Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

On the kang (heated brick bed) in Zhou Rui's house, Lin Qiuyue leaned against the neatly folded quilt. Her injured foot was wrapped in white cotton cloth, making her look like a tightly tied big rice dumpling.

Even with her eyes closed, she couldn't help but smile, and suddenly felt that the injury was really worth it.

She used to be so busy with housework that she barely had time to breathe, but now she's become the family's darling, someone everyone takes turns pampering.

Little Rice Cake and Little Goose lay on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), their little heads pressed close together, their soft little mouths blowing gently on her injured foot.

An'an and Zhou Ping also left their work outside and went home. One of them poured brown sugar water into her enamel mug, while the other got her some White Rabbit milk candy. Finally, they even brought over the radio from home, turned on the warm and cozy opera music, and placed it steadily on the kang table next to Lin Qiuyue.

Zhou Rui was nowhere to be seen; he had taken his fishing rod to the riverbank. There were no blackfish in the small pond in his backyard, so he needed to catch a few to stew for Lin Qiuyue to help heal her wounds.

"Sister-in-law, are you still in pain? Shall I get you some chocolate?"

An'an snuggled up to her and hugged her arm, her little brows furrowed tightly, and she even took out her precious toy that she usually wouldn't bite.

Lin Qiuyue hugged her tighter, her heart warming. She remembered how she had worked tirelessly to take care of the family, treating her sister-in-law and brother-in-law like her own family. All that effort had finally paid off.

"Sweetie, your sister-in-law doesn't like that sweet stuff."

How could she forget? A while ago, when Zhou Rui came back from the forest farm, he brought her a piece of chocolate, and it tasted just as good as the chocolate she had when she was a child.

In this remote town's supply and marketing cooperative, chocolate was a rare commodity that money couldn't buy, so she couldn't bear to use up all of An'an's hard-earned food rations.

But this heartfelt sentiment is three times sweeter than actually eating ten pieces of chocolate.

Just two hours later, footsteps could be heard at the gate of the courtyard.

Zhou Rui stepped through the door carrying a full basket on his back, the weight of which made his shoulders sag.

Two plump wild ducks were tied around his waist with straw ropes, their wings drooping, their feathers still covered with wet mud from the riverbank.

The sounds of laughter and chatter from the inner room drifted out, and it was easy to guess that Lin Qiuyue's close girlfriends had all come to visit her after hearing about her injury.

Yang Ping, who was carrying a basin outside to pour out water, suddenly stopped, almost spilling half of the water from the basin.

"My goodness, Zhou Rui, do you own this back mountain? You've only been out for a short while, and you've already brought back wild ducks?"

She knew Zhou Rui was a skilled hunter and often came over to mooch meat, but she had never seen anything so outrageous.

Lin Qiuyue had just injured her foot and bled that afternoon, and in such a short time, she went out for a walk and ended up covered in fresh wild game.

Zhou Rui didn't reply, but simply placed the basket on the bluestone slab in the courtyard behind him. With a "whoosh," the sound of a fish tail slapping against the bamboo strips immediately came from inside the basket. Judging from the sound, the fish was quite large.

"It's not that magical." He casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, his tone as indifferent as if he were just saying the weather was nice today.

"I went to the river to fish for a couple of fish, and I happened to see a flock of wild ducks pecking at food on the riverbank. I casually used my slingshot to shoot down two of them."

Having spent so long navigating the mountains, a few words of amazement from others no longer stirred the slightest ripple in him.

"How's Qiuyue doing now?" He turned to Yang Ping and asked, "Go inside and call Sitian and the others. Don't leave today, stay for dinner. I have fish and duck, I'll cook you a good meal."

Yang Ping immediately squatted down, her eyes fixed on the basket on his back, watching Zhou Rui scoop out the lively fish one by one and put them into the stone pond in the corner of the yard to keep them alive.

Finally, a black carp and a fat bass were picked out and placed next to the wooden basin.

He rubbed the cleaver in his hand against the whetstone a couple of times, and with a few swishes, the silvery fish scales fell off the blade and settled in a thin layer on the bluestone slab.

"I'm much better now. I just drank some brown sugar water made by Pingwa, and I'm sitting on the bed chatting and laughing with them right now."

Yang Ping watched his nimble movements, her mouth never stopping.

"You didn't see it when we were in the field. It scared us to death. Qiuyue's legs were covered in blood. I felt pain just watching it."

"It all comes down to that Liu Wenyuan! He just carelessly left a perfectly good sickle on the edge of the field; otherwise, Qiuyue wouldn't have stepped on it and gotten hurt!"

"Secretary Zhao went to see him just now and gave Da Liu a thorough dressing-down. Not only did he lose half of his work points for the month, but he also has to go to the brigade headquarters this afternoon to make a public apology."

She rattled off a whole string of stories, revealing everything that had happened in the team after he left, without even waiting for Zhou Rui to ask.

"Just deduct some work points?" Zhou Rui paused for half a second, his brows furrowing, clearly feeling that the punishment was too lenient.

But he also knew that this matter couldn't be investigated too deeply. Liu Wenyuan really didn't do it on purpose, and he couldn't let this matter escalate to the commune.

If that guy dares to deliberately trip someone up and hurt them, forget about the team's punishment; he'll rush over and beat the guy to a pulp today, no matter what.

But it was an unexpected turn of events. He rubbed his fingertips against the slippery back of the sea bass and managed to suppress his anger, though the slight displeasure in his eyes lingered for a long time.

Yang Ping turned and went into the house, shouting the news that Zhou Rui had invited her to stay for dinner and that there was fresh wild duck to eat. The inner room instantly erupted in laughter and chatter, and even the paper windows shook.

Hearing the noise, Zhou Rui curled the corners of his mouth, his fingertips brushed against the blade of the cleaver, and he turned around and deftly started a fire. The dry firewood in the stove crackled and sprang up with warm yellow flames.

The clappers of Henan opera were ringing loudly on the radio when An'an led Xiao Niangao out of the inner room. The little girl had a clear finger mark on her cheek.

It goes without saying that Yang Ping and the others were teasing him by pinching his cheeks.

Little Yan'er was the only one who didn't run out. I guess she was being held down on the kang by several girls, who were tying her hair with red ribbons.

Little Rice Cake squatted down at my feet with her round little bottom sticking out, her little hands holding half a handful of cleaned scallions and ginger and stuffing them into my hand.

An'an lay on the edge of the stove, using a small shovel to scoop up pine branches and firewood one by one into the firebox.

In less than half an hour, the aroma of stewed fish wafted out from the cracks in the pot lid and circled around the roof beam.

After dinner, the dishes and chopsticks were cleared away, and the laughter and chatter that filled the house also dissipated.

Zhou Rui reached out and moved Lin Qiuyue sideways into the kang (heated brick bed), carefully placing a soft cloth pillow next to her injured foot, as the child was clumsy and had hurt her wound.

"Qiuyue, I'm thinking of not going hunting in the mountains tomorrow. I'll ask the brigade for leave and stay home with you for a couple of days."

Lin Qiuyue gently leaned into his arms, her cheek pressed against his chest, which was slightly sweaty, and the steady sound of his heartbeat reached her ears.

This small mountain village in the far northeast doesn't have the all-night electric lights of Shanghai, nor the snack shops that are everywhere. At night, only an oil lamp flickers, casting its shadow on the earthen wall.

But here, she found someone who cherished her dearly, an understanding and obedient brother-in-law, a sister-in-law who clung to her and called her sister-in-law, and even Xiao Nian Gao would always give her the candy he couldn't bear to eat himself.

She had longed for this kind of down-to-earth happiness for so many years, and she truly hoped that life could continue to slow down like this forever.

"Fool, I am a pampered young lady from ancient times, secluded in her boudoir."

"How can we let a grown man like you stay at home all day with just a small cut on your calf? If word gets out, the villagers will laugh at you."

"But..." Zhou Rui only managed to say two words when Lin Qiuyue suddenly leaned over and gently kissed him with her red lips, silencing him completely.