Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Zhou Rui had a leisurely time during his leave, and the villagers gradually relaxed as well. Since the crops had already been planted, there was much less work in the fields than usual, and now everyone was basically working half-days.

In the afternoon, Zhou Rui and his younger siblings had just left Zhao Dazhu's house when they saw a lot of people chatting under the big tree at the village entrance. As Zhou Rui walked by, many people greeted him. Most of them were from the third production team, because everyone knew that Zhou Rui was the one who came up with the idea of ​​burning stubble last time. Not only was the work much easier, but they also got to eat meat on the day of the burning.

"Ruiwa, are you feeling better?" an older woman asked.

"I feel much better, so I came out for a walk."

"Ruiwa, you're quite different now than you used to be," another uncle said.

"What's different?" Zhou Rui didn't rush to leave when he saw so many people talking to him. He planned to chat with them under the tree. Besides, it wasn't good for Zhou Ping and An An to stay at home by themselves all the time. They needed to play with other children their age in the village more often. So Zhou Rui, with a small rice cake hanging around his neck, squatted down and chatted with a group of villagers, letting his younger siblings go play by themselves.

"You're smart now, resourceful, and ruthless. Even those young men who hang around the village all day admire you." The uncle gave Zhou Rui a thumbs up.

"I don't deserve your praise. I was forced into this situation. If I had elders at home, I would like to enjoy myself in the village every day," Zhou Rui said modestly.

The older woman also felt some sympathy for Zhou Rui: "Yes, if there were elders supporting the family and relatives helping out, Rui's family would be much better off. It's really tough on you, having to support such a big family."

"Auntie, it's not hard at all. As long as my younger siblings are fed and my older brother's daughter grows up, it's all worth it."

"I said that's more like the Zhou family. Like Dashan and Uncle Jiutian, really, tsk tsk..." Uncle Zhou Kaizhi shook his head and couldn't continue. Saying more would only make the Zhou family lose face.

Zhou Rui didn't want to discuss the topic anymore and quickly changed the subject: "Uncle Kaizhi, what's with so many people gathered here today?"

Zhou Rui also found it strange. Although many people usually exchange information at the village entrance, there were never as many people as today, which is why he was willing to stay and find out more.

"You didn't know? Oh, I forgot you've been on leave these past few days, so I didn't know." Zhou Kaizhi was surprised at first, then remembered Zhou Rui's injury in the fight. "Let me tell you, the village received a notice from the commune a couple of days ago that some educated youth from our village are coming today. So, the village chief went to the county to pick them up early this morning. Aren't we all waiting here to see what the educated youth look like?"

"What else could they look like? Aren't they all just one nose and two eyes? We didn't assign any educated youth to schools in the past few years, so why are there any this year?" Zhou Rui asked, puzzled.

"I don't know either, I just came here to join in the fun." Zhou Kaizhi was also puzzled.

"I know that." At this moment, Zhou Shumin, the village accountant, came over unnoticed. "Our village doesn't have much land to begin with, and the harvests weren't good in previous years. Every year when it was time to hand over the grain tax, the village chief would take me to the commune to complain to the leaders. The original plan was to let the leaders know about our difficulties so that the villagers could grow more land for their own use and raise more chickens and ducks without being checked. Who knew that it would work out by accident? The leaders knew about our difficulties, and because our location is so remote, our village wasn't assigned to any of the educated youth sent to the countryside every year."

"Brother Shumin, keep going, keep going!" Zhou Kaizhi was listening intently when Zhou Shumin suddenly stopped, and he became very anxious and urged him on.

Zhou Shumin wasn't intentionally keeping people in suspense; he was just thinking about how to say it.

"I don't know what's going on this year, but there are a lot more educated youth going to the countryside. In previous years, the reputation of educated youth going to the countryside wasn't very good, so no one wanted to take in more. Then, I don't know which brigade leader suggested that our brigade had never taken in educated youth in previous years, but this year there are so many educated youth going to the countryside, so even if it's difficult, we should take in a few. The commune leaders thought it made sense, otherwise the other brigades would have objections. So this year, five educated youth were assigned to our Jiaolongxia brigade."

"Brother Shumin, all these 'brigades' and 'villages' you've been confusing me with. Why don't you just tell me about our village?"

"I'm just doing this out of habit. Otherwise, how can I report to the commune by saying 'our village' or 'our town'? It should be more formal, like 'our Jiaolongxia Production Brigade, Hongqi Commune'."

"Alright, Brother Shumin, I know you're a village leader. Let me ask you, where will the educated youth stay? Our village doesn't have any empty houses. Unlike Gujiatun, where the landlord's house is used as a dormitory for the educated youth." Zhou Kaizhi's words were tinged with jealousy, envious of Gujiatun's large land area and abundant grain production, as it turned out that large tracts of land belonged to landlords.

"Stop talking nonsense." Zhou Shumin interrupted directly, "There are still empty houses. In Ruiwa's area, aren't there still a few that haven't collapsed? They can be repaired and people can live in them."

"Oh, which building is up there near my house?" Zhou Rui asked, somewhat surprised.

"Can you even live there? I was there when Ruiwa was repairing his house. The one he chose was the best one, and it took a lot of effort and materials. The other houses were even worse, almost collapsing." Zhou Kaizhi was a militiaman and had participated in the repair of Zhou Rui's house, so he knew the condition of the houses in that area.

Zhou Rui nodded and agreed, "That's right, the house I chose is the best. At least the overall structure of the house is intact. It's just that the roof and doors and windows have been repaired. It's hard to find a more suitable one elsewhere."

"We'll see. When the village chief comes back, he'll take Uncle Liu to take a look. Uncle Liu is the best bricklayer in the village, let's see what he says. Even if the houses over there can't be repaired, new houses will be built there, not in the village. These educated youth sent to the countryside haven't had a good reputation these past few years, and being too close to the village might cause some trouble." Zhou Shumin was nonchalant, since these things were none of his concern. "But Ruiwa, your house is close to the educated youth dormitory, so be careful. I've heard these educated youth are particularly troublesome, don't get involved."

"Uncle Shumin, don't worry, I promise I won't meddle in other people's business. But if these educated youth cause trouble, I won't be afraid. In our village, do you think I'll let anyone bully me?" Zhou Rui said calmly. He just wanted to live his own life and didn't want to get involved in things that didn't concern him.

"That's well said. The Zhou family must be tough and never back down. If you need anything, come to your uncle, and I'll take care of it for you." Ever since Zhou Rui dared to completely break with his uncle at a young age and built a family that could shelter his younger brother, sister and niece from the wind and rain, Zhou Shumin has been particularly fond of this younger generation of the Zhou family. His words were full of praise for Zhou Rui.

Just then, a commotion arose. It turned out that Zhao Youzhi had led the educated youth back in an oxcart, and none of them seemed to be in very good spirits. The educated youth had come from afar, traveling for an unknown amount of time by train to the city, then transferring to a small train specifically for transporting timber to the town, before finally arriving at Jiaolongxia Brigade by oxcart. The village chief, who was in his late fifties or early sixties, had set off before dawn to meet them at the city train station exit on the small train from the town. He had also been exhausted.

Besides the driver and the village chief, there were five educated youths on the oxcart—three men and two women—who looked no older than Zhou Rui. They all had fair skin, were not very strong, and wore patched clothes, though their colors were more varied than those of the average rural person.

"Look at that girl, her face is so fair, and her clothes are beautiful, with a checkered pattern on the blue fabric."

"That boy is so frail, can he do heavy work?"

"That's true. Look at that one. He's not as strong as a woman, and he's wearing glasses. I don't think he'll be able to do much work."

A group of rural women pointed and whispered about the newly arrived educated youth, making the newcomers somewhat bewildered.

Then the village chief's loud voice rang out: "What are you all doing here? Have you finished your chores at home? If you have nothing to do, wash your clothes, hoe your own plots a few more times. You have nothing better to do than chatter on and on. Get out of the way, we need to unload our luggage at the brigade headquarters." With that, Zhao Youzhi started shooing people away.

Zhou Rui naturally left after hearing this; he still had work to do at home and didn't have time to watch the educated youth. The others, however, weren't so considerate. It was the first time educated youth had come to the village, so they found it particularly novel and followed the oxcart to the brigade headquarters to continue watching the excitement.