the coal city. These are his family members."

Zhou Rui introduced Qin Zhan to Zhang Zhenbei, but did not mention Qin Zhan's position. He just gave Zhang Zhenbei a look.

Zhang Zhenbei immediately became enthusiastic. This was the city's forestry bureau, which was considered their forest farm's direct superior department.

Although Zhou Rui did not introduce his position, judging from the fact that he could drive a car, his rank could not be low.

"Welcome, welcome, leaders, to Hongqi Town for your inspection."

Seeing that Zhang Zhenbei's enthusiasm had a hint of ingratiation, Qin Zhan couldn't help but look at Zhou Rui.

"Oh, this is Deputy Director Zhang of Xiangyang Forest Farm in Hongqi Town. He is mainly responsible for the logistics of the forest farm."

This year, Director Zhang has been working tirelessly to ensure the completion of the major task assigned to Xiangyang Forest Farm by the state.

To ensure the physical well-being of the thousands of regular and temporary workers at the forest farm, Director Zhang specially hired many hunters to hunt for the forest farm.

This ensured that workers could contribute to the country in the best and fastest way possible.

Zhou Rui's introduction of Zhang Zhenbei was much more lengthy, but he praised Zhang Zhenbei in every way he said.

Zhang Zhenbei was also quite excited upon hearing this, and his hand holding Qin Zhan turned slightly white.

This kid really knows how to talk; he's giving himself a chance to impress the boss.

It seems that my kindness to him over the years has paid off, and coming to celebrate Zhou Rui's niece's birthday was the right decision.

"Hello, Deputy Director Zhang. Don't call me 'leader,' I'm just here to visit a relative, not to inspect any work."

"However, I have also read the work report of Xiangyang Forest Farm. It is indeed very good. Over the past few months, it has consistently and steadily completed the tasks assigned by the state, which is worthy of emulation by many forest farms."

Qin Zhan, as expected of a city leader, although he came to Zhou Rui's house in a private capacity, still gave Zhang Zhenbei positive recognition for his work in the end.

Zhang Zhenbei's face turned red instantly. Just one sentence was worth learning from by other forest farms, and it was more exciting than drinking several bottles of Moutai.

Moreover, having made this known to the forestry bureau leaders will open up more opportunities for them in the future.

In the future, I might be able to skip the county level and be transferred directly to the city.

No one knew what Zhang Zhenbei was dreaming about. At this moment, Zhao Youzhi stepped forward and invited the guests into the house.

These guests are all very important, so I have to make sure Zhou Rui takes good care of them and doesn't embarrass the village.

As they walked into the house, chatting and laughing, many people did not follow them inside but instead helped carry the gifts that Qin Zhan and Zhang Zhenbei had brought.

One reason was that Zhou Rui's room was simply too small to fit so many people. Another reason was that most people felt somewhat inferior; those officials were aloof and difficult to approach.

He Jing was about to carry Qin Tao into the house when she realized there were too many people in the yard and several fires burning. She was worried he might bump into something.

Unexpectedly, Qin Tao took off running after An'an, saying he wanted to see An'an's big mule and little dog.

He Jing was about to chase after him when Qin Zhan grabbed her arm. "Kids should be lively and active," he said. "There's no danger in the countryside. Letting him play with the other kids is fine."

The room was steaming hot, and Zhou Ping was running around pouring tea for everyone, emptying several thermos flasks in the process.

Fortunately, Zhou Rui got a lot of tea leaves from Zhang Zhenbei, otherwise it wouldn't have been enough.

"Xiao Rui, your house is too small. Why don't you tear it down and rebuild it? If you don't have the money, Brother Qin can lend you some."

Qin Zhan carefully looked around the room after entering.

The snacks and candies Zhou Rui used to entertain guests were quite good, and the tea was also excellent; it's just that the house was a bit small and the furniture a bit old.

Is your family facing some financial difficulties? Are you using all your good things to entertain guests?

Zhou Rui had saved the Qin family's life twice, and Qin Zhan felt that the small gift he brought was nothing, so he thought he could help them out more.

"No need for money. I earned some money hunting this year. I was originally planning to rebuild the house anyway, but it's winter now, so it's not possible to build it."

Qin Zhan was afraid that Zhou Rui was just being polite out of politeness, so he added another sentence.

"Xiao Rui, don't try to fool me. I'm a straightforward person. Your sister-in-law and I both work at our respective companies, and we have some spare money."

"Boss, Ruiwa really wasn't lying to you."

Zhang Zhenbei stepped forward at this moment. He was thinking about how to deal with Qin Zhan, and following Zhou Rui's topic, he could talk to Qin Zhan more and get acquainted with him.

"Zhou Rui is a master hunter. With that skill, he'll never be short of money."

"Not to mention he killed quite a few bears and black bears."

"Take this summer for example, Zhou Rui hunted down a leopard. How much is the leopard skin worth?"

Zhang Zhenbei's mouth seemed to have no control; it would just spit out whatever came out of his mouth. He didn't even mention that Zhou Rui, Wang Shouye, and Gu Shaofeng had taken down the leopard.

"Wow, they even shot down a leopard."

"Good heavens, they not only killed the leopard, but also the bear."

"I told you Ruiwa was amazing, otherwise how could she have wiped out those jackals who were plaguing our back mountain?"

There were some things the villagers were hearing for the first time. Everyone knew Zhou Rui was a skilled hunter, and ever since they got a gun, their family had never lacked meat.

But no one knew that Zhou Rui had secretly hunted so many ferocious beasts, even daring to attack a leopard.

Even Qin Rui stared at Zhou Rui with shining eyes.

Although she didn't see Zhou Rui hunting with her own eyes, she saw the ground littered with jackal carcasses after coming up from the ice cave that day, and heard that Zhou Rui had shot most of them, so she knew that Zhou Rui was very skilled.