Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Look. We found a bunch of thieves from the boss's old village, then surrounded them and beat them up. We beat them up a lot."

Zhou Ping seemed oblivious to An An's resentment, still excitedly recounting his achievements.

An An's gaze grew increasingly hostile.

Zhou Rui has brought back the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, but he hasn't let Zhou Ping handle it yet.

Zhou Ping couldn't resist the urge to use his rifle, so he slept with it at night and spent his evenings running around with his brothers Ping An and Xiao Huai Shu, carrying slingshots.

There's a harvest every day, not much, but enough for a few people to grill and eat outside.

Gradually, everyone's accuracy improved, and today they reaped a great harvest.

"Second brother, shall we have deep-fried thieves from the old village today?"

They've had enough roasted sparrows these past few days; their cooking skills are lacking, and they don't have enough seasoning.

I played a lot today, so I brought it all home, because only Zhou Rui was willing to use the oil.

Upon hearing this, An'an's anger immediately subsided.

"Second brother, I want to eat the old thief."

Zhou Rui turned around and saw that An An's face changed very quickly, turning from gloomy to sunny in an instant. Zhou Ping was lucky to have escaped a disaster.

"Alright, then you go and clean up the sparrows, and I'll go prepare some spices."

"yeah."

"Okay."

The children all ran outside in a flash. An'an jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on her shoes, and followed them.

Just then, a small, warm hand slipped inside Zhou Rui's sweater at the back of his waist.

Zhou Rui grabbed with his backhand and turned his head at the same time, only to find that Xiao Niangao had lifted her head from the pillow.

"Little Rice Cake is awake. Is it hungry?"

"Hehe... Oh."

Little Rice Cake can now pronounce some single syllables, but they are rather unclear, requiring Zhou Rui to guess them.

Zhou Rui brought over the remaining half bowl of steamed egg custard. After a good nap, Xiao Niangao had a great appetite and finished most of the bowl of steamed egg custard in no time.

"Well."

"hehe……"

Little Rice Cake let out a burp, then laughed at himself.

Zhou Rui didn't understand why she was laughing, so he just picked up Xiao Niangao and gently patted his back.

In the courtyard, Zhou Ping and An'an were working enthusiastically, boiling water, plucking feathers, and gutting animals.

In this freezing weather, I don't even feel my fingers getting red from the cold.

"Hmm, hmm, uh, that."

Little Rice Cake pointed her finger around, and Zhou Rui followed her finger, not knowing which one she was referring to, so he could only take a few steps forward.

Little Rice Cake didn't hear Zhou Rui's response and got a little angry. She was still pointing forward with one hand, while her other little hand climbed up to Zhou Rui's ear.

"Eeya, du, ne, na."

Zhou Rui walked up to An An, and her little finger finally found its direction.

"Oh, you mean this? It's a sparrow."

Zhou Rui taught diligently. This was the time when Xiao Niangao was learning to talk, so Zhou Rui tried to teach him some simple things.

Sparrow is two characters, which is easier to remember than the three characters for thief in the old house.

"Go, go."

"Sparrow. Sparrow... sparrow."

"Go, but..."

Zhou Rui was having a headache teaching him, but Little Niangao was waving his little hands and muttering happily.

"Second Brother, does Little Rice Cake also eat the old thief?"

"she?"

Zhou Rui turned to look at Xiao Niangao, thinking that she might not be willing to let her watch over her later.

"Keep a few, I'll make soup for her."

"Brother Rui, if she likes it, I'll make it for her every day from now on."

Little Locust Tree rolled up his sleeves and spoke to Zhou Rui in a firm tone.

Little Locust Tree used to live cautiously with Chen Huaihua, never daring to argue or fight with anyone.

But now that he's growing up, he wants to play with other children his age more. However, most of the children in the village are reluctant to take him along because his family is poor, and they're afraid he'll take advantage of them.

Later, the siblings got to know Zhou Rui's family and found that they all had very nice personalities and were willing to play with them.

"You can't eat it every day."

Zhou Rui said casually, but seeing the somewhat dejected little locust tree, he immediately added another sentence.

"If Little Rice Cake wants some, I'll definitely come to you."

"Okay, Rui, you have to look for me."

Then the little locust tree took two more steps closer, came to Zhou Rui's side, and waved to Zhou Rui, asking him to bend down.

"Let me tell you, don't rely on Brother Ping An or Brother Shun Li. I'm more accurate with a slingshot than they are."

Xiao Huaishu covered Zhou Rui's ear with his hand, and although his voice was soft, the smugness in his tone was unmistakable.

Zhou Rui didn't say anything, but quietly gave the little locust tree a thumbs up.

It's good to have ambition; at least it doesn't make you seem weak and timid. Zhou Rui didn't hesitate to praise him.

Sure enough, the little locust tree smiled broadly, its eyes crinkling with joy.

Zhou Rui was his savior and his idol. Gaining Zhou Rui's approval was far more important than any other person's praise.

"Rui, everything's ready. Shall we blow it up now?"

Liu Shunli brought over a basin, which was clean and filled with a large basin.

Liu Ping'an, Xiao Huaishu, and An Anquan followed behind, staring blankly at Zhou Rui.

An'an held onto one corner of the washbasin, indicating that she had also put in a lot of effort.

Zhou Rui shoved the little rice cake into Liu Ping'an's arms.

"You wait here, I'm going to marinate these old thieves a bit, that will make them taste even better and more fragrant."

The others weren't disappointed. Zhou Rui was exceptionally good at preparing food, and they could afford to wait a little longer.

Zhou Rui chopped some garlic, added some cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and other seasonings, and mixed them into a bowl.

To make it taste better when frying, I even added six or seven eggs.

Zhou Rui is just that extravagant. If he were to do this in any other family in the village, he would probably get a sore backside.

While the sparrows were being pickled, Zhou Rui took a ceramic pot and stewed the three sparrows.

For the little rice cake, I didn't add as many seasonings, just a few slices of ginger and a little salt.

More than an hour later, when Zhou Rui brought the fried sparrows into the house, the people playing inside all stopped.

"Slurp, smells good, smells so good." An'an was the first to make a slurping sound.

At this point, even those who had been holding back couldn't resist anymore, and slurping sounds began to rise from their mouths.

"Pingwa, get the bowls and distribute the food to everyone. Be careful not to burn yourself."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Zhou Ping moved faster than he spoke; before he even finished putting on his shoes, he was already outside.

After a while, Zhou Rui brought in the stewed sparrows, along with a small bowl.

Then I saw a few people gnawing on whole sparrows.

Zhou Ping and Liu Ping'an were older, and while they were eating, they tried to stop Xiao Nian Gao with one hand, which made Xiao Nian Gao cry out in frustration.

Zhou Rui quickly put down what he was holding and picked up Xiao Niangao.

"Dudu, seven, seven."

Little Rice Cake's face scrunched up in frustration as she kept pointing at An'an, not understanding why her aunt wasn't including her when she ate.

"Okay, okay, I understand. Auntie eats sparrows, so I want to eat rice cakes too."

As he spoke, Zhou Rui turned around and sat down, scooping a sparrow out of the earthenware pot, along with half a bowl of soup.

Little Rice Cake looked into her own bowl, then at the large basin in front of An'an. Something seemed different.

Before she could figure it out, Zhou Rui tore off a small piece of meat and stuffed it into her mouth.

The sparrows were stewed until they were mushy and slightly salty, finally giving the little rice cake some flavor.

"Is it tasty?"

"Seven, is that right?"

Little Rice Cake didn't seem to understand what Zhou Rui was asking; she just followed along.