Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Following Tong Lei to his house, it wasn't far, just through two alleys. Opening the door, the yard wasn't big, only a few square meters, and the house was small too, but it was fairly clean.

"Come in, make yourself at home, I'll go get something," Tong Lei said.

Zhou Rui didn't stand on ceremony and immediately found a stool to sit down. After a while, Tong Lei came out carrying a wooden box, and then took out a watch from the box and handed it to him.

"Look, it's about 80% new. It belonged to a gambler who lost money gambling and left it at the casino. He didn't have the money to redeem it, so the casino had to ask me to release it. I heard that this gambler's elder was a soldier, and this watch was captured on the battlefield."

Zhou Rui took the watch and examined it. The watch was indeed gold on the outside. Looking inside, the dial featured a logo resembling a truck cab, with two lines of letters below, one of which read "OMEGA." "Not bad, it's an Omega, a prestigious one," he thought, though he didn't recognize the letters on the lower line. He turned it over; the back was engraved with "14K GOLD," followed by the Omega name and serial number. "Damn, 14K gold! They even claim it's pure gold." Zhou Rui then wound the watch, and it ticked away, functioning normally.

Zhou Rui shook his watch and asked, "How much?"

Tong Lei didn't answer, but instead held up two fingers.

Zhou Rui certainly didn't think it was twenty. "Two hundred? That's too expensive. A new watch would be more like it."

"Expensive? How could it be? This is a foreign product, a famous brand, and it's pure gold," Tong Lei said exaggeratedly.

"No matter how famous it is, it's still old. You said it was captured from the battlefield, so it must be over twenty years old," Zhou Rui nitpicked. Nowadays, there's no habit of collecting antiques; everyone generally agrees that new is more expensive than old.

"And look at the back." Zhou Rui turned the watch over and pointed to the words "K gold" on the back.

"What do you mean?" Tong Lei was a little confused.

"Let me teach you something so you don't get the wrong item next time you receive it. Some gold jewelry will have this marking on it." Zhou Rui pointed to the words "14K GOLD" and showed it to him. "GOLD means gold, and 14K means it's not pure gold, but rather 60% mixed gold. That is, it's a mixture of 60% gold and 40% other metals. In other countries, only 24K is pure gold."

Tong Lei stared wide-eyed, his expression one of utter disbelief: "Damn it, I was fooled by that bastard. I'm going to kill him next time."

"No way, killing him would be illegal. He probably doesn't even know the gold isn't pure. This karat gold comes from overseas and represents the purity of gold. Just be careful when you receive foreign jewelry in the future," Zhou Rui advised.

"Then how much do you want?"

"A brand new Shanghai watch costs only 120 yuan now, and with the watch voucher, it's around 150 yuan. Yours is so old, I'll round it up to 100." Zhou Rui shook his raised index finger.

"Damn, you bargained so hard, you cut the price in half right away." Tong Lei hesitated for a moment, "Okay, just for the knowledge you taught me today about distinguishing the purity of foreign gold, I'll agree."

"Okay, that's great. Now, bring out all your other industrial coupons, liquor coupons, and cigarettes."

Tong Lei had no choice but to open the wooden box again and start counting the tickets for Zhou Rui from inside.

"Including these packs of cigarettes, it comes to a total of 132.4 yuan."

Zhou Rui counted out the money to Tong Lei, put the cigarettes and ration coupons into his pocket, then put on his watch and set the time against the clock in Tong Lei's house.

While counting the money, Tong Lei casually asked, "Dude, what do you do? You're so rich." He hadn't expected Zhou Rui to answer, but Zhou Rui did.

"You're making a living in the mountains, what kind of work do you do?"

"You're a mountain hunter?" Tong Lei was taken aback. It wasn't that mountain hunters were rare, but rather that mountain hunters as young as Zhou Rui were rare.

"I didn't know that hiking in the mountains could make so much money. It's a pity I can't do this kind of work." Tong Lei sighed and put the money into the box to keep it safe.

"What's so difficult about this? You have hands and feet, all you need is a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle. That gun might be a little hard to get for others, but it shouldn't be a problem for you."

"That's not the reason." Tong Lei seemed hesitant to speak, but this was something he'd been keeping to himself for a long time, and he wanted to talk to someone about it. "I'm afraid of snakes."

"It doesn't seem like a big deal, does it? Many people are afraid of snakes. As long as you don't provoke it, you'll be fine. Besides, you're less likely to encounter snakes on Changbai Mountain than wolves."

"My symptoms are much more severe than most people's. Ever since I was bitten by a snake while playing with my friends when I was a child, I've avoided anything with even a little bit of tall grass, let alone going into the mountains." Tong Lei said with some regret, "It seems that this kind of lucrative job is not for me."

"If you're talking about jobs that make money, I know one that would be perfect for you," Zhou Rui said, tilting his head as he looked at Tong Lei.

"Brother, you're my brother. Tell me, tell me quickly, what kind of job is it?" He took out a cigarette and lit one for Zhou Rui.

Tong Lei didn't think Zhou Rui would try to fool him at all. Based on their two encounters, Zhou Rui seemed to be a calm and composed person, not the type to make empty boasts.

"Do you know anyone at the radio factory in the county?" Zhou Rui took a deep drag on his cigarette.

"There are over a thousand people in this radio factory, and I do know a few people there."

"Having connections makes things easier. There's a scrap metal yard over there." Zhou Rui pointed outwards. "They often receive broken radios there. Actually, many radios can be repaired, but they lack technicians and spare parts. The radio factory has plenty of both."

Tong Lei stared wide-eyed at Zhou Rui's face through the smoke, feeling it gradually become mysterious.

"You mean, you want me to go to the town's junkyard, buy the broken radio, and then take it to a radio repair shop?"

"Of course. A broken radio in there costs about three to five yuan, but if you find someone to fix one, even if it's secondhand, it won't cost more than thirty or fifty yuan, right?" Zhou Rui flicked his cigarette ash, his expression resembling that of a fortune teller on the street.

"Bang!" Tong Lei slammed his hand on the table and paced back and forth in the house. "How could I not have thought of that? How could I not have thought of that? I pass by that scrap metal yard door every day!"

Zhou Rui watched Tong Lei wandering around like a madman, but didn't interrupt him. He slowly smoked his cigarette, then tossed it on the ground after finishing it. "There are scrap metal collection stations around here, not just in our Hongqi Town."

Tong Lei's eyes shone so brightly they were almost blinding. "Brother, from now on you're my real brother. Don't worry, if you ever need anything, just tell me, and I'll do everything I can to get it for you."

Zhou Rui slung the basket over his shoulder and walked out, saying as he went, "Stop joking around. Just keep looking for radio tickets, watch tickets, and bicycle tickets for me. If you find any, be sure to save them for me."

"Okay, bro, I'll definitely take your requests to heart. But didn't you already buy a watch? Why do you need another one?"

"I have a watch now, but I still have family to take care of. I'm leaving."