Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

By the time everything was finished, it was nearly midnight. Liu Kangri and Zhao Dazhu watched almost the entire time as Zhou Rui washed his wounds with saline solution, even disinfecting his back with it. During the saline treatment, Zhou Rui's muscles trembled, but he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound.

Liu Kangri thought that Jiaolongxia Village would have another hunter in the future, and he might be the most powerful one.

Zhou Rui prepared a piece of pork belly weighing over ten jin (approximately 5 kg) with both fat and lean meat for each of the three men. Zhao Dazhu even gave them two extra pig's trotters, making the three of them beam with joy. Before leaving, Zhou Rui reminded Liu Kangri and Zhao Dazhu to come early the next day so they could go up the mountain together to hunt wolves. He also told Sister-in-law Xinghua and Aunt Changchun to come early so they could stew the wild boar and have lunch together at Zhou Rui's house.

Zhao Changhai doesn't need to come too early, since the clinic needs to be open. He can just come over for lunch.

Waking up early the next morning, Zhou Rui first examined the wound on his chest while lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), discovering a layer of transparent scab over it. Zhou Rui thought to himself that the Tai Chi Bagua plaque had altered not only his perception and strength, but also his body's recovery ability. Judging from the appearance of this scab, his recovery ability was at least several times that of an ordinary person.

Even with physical abilities far superior to the average person, last night's situation was still far too dangerous. With no safe haven and cornered by the wolves, Zhou Rui might not have made it back at any moment had he not fought so fiercely. It seems he still needs to buy a handgun on the black market; rifles are too long, handguns are the king of close combat.

Zhou Rui calculated the family's money. He had a little over 40 yuan left from selling the village house, 90 yuan from selling his job, and 80 yuan from selling the deer antlers. He had about 210 yuan left. "That's probably not enough," Zhou Rui thought, scratching his head, somewhat annoyed. "Never mind," he decided, "I'll finish today's work first, and leave the headaches for tomorrow."

Zhou Rui was lost in thought when he suddenly noticed An An blinking her eyes. Was she about to wake up? Zhou Rui quickly put on his coat. He couldn't let An An see the injuries on his body, otherwise, even if she wasn't frightened, she would be heartbroken.

"Brother." An'an was a little confused. She blinked again, but it still seemed like the phone wasn't turned on.

"An'an, wake up." Seeing that his younger sister seemed about to fall backward again, Zhou Rui quickly supported her back. "Look, your little niece is awake. Do you want to play with her?"

Zhou Rui held An'an in his arms, watching the little rice cake kicking its legs on the bed.

"Hehe..." An'an seemed to be instantly recharged, struggling to get down from Zhou Rui's arms and lying next to Xiao Niangao, teasing her.

"Little Rice Cake, can you call me Auntie yet? Shall I tell you a story? The stories in the comic books are so interesting." An'an took out the comic books that Zhou Rui had bought from the recycling station from the kang cabinet. These were An'an's treasures, and although they were old, An'an cherished them dearly.

Zhou Rui took a comb and started combing An An's hair, then casually tied it into a ponytail with a rope. Looking at the long hair in front of him, Zhou Rui thought, "It's too hot, maybe I should just cut it."

Zhou Rui refused to admit he was clumsy. In his past life, he had watched countless tutorials on how to braid hair on his phone, but he just couldn't do it. Why? He was a pro at handling firearms and quite adept at weaving fish traps, so why couldn't he braid a girl's hair?

"Actually, the watermelon head hairstyle is quite cute." Zhou Rui thought to himself; this was Zhou Rui's last act of stubbornness.

Zhou Rui patted An'an's little bottom, "An'an, are you hungry? Second brother will go cook you some food. You stay here with Xiao Nian Gao, okay?"

"Okay, go ahead, I'll keep an eye on her." An'an waved her little hand at Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui hurriedly made breakfast and prepared malted milk powder for Xiao Niangao. Whenever Zhou Rui was home, he would do these things himself. After the steamed buns were ready, Zhou Rui woke Zhou Ping up. Zhou Ping had stayed up very late last night, otherwise he would have gotten up much earlier.

After finishing breakfast, Zhou Rui tidied everything up and, seeing that Zhao Dazhu and the others hadn't arrived yet, prepared to wait outside the courtyard.

As soon as the gate was opened, Chen Huaihua was seen squatting outside the courtyard waiting.

"Little Locust Flower, how long have you been here? Why didn't you knock?" Zhou Rui looked at Chen Locust Flower as she stood up with slightly unsteady steps, it seemed she had been squatting for too long.

"No, not long. I didn't knock because I was afraid of disturbing your sleep," Chen Huaihua said softly, her head slightly lowered. She still seemed too introverted; the hardships of life must have suppressed the young girl's personality.

"Come in and sit down for a while. Uncle Kangri and Brother Dazhu will be here a little longer." Zhou Rui glanced at his watch. They had agreed to leave at eight o'clock this morning, and there were still more than ten minutes to go.

"Have you had breakfast? I'll get you two steamed buns, they're freshly steamed." Zhou Rui asked as he walked towards the kitchen, completely ignoring Chen Huaihua's waving hands in refusal.

Zhou Rui stuffed two steamed buns into Chen Huaihua's hands, each one as big as half of her face. "Eat up, you have to eat them, you're going to be helping out a lot today."

Upon hearing that there was work to be done, Chen Huaihua accepted the steamed bun. She knew the host would provide food for those helping with chores. However, she couldn't eat that many; one was enough. She would put the other one in her bosom to take to her younger brother. Xiaoshu hadn't eaten a white flour steamed bun in a long time.

Soon after, Liu Kangri and Zhao Dazhu arrived, and Zhou Rui quickly offered them steamed buns. However, the two men clearly ate them, and immediately declined, telling Zhou Rui to hurry up and return as soon as possible.

Seeing Liu Kangri's words, Zhou Rui had no choice but to give up. He greeted Zhou Ping and An'an, told them to wait at home for Sister-in-law Xinghua and the others, and then set off.

"Ruiwa, why are you carrying buckets? Aren't you going up the mountain to get wolf meat?" Zhao Dazhu asked in surprise when he saw Zhou Rui carrying two buckets out of the yard.

"I've set a few fishing traps upstream of Jiaolong Creek. I'll check them out on my way back. If I catch any fish, I'll bring them back to keep as pets," Zhou Rui said as he walked.

"What kind of cage can you use to catch fish? Who taught you that? Nobody around here knows how to do that!"

"It's similar in shape to a bamboo basket, but the fish trap isn't woven as tightly; it has holes. The fish trap is smaller and longer than a bamboo basket. I've seen others weave them in town; you'll see in a bit."

"Can you teach me? I also want to catch some fish for Xinghua to eat."

"Sure, if you can weave baskets, you can weave fish traps. Actually, you'll see what a fish trap looks like when you see it later. It's just a lid that lets fish in but not out." Zhou Rui didn't really care. There were more fish in Jiaolong Creek than he could catch. He was just using the fish for a snack. To make a fortune, he still had to go up the mountain.

"Uncle Anti-Japanese War and Little Locust Flower should take a good look later. They can put down a cage for them to add to the family's meals later."

"Sure, I know a lot of ways to cook fish. If we have fish to eat often in the future, I'll cook every single one for you," Liu Kangri said with a smile. As a chef who was often invited to cook at large banquets in the countryside, Liu Kangri's family certainly didn't lack for such food, but it was quite nice as a daily pastime.

"Thank you, Brother Rui." Chen Huaihua was truly grateful from the bottom of her heart. She and her younger brother were too young to earn many work points, and their family was really short of food. If they had some fish and meat to supplement their diet, it would truly be a lifesaver.

The group chatted and laughed as they traveled, quite relaxed, and soon arrived at the place where Zhou Rui had set the fish trap. However, Zhou Rui didn't immediately take out the trap; he simply checked the rope holding it, hid the bucket to the side, and left. After all, he still needed to go up the mountain to fetch wolf meat, and if he took the fish out now, they might die.