Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After climbing up the mountain from the canyon, Zhou Rui checked the direction and led the way. They cut down a tree about the size of a bowl, over four meters tall, along the way. They removed all the excess branches, leaving only the main trunk and a few twigs, and then he and Zhao Dazhu carried it on their backs.

Seeing this, Liu Kangri quickly offered to replace Zhou Rui: "Rui, let me do it. You're still injured."

"No need, Uncle Anti-Japanese, the injuries I sustained last night were all superficial."

"No, even though it's just a superficial wound, don't pull too hard and break the bandage."

Unable to argue further, Zhou Rui had no choice but to give up his position to Liu Kangri. He couldn't very well explain to Liu Kangri that his body had mutated and was almost fully recovered.

"Why are you carrying such a big log? To make a sled?" Zhao Dazhu asked as he carried the log ahead.

Yes and no.

"What do you mean? You're talking in such a cryptic way now," Zhao Dazhu said, somewhat displeased.

"The place where I released the wolves is a bit high, so I'll use this tree as a ladder..."

Once they reached the top of the canyon, it wasn't far from where Zhou Rui had hunted the wolves. After walking for about half an hour, they saw the boulder. Beneath the boulder were large patches of blood and bits of flesh, the entire meadow a mess. Zhou Rui examined it closely and saw the footprints of several animals.

It seems that throwing the wolf's entrails here last night attracted quite a few wild beasts. I wonder if these animals fought a battle.

Zhao Dazhu and Liu Kangri threw down the wood and surrounded Chen Huaihua.

"Rui, was it here yesterday that you fought with the wolves?" Liu Kangri could imagine the danger Zhou Rui had faced just by looking at the large pool of blood on the ground.

"Hmm, there were eight wolves in total, and three ran away." Zhou Rui nodded, then pointed to the top of the boulder: "I threw the remaining five up there."

"Come on, put up the log, I'll go up and take a look." Zhao Dazhu couldn't wait any longer and wanted to see what the wolf Zhou Rui had hunted yesterday looked like.

When Zhao Dazhu climbed up the tree branch left on the log onto the big rock, he was suddenly stunned.

Liu Kangri looked up and saw Zhao Dazhu standing there motionless. "Dazhu, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and throw the wolf down."

Zhao Dazhu glanced back, his mouth opened and moved but no sound came out. He bent down, grabbed something with both hands, and then a gray mass fell from the rock more than three meters high. It landed on the grass with a loud thud.

Liu Kangri and Chen Huaihua looked at what had fallen: a wolf that had been gutted, with a large hole in its head. Thump...thump. One after another, wolves were thrown down from above, until finally a wolf, much larger than the previous ones, landed right in front of them. Liu Kangri and Chen Huaihua were stunned, their expressions exactly the same as Zhao Dazhu's earlier.

With a whoosh, Zhao Dazhu slid down the log. Then, grabbing Zhou Rui, who was half a head shorter than him, he shook him repeatedly: "Zhou Rui, you're amazing! You're fucking awesome, I'm fucking impressed!"

"Alright, alright. Stop. You're shaking your body so much you're going to break it apart." Zhou Rui said, grabbing the 98K slung over his shoulder.

Liu Kangri and the others were finally awakened by Zhao Dazhu's shouts. Looking at the four wolves on the ground and the largest wolf king, with its fangs and ferocious expression, they felt that Zhou Rui's casual talk about how to kill wolves earlier was too absurd.

He fired two shots, then grabbed a dagger, grabbed the wolf king by the neck with his left hand, and with his right hand slashed down another wolf. The dagger flew out, killing another one. Then he twisted the wolf king's neck with both hands. This didn't look like killing wolves; it looked like harvesting rice.

Zhao Dazhu and Chen Huaihua shook their heads, banishing the images they had conjured up while following Zhou Rui's conversation. Chen Huaihua was now quite certain that her brother Rui had absolutely no talent for storytelling; listening to him tell stories was less enjoyable than listening to the old ladies at the village entrance chat.

Liu Kangri was older and had seen people killed by wolves, so he knew it wasn't as simple as Zhou Rui made it out to be. But just looking at the wolf king's massive body, one could imagine the kind of risk Zhou Rui had faced yesterday.

"That's great. Besides the wolf king, one of the wolves has a complete pelt, which is worth some money. The other three have holes in their backs and aren't worth much." Liu Kangri examined the wounds on the five wolves.

"It's nothing. We weren't even planning to hunt wolves yesterday. We were all fighting so hard we didn't care about the pelts. We'll bring the wolves back to the village later, and you can each take one back." Zhou Rui knew that wolf pelts were cheap, only twenty or thirty yuan a pelt in winter, and even less valuable in summer.

"Hehe...that's not a good idea." Liu Dazhu was never one to mince words. To the villagers, the wolf pelt, though torn, was still a valuable item; it could be used to make a vest or knee pads, and besides, it still contained dozens of kilograms of meat.

"It's not bad at all. The hide is all torn, so it won't fetch much money. The wolf meat isn't tasty either. Do I look like someone who's starving?"

Liu Kangri looked at the two pheasants hanging on Zhou Rui's body and nodded. In just the short time on the way here, Zhou Rui had shot two pheasants with a slingshot; he was a natural hunter.

"Since you put it that way, then we won't stand on ceremony. Come on, let's make a sled and drag the meat down first." Liu Kangri had always been on good terms with Zhou Rui's family and had helped them a lot when they were in trouble. So now he wouldn't stand on ceremony with Zhou Rui anymore; he would treat them like his own nephews and nieces from now on.

Only Chen Huaihua felt a little uneasy, feeling guilty for taking so few things without having been of much help. Seeing Liu Kangri calling on everyone to do something, she quickly stepped forward to help, determined to do more and not slack off.

Everyone was a skilled worker, and in no time, a simple sled was ready. They put the five wolves on it; it was quite heavy. The other four wolves, excluding their internal organs, weighed eighty or ninety pounds each, while the wolf king weighed over one hundred and twenty pounds, totaling nearly five hundred pounds.

This time, Zhou Rui didn't even have to lift a finger. Zhao Dazhu and Liu Kangri pulled on the rope, while Chen Huaihua pushed from behind, helping to lift them when they encountered difficult sections. Seeing this, Zhou Rui had no choice but to follow behind the group, fulfilling his duty as a guard and protecting everyone.

With many people, things went quickly; they reached the bottom of the mountain in just over an hour. Zhou Rui told everyone to rest and wash their faces, then went alone to the spot where the fish trap was attached, picked up a rope, and slowly pulled it ashore. Just as it was about to emerge from the water, they heard the sound of a fish's tail slapping against the surface.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Dazhu, without even taking a break, immediately came over to help pull the rope. Although he was already a father, Zhao Dazhu was only 20 years old and very interested in activities like fishing and hunting. He might not have a talent for hunting, but he was quite confident in catching fish, especially with Zhou Rui's fish trap.

The two men pulled the fish trap up, and through the mesh, they could see two fish inside. Zhou Rui instructed Zhao Dazhu to remove the lid from the fish trap: "See? It's just an extra lid. The branches of this lid curve inwards vertically, so once the fish are inside, they won't easily get out," Zhou Rui said, pointing to the inverted cone-shaped lid.

"That's a good idea. So this is a fish trap. The fish just crawled in like that?" Zhao Dazhu poked at the lid with his hand.

Although Chen Huaihua didn't speak, she listened carefully from the side, because this was also what she wanted to know.

"Of course you don't just leave it there; you have to add bait. Don't you use bait when you fish?"

"Then what should we put in it?"

"I usually put in the offal of wild pheasants and rabbits, because those things have a strong smell. If you don't have any, you can dig up some earthworms and put them in too," Zhou Rui said as he poured fish into the bucket, which was half full of stream water.

"Actually, some people also use corn kernels and crumbled steamed buns soaked in alcohol as fish bait, or even just the lees from the liquor. Basically, you need something with a strong smell so the fish will come attracted by the aroma," Zhou Rui explained to everyone in detail.