Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

There was only one dish for dinner: stewed potatoes and badger meat, but everyone was still very happy. The mission was completed ahead of schedule, so they could rest well at home instead of sleeping in the mountains in fear.

"Second Brother, are we going to pick up An'an and the others?" Zhou Ping was serving them, pouring wine and serving noodles.

"It's so late, don't go. Kids get very irritable if they don't sleep well. Besides, I have to go to town first thing tomorrow morning, and they'll be even more unhappy if they don't see me when they get up."

"Junior brother, you're not even married yet, how do you know so much about children?" Gu Shaofeng took a big gulp of wine. He hadn't drunk enough in the mountains last night and hadn't had enough fun.

"What does this have to do with getting married or not? You'll understand once you've had your sister and niece with you for a while. If Xiao Nian Gao wakes up, I basically won't be able to lie down at night; I'll just have to pick him up and rock him around. If An An wakes up, he'll want to play, and he can only sleep when he's tired. Anyway, neither of them is easy to deal with." Reborn, Zhou Rui made up for not experiencing being a stay-at-home dad in his previous life, and he spoke eloquently about children.

"I don't know any of this, my wife takes care of it all. It seems you still need to find a wife as soon as possible to help you manage the household, otherwise you won't have more time to go hunting in the mountains." Gu Shaofeng's words then veered off-topic: "I think that round-faced educated youth is quite nice, she speaks softly and gently, and she's unlikely to argue with you in the future."

"I think Shaofeng is right. There are four siblings in your family. You can't live without a woman to take care of you. Just look at your clothes; they're not very clean. The only thing that's good is the food. You're a good cook. But I disagree with Shaofeng. I think that educated youth named Yangping is better. She's cheerful and generous. And you can tell from her face and hands that she's capable. Only a woman like that can manage the household well." Wang Shouye picked up his bowl and took a small sip. His words were generally the same, but his opinions on women differed.

Zhou Rui sighed, somewhat exasperated by their pressure to get married. How old was he anyway? Not even sixteen yet. While he was indeed a bit clumsy at washing clothes, he used plenty of soap; the clothes weren't that dirty, were they? It seemed he still needed to urge Zhou Ping to be more careful when washing clothes.

"Uncle Wang, why are you joining in? I'm still a child." Zhou Rui picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

"Why are you all so fixated on the female educated youth? Aren't the women in the village good enough? How many of those female educated youth genuinely want to marry into the countryside? Lin, for example, comes from Shanghai in the south; her family is wealthy. She probably had no choice but to go to the countryside, but I reckon her family will find a way to get her back in two years. Yang, although her family is less well-off, her parents are both workers in the provincial capital. They can't let their daughter marry into this poor mountain village and never be able to go back."

"You look young, but you're quite insightful. Our village head's family used to force one of the educated youth to marry into their family, relying on the job assignments they gave them. That educated youth stayed obediently for a year, then her family found connections in the city, got her a job, and she quietly ran away. She didn't even get the head of the village to sign the return-to-the-city permit; she'd already gotten someone at the commune's educated youth office to get it for her. The head of the village lost face and went to the commune to make a scene, but the commune shut him down with one sentence: 'Where's the marriage certificate? You don't even have a marriage certificate, what are you making a scene for?'"

Gu Shaofeng sighed as well: "Yes. These educated youth shouted slogans loudly, but few of them really thought about helping us get rich in the countryside."

At this point, everyone lost interest, each filled a large bowl with noodles, slurped them down, and prepared to go to sleep.

The next morning, the three of them arrived at Old Xing's tea stall early in the morning on two bicycles. Old Xing was lying in a rocking chair, basking in the sun, with a steaming cup of tea beside him.

Zhou Rui jumped out of the back seat of Gu Shaofeng's car and looked at Old Man Xing, who slowly stood up from his rocking chair. This was Zhou Rui's second visit; it seemed that this old man surnamed Xing spent his days drinking tea and basking in the sun.

"Wang Pao, I was just about to send someone to deliver a message to you, and here you are," Old Xing greeted with a smile, looking at the group of men carrying guns and accompanied by hunting dogs. "Are you all ready to go up the mountain?"

"What news? We just came down the mountain," Wang Shouye asked.

"A tiger cub has been found in the mountains of Qingshan Town, Luyang County, next door. I was just about to let you know."

"Qingshan Town, Luyang County? That's so far? No way. I don't know anyone there, and I'm not familiar with the area. It'll be hard to find, and I won't bother. You can ask someone else." Wang Shouye simply went through the information in his mind before refusing.

"No, Wang Pao, this is information I finally got through. Don't push it away so quickly." Old Xing was a little anxious, probably because his boss was pressuring him.

"No one else has your abilities, so I trust you. Here's the deal: if you're willing to go, I'll pay for it, and the kid who gave me the tip will personally take you up the mountain."

Wang Shouye laughed at Old Xing's anxious look. The more anxious the old man was, the more urgent the boss behind him needed the leather, which meant they could better negotiate the price and make the best use of the high-quality hides they had worked so hard to acquire.

"Don't rush, since I'm here today, I'm sure I've come with something." Wang Shouye patted the backpack he had taken down. "Once you've seen my goods, you might not need to go to Luyang County anymore."

"What kind of creature? A tiger... or a leopard?" Old Xing grabbed Wang Shouye's hand and asked anxiously, his voice trembling slightly.

"Wait a minute, let me tie the dog up first. You'll see it soon anyway, let's talk inside." Wang Shouye said calmly, he knew how to handle Old Man Xing's mindset.

After the group had tied up all the dogs, Old Man Xing couldn't wait to pull Wang Shouye into the room. Zhou Rui and the other man had no choice but to follow. When they got to the table, Old Man Xing urged Wang Shouye to get the goods, but he didn't stop there. He found a clean cloth and spread it on the table, afraid of getting it even a little dirty.

Wang Shouye didn't linger any longer; he couldn't keep Old Xing in suspense forever, that wouldn't be fair. He opened his backpack, took out the leopard skin, and when the leopard skin was fully unfolded in front of Old Xing, Zhou Rui heard Old Xing's breathing pause for a moment.

Old Xing gently stroked the leopard's golden fur, inch by inch, checking every part carefully, afraid that any spot might have lost too much fur.

He examined it several times, then suddenly turned and asked, "No bullet holes? Did the trap catch it?"

"No." Wang Shouye didn't say much, but directly grabbed the leopard by the ear and gestured for him to look in that direction.

"Wearing it on both sides. Was it Shaofeng or Ruiwa who did it?" Even Old Man Xing was quite surprised by the placement. Old Man Xing had been collecting leather goods for decades, and he had rarely seen such craftsmanship.

"Do you think Shaofeng has that skill? Ruiwa did it, Shaofeng missed."

Old Xing looked at Zhou Rui with a burning gaze. This would be another major source of goods for him in the future. Wang Shouye had really done a great thing by bringing him here.

"Now that you've brought the goods, let's talk about the price." In an instant, Old Man Xing reverted to his businessman's demeanor, as if he wasn't the anxious person from just moments before.

Next came the confrontation between the two, while Zhou Rui and Gu Shaofeng could only sit on the sidelines and watch.

"Just double the price from last time." Wang Shouye didn't say much, but he was really bold in his pricing.

"Impossible. Even the most precious leopard pelt isn't worth as much as a tiger's. Considering how good the pelt is, I'll add another eight hundred dollars."

Wang Shouye pointed excitedly at the leopard skin on the table, saying, "Look carefully, this isn't ordinary, okay? The entire pelt has not a single bullet hole, not a single damaged inch of fur. This is top-grade pelt. You're only adding eight hundred yuan? Who are you trying to fool?"

"I know this is good leather, but it's not as good as winter leather. So I'll give you four thousand two, that's all I can give you." Old Xing didn't care at all about Wang Shouye's excitement and kept walking at his own pace.

"Winter leather is nice, but it doesn't have the same appealing colors as summer leather. You said last time that it's used by business people for feng shui purposes; this golden yellow, this copper coin color, won't it bring wealth?"

Old Xing froze, realizing he'd let something slip and been caught red-handed. The two went back and forth, finally settling on a price of five thousand two hundred yuan.

Gu Shaofeng and Zhou Rui were both surprised; they hadn't expected the final price to be so high. If it were Zhang Shanjun's hide, how much would that be?