Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Outside the forest farm, Wang Shouye was distributing the commissions to everyone.

This time, their luck was really bad; Xiongcang only managed to get some meat twice. The round trip took seven days, and they only managed to get a little over three thousand catties of meat after passing through the forest twice.

However, no one cared, because they weren't always lucky enough to encounter a large group of prey.

At this point, everyone was more concerned about Zhang Shitou's marriage, including Wang Shouye.

"Shaofeng, you and Ruiwa go first. We need to go back and discuss the marriage proposal."

Wang Shouye waved his hand and dismissed the two men.

Gu Shaofeng and Zhou Rui exchanged a glance; it seemed Zhang Shitou really didn't need their help with this. So, the two of them went to the supply and marketing cooperative arm in arm.

"Zhou Rui, Brother Rui."

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Rui heard someone shouting across the street.

Looking up, I saw it was Tong Lei. It seemed there was news about Zhang Hongbo.

"Senior Brother, you should go back first. I have something to attend to."

Gu Shaofeng glanced at Tong Lei across the street. He was also very familiar with him. What did his junior brother want to talk to him about?

However, Gu Shaofeng didn't ask about it. His junior brother had some private matters to attend to, and he didn't want to pry.

After saying goodbye to Gu Shaofeng, Zhou Rui followed Tong Lei home.

Tong Lei's sister was at home. She glanced at Zhou Rui, then walked out with some disdain and went to her neighbor's house.

Tong Lei pulled Zhou Rui into his room. Because the matter they were discussing was quite confidential, Tong Lei didn't know when his sister might suddenly barge in, so they had to discuss it in his own room.

Tong Lei's room was very simple, consisting of a small kang (heated brick bed), a small table on the kang, and an open radio on the table.

"What, you can fix radios now?" Zhou Rui glanced at him and teased.

"No way, I thought my friend had easily fixed this thing, so I assumed I'd learned a thing or two. But after opening it up, I realized I didn't understand a thing at all. And I can't even put it back together, haha..."

Tong Lei chuckled self-deprecatingly and quickly tidied up the things on the table.

"I'll go make you a cup of tea." Tong Lei moved the radio parts to a corner of the kang (a heated brick bed) and was about to leave.

Zhou Rui grabbed him, saying, "No need, let's get to the point."

Zhou Rui wasn't thirsty, nor did he want to waste time on such polite formalities.

"Alright then." Since Zhou Rui didn't need it, he stopped bothering and instead took out a few sheets of paper from the cabinet.

"This is Zhao Zhigang's schedule for this month and next month. We won't talk about the trips he made a few days ago, but he has a trip to Harbin on January 10th, which will take five days round trip."

"Then I'll rest for two days. After that, I'll be going to Ruizhou in Liaoning Province on the 18th, which will take about 10 to 11 days. Then it'll be after the New Year..."

Zhou Rui raised his hand, interrupting Tong Lei's speech.

It was 1973. Zhou Rui stared intently at the documents on the table, never expecting that he had been in this world for almost a year.

January 10, 1973—that was the day. Zhou Rui didn't want to wait any longer.

"There's no need to wait until after the New Year; I don't want to see them have a good New Year."

Zhou Rui spoke calmly, tapping the table with his knuckles.

"Furthermore, the kitchen supplies will be tallied before the new year, and I don't want him to have a chance to replenish what's missing, even if it's just temporarily."

Zhou Rui understands human nature and knows that most people, when things are about to be exposed, will try to patch things up by robbing Peter to pay Paul, and the hole will only get bigger and bigger in the end.

Perhaps given more time, Zhang Hongbo could cause even bigger trouble, but for some reason, Zhou Rui just didn't want him to have another good New Year.

"Rui-ge, do you have some kind of plan?"

Tong Lei stared intently at Zhou Rui, wanting to know what Zhou Rui's plan was and whether it would implicate him.

Zhou Rui continued tapping the table slowly, and asked a question casually.

"This only lists the dates of departure; what about the specific times the vehicles depart?"

"As is customary, the factory issues a furniture shipment list at lunchtime, and then the furniture is loaded onto the truck. Drivers usually have to eat dinner before leaving, otherwise they have to eat dry rations in the truck."

Sure enough, Tong Lei knew everything and understood everything clearly.

"Okay then."

The tapping on the table stopped, and Zhou Rui leaned forward slightly. Seeing Zhou Rui's movement, Tong Lei also straightened his back.

"Help me find someone to tamper with Zhao Zhigang's car so that it stalls halfway down the road and he has to come back."

"That would be damaging state property." Tong Lei was a little frightened.

In this era, it's not a big deal to do petty theft or tinker in the black market, but Tong Lei still doesn't dare to touch state property.

"I didn't ask you to damage the car, just a minor malfunction, the kind that's easy to fix. It's just that Zhao Zhigang can't handle it himself."

"But I don't know how to fix a minor problem on the car that Zhao Zhigang can't fix."

Tong Lei scratched his head, realizing for the first time that Zhou Rui's method was beyond his capabilities.

Zhou Rui took out a cigarette and handed one over. The two cigarettes were lit, and the room was immediately filled with smoke.

"Who told you to do it yourself? Let the mechanics at the factory fix it. Do you think a mechanic doesn't know what problems can cause a car to stall?"

Zhou Rui taught Tong Lei slowly, appearing nonchalant. He always believed in leaving professional tasks to professionals; why make himself so tired?

"But the friend I know isn't a mechanic at the factory, and with such a short time, there's no time to slowly get to know him."

Zhou Rui nodded. He knew that Tong Lei's information must have come from the woodworking factory, otherwise it wouldn't be so detailed.

"Let's keep it simple and direct. Offer him a price he can't refuse. One month's salary, or two months if that doesn't work. I don't believe that no one would agree to do this job just to delay the car's production."

Zhou Rui's method was indeed simple and brutal: he planned to just throw money at the problem.

"Brother Rui, you're good, you're the one."

Tong Lei gave a thumbs up, expressing his great admiration for Zhou Rui's boldness.

He would be the one to carry out this plan in the future. He imagined the scene: throwing banknotes in front of that person's face—a month's salary, two months' salary—and he got excited just thinking about it.

"What happened after Zhao Zhigang came back?"

The plan has progressed to this point, and Zhang Hongbo still has nothing to do with it.

"After that, of course, comes catching the adulterer. You have the repairmen in the factory do another job. Since you've taken our money, you should do the job well."

"Let him drink and chat with his friends when Zhao Zhigang comes back, and the conversation will happen to turn to his wife."

"But that doesn't necessarily mean you can catch her. Zhang Hongbo doesn't go out to flirt with Shen Yanhong every night."

Tong Lei's eyes darted around, and he raised a question.

"I'll give you a bottle of good wine. Have someone invite Zhang Hongbo over for lunch. This wine will make him feel like his body is on fire all afternoon, and he'll be thinking about that thing with a burning desire."

By the afternoon, he'll definitely be keeping an eye on Zhao Zhigang. As soon as Zhao Zhigang leaves, he'll either immediately go looking for Shen Yanhong, or I'll rip my head off and let him kick it around like a ball.

"What kind of wine is that? It's so potent!"

Tong Lei was a little curious. He wasn't married yet, so he naturally didn't know about alcoholic beverages with a romantic connotation.

You'll find out then.

Zhou Rui didn't say, since he hadn't received the wine yet and didn't know what kind of wine it was.

It's nothing more than deer antler, deer blood, or some kind of whip soaked in water.

His family didn't have any, but Gu Shaofeng's family definitely would.

For this plan, Zhou Rui was willing to go all out and even try to take advantage of his senior brother.

"at last……"