Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The heavy rain arrived as expected, and according to villagers, Old Sesame's predictions had never been wrong. Fortunately, Zhou Rui's two cellars were completed, and new educated youth had moved into the neighboring educated youth settlement.

Zhou Rui sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), holding two babies, one big and one small, leisurely watching the raindrops fall in the yard. This rain made things much easier for everyone, as they no longer had to carry water to irrigate the crops, but it also meant many families lost a lot of work points. None of this concerned Zhou Rui; the eight hundred yuan hidden in the cellar in the backyard was the source of his confidence.

"Second brother, it's so boring with this heavy rain, we can't go out to play." An'an's voice broke the silence. An'an had just gotten up, but since she couldn't go anywhere, she could only sit quietly on the kang (a heated brick bed) in a daze.

Zhou Rui liked rainy days like this; they brought him a sense of peace. Zhou Ping, who had been working at the construction site for several days, also liked them, going straight back to his room for a nap after breakfast. But for the energetic 6-year-old, it was torture; after eating, he couldn't do anything.

"Brother, brother... I want to go out and play. If I sit here and just sit there in a daze, An'an will become stupid." An'an pinched Zhou Rui's cheek. It was his second brother's fault for ignoring him.

Zhou Rui was also quite helpless. In this era without cell phones and televisions, people could only chat at home at most. But there weren't that many people at his house. Zhou Ping had all gone to sleep. What could Zhou Rui and An An talk about? He should buy a radio as soon as possible so that rainy days wouldn't be so boring.

"Why don't you read a comic book?" Zhou Rui shook his head and shook off An An's hand that was pinching his flesh.

"I've already seen them all, I don't want to see them anymore." An An shook her head.

Zhou Rui looked into An An's eyes, his expression resolute. "Then let your second brother teach you to write. You'll be going to school next year anyway."

"Really? An'an can learn to write now? Just like Third Brother used to be." An'an had seen Zhou Ping study before. Back then, the family didn't have so much debt. Every day when Zhou Ping came home to do his homework, An'an would watch him enviously from the side.

"Yes, like Third Brother, write in your notebook."

"Okay! I want to learn to write." An'an clapped her hands happily, startling Xiao Nian Gao next to her, who pouted and was about to cry.

Zhou Rui quickly patted Xiao Niangao's back, "Oh, don't cry, don't cry, your auntie didn't mean to."

An'an quickly took Xiao Nian Gao's hand and patted her own face.

"I'm sorry, Little Rice Cake, Auntie didn't mean it. Auntie was just too happy."

The two finally managed to calm the little girl down. The quiet girl thought they were playing with her and kept babbling, completely forgetting her earlier urge to cry. Her short legs kept bouncing around, as if she wanted to take off.

The two played with the little rice cake for more than an hour before finally coaxing the little guy to sleep.

"Second Brother, what are you going to teach me to write?" An An turned her head back and asked Zhou Rui with wide eyes.

Zhou Rui lowered his head and held An'an's arm: "How about I teach you to write your own name?"

"Okay, I also want to write down my second brother's name, my third brother's name, and Xiao Nian Gao's name. My father's name, my mother's name, and my eldest brother's name."

A deep sense of longing welled up in Zhou Rui's heart. He then thought of An'an and Xiao Niangao, who had lost their parents' love at such a young age. He could only surround them with more love and not let them feel sad.

"Okay, let's take it one step at a time, learning one name each day. Let's start by writing our surname, Zhou, like this... Then it's An'an, like this. Put them together and it's Zhou An..."

The rain continued to fall, and Xiao Niangao lay on the bedding, breathing softly. Zhou Rui accompanied An'an as she wrote her name, occasionally correcting her pen-holding posture.

"Is Comrade Zhou Rui home? Is Comrade Zhou Rui home?" A voice called out from outside the courtyard.

Zhou Rui pushed open the door and went out. Standing under the eaves, he looked out at the waist-high courtyard wall. Two female educated youths were holding umbrellas. When they saw Zhou Rui come out, they waved happily and greeted him: "Comrade Zhou Rui, you're home."

Zhou Rui looked up at the rain in the sky, wondering why the two of them weren't resting at home on such a rainy day, but instead came to his house.

"Let's talk inside the courtyard," Zhou Rui said calmly.

Upon hearing this, the two quickly pushed open the courtyard gate, walked in, went under the eaves, and put away their umbrellas.

"Comrade Zhou Rui, let's get to know each other again. My name is Yang Ping, a sent-down youth from the provincial capital of Heilongjiang Province." The pretty girl with two long ponytails said loudly, while extending her right hand.

Zhou Rui was somewhat surprised to see the confident and capable young woman, but he still extended his hand and shook hers lightly: "Zhou Rui, a villager from Group 3 of Jiaolongxia Brigade."

The girl didn't stop, turning around to introduce the girl behind her: "This is Lin Qiuyue, an educated youth from Shanghai."

As Yang Ping introduced the girl, Zhou Rui's gaze fell upon the girl behind her. The girl's skin was fairer than Yang Ping's, her round face was slightly flushed, and she was a little shorter than Yang Ping, about 1.65 meters tall, roughly the same height as Zhou Rui.

Zhou Rui nodded to Lin Qiuyue and said, "Hello."

"Hello, Comrade Zhou Rui." Lin Qiuyue was a little shy when she saw Zhou Rui looking at her. She lowered her head and responded softly, her Mandarin with a distinct Jiangnan accent.

Seeing this, Zhou Rui withdrew his gaze and asked Yang Ping, "Comrade Yang Ping, is there anything I can help you with?"

Yang Ping found it a bit strange. "We Northeasterners are the most hospitable. These two women have come all this way, and they didn't even invite us in to sit down."

However, Yang Ping didn't think much of it and said directly, "It's like this, it's been raining for several days, and we didn't have much firewood prepared. We ran out of firewood yesterday noon. The firewood in the yard was all wet from the rain. We initially thought that as long as we lit the firewood, it would burn, but it wouldn't burn at all yesterday afternoon, and I was choked to death by the smoke."

Yang Ping was a little embarrassed when she said this. She explained that in the provincial capital, they used to burn coal and had never burned firewood before. She thought that it would be fine if the wood was a little damp and would catch fire, but she ended up burning a lot of newspapers without being able to light them.

"Well, we haven't eaten anything since last night, just raw sweet potatoes. That's why we thought we'd borrow some firewood from your house." As she said this, Yang Ping's stomach growled, making this usually boisterous girl blush deeply. Lin Qiuyue, standing behind Yang Ping, also blushed, hiding her round face behind Yang Ping's back.

Zhou Rui was speechless. These five educated youths, after receiving the rain notice, didn't even bother to prepare, let alone move more damp firewood to the kitchen. They'd been in the countryside for a month, and they'd probably run out of the food they brought with them.

"Since it's a gathering of educated youth to borrow firewood, why send two women like you? Where are the others?"

Zhou Rui's tone remained unchanged, extremely indifferent. Yang Ping and Lin Qiuyue assumed it was because of what happened last time that Zhou Rui was still angry and didn't treat them well. But they had no choice; they were starving. The village houses were some distance from the educated youth settlement, and Zhou Rui's house was the closest.

"Uh...didn't you teach us a lesson last time? They're grown men, and they were a little embarrassed to come back. But don't be angry, we've all realized our mistakes and are working hard to learn. We will definitely earnestly implement ideological education, take root in the countryside, actively build up the countryside, and hone ourselves." Yang Ping spoke louder and louder, as if trying to prove something.

"So those three grown men are thin-skinned and concerned about their image, so they let you two girls come forward to borrow firewood because you're a bit more shameless," Zhou Rui said disdainfully, but still turned and went into the kitchen, carrying out a large bundle of wood.

Yang Ping and Lin Qiuyue were surprised by Zhou Rui's words, but they could sense the protectiveness he was showing towards them. Lin Qiuyue was especially curious; Zhou Rui, who was even younger than her, spoke very harshly, yet his words made a lot of sense.

Seeing the firewood Zhou Rui had put down, the two tried to lift it, but couldn't, and exchanged an awkward glance. Seeing this, Zhou Rui had no choice but to pick up the bundled firewood again, hoist it onto his shoulder, and quickly walk outside. Lin Qiuyue and the other woman hurriedly followed, holding umbrellas.

Zhou Rui put the firewood in the kitchen of the educated youth settlement, then turned to Lin Qiuyue, who had followed him, and said, "When you're cooking, put the wet firewood next to the stove, and it will dry quickly."

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving the two of them with only half of his body dripping with water.