Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Lin Qiuyue deliberately exaggerated the consequences of the matter, pretending to be frightening, actually because she was afraid that she would make the same mistake again.

You can't hit or scold a little girl this young. You can only exaggerate the potential dangers to prevent her from forgetting them and accidentally hurting herself one day.

Zhou Rui gently moved An'an half an inch away from his arms. Instead of patting her back to comfort her as usual, he reached out and pulled the half-burnt wheat stalk that An'an was clutching in her hand.

"Running fast isn't good either." His voice wasn't loud, but it stopped An An from whining.

"Last time, the woodpile at Old Chen's house at the west end of the village caught fire, and half of the kitchen was burned down. You ran fast, but you couldn't run away from the house."

"You don't want to burn our house down later, do you?"

An'an's tears trembled on her eyelashes, and she didn't dare to snuggle into his arms anymore, her little shoulders shrinking into a small ball.

Lin Qiuyue watched from the side, feeling a sense of relief.

I'm afraid this girl will take advantage of her brother's protection and treat such a big thing as a joke like roasting wheat.

She bent down and picked up the small cloth shirt with a burnt hole on the ground, pointing her fingertip to the charred hole.

"Look at this garment, it was only made half a month ago, a spark could float up to it for less than half a second."

"If your clothes had caught fire at that time, by the time you realized it, your arm would have been blistered."

An'an raised her hand, trembling, and rubbed her fingertips against her little arm, as if she was really frightened.

"I...I'll never touch matches again."

An'an's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, and her tears dripped onto Zhou Rui's hand, feeling cool.

Zhou Rui reached out and grabbed her small hand in his palm: "It's not that I don't want you to play, it's just that fire is fiercer than wolves in the mountains."

"You can still see the wolf's shadow, but when the fire leaps up, it won't even give you time to call for help."

After scolding her, Lin Qiuyue took An'an to take a bath. An'an was covered in black soot and looked even dirtier than Zhou Rui.

After a while, Zhou Ping returned.

He didn't go out to play today; he went to harvest rice with the Liu brothers, Liu Ping'an and Liu Shunli.

Now he earns six work points a day, which almost supports half of his family.

However, he can only work for this period of time. After the busy farming season, his sister-in-law still has to rush him to school.

"Little sister, I heard you teamed up with Tie Niu and Ya Ya to do something big today?" Zhou Ping's voice was still clearly audible even with a large bowl full of food in his mouth.

"A half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home," Zhou Ping said, his bowl overflowing with rice, his chopsticks moving incredibly fast.

An'an had just finished showering, her hair still dripping wet, and she sat on a small stool wrapped in a clean floral shirt.

Hearing this, her face flushed red to her ears, and she wrinkled her little nose in dissatisfaction: "Third Brother, you're making fun of me. I'm not talking to you anymore."

Zhou Ping was so amused by her puffed-up little face that he almost spat out his food, and quickly freed one hand to wave it away.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare laugh at our little hero An'an. I mean, your courage in starting this fire is even greater than mine when I climbed the back mountain to pick a wild beehive last time."

Lin Qiuyue reached out and slapped his arm hard: "Don't use your glorious deeds of climbing on roofs and tearing off tiles to corrupt her."

"If the village adults hadn't passed by today, all the haystacks in our village would have been burned down. In winter, the pigs and cattle in the village wouldn't even have a bite of dry fodder to eat."

Zhou Ping abruptly stopped eating and quickly swallowed the rice in his mouth.

He knew all too well that his sister-in-law was much stricter with him than An'an was.

An'an is too young to be touched, but his sister-in-law's temper is becoming more and more like her second brother's, and she will reach out and pat him at the drop of a hat.

At this moment, Zhou Rui came out of the inner room carrying the little rice cake that had just woken up: "If you want to roast wheat in the future, just come home and roast it."

"You can roast wheat, chestnuts, peanuts, and sweet potatoes in the stove, and you can also invite your friends to help roast them."

"Chestnuts?" An'an's eyes lit up instantly. She hadn't paid attention to any of the other words, but she clearly understood the word "chestnuts."

There wasn't a single chestnut tree in the entire village of Jiaolongxia, and she had never tasted one before.

A while ago, Tie Dan from the village entrance showed off the chestnuts his uncle had given him to her, being so stingy that he wouldn't even let her touch the shells.

Looking into her bright, sparkling eyes, Zhou Rui suddenly realized he had let something slip and felt a little guilty.

"Uh...we don't have chestnut trees in our village, but you can roast as much wheat or sweet potatoes as you want."

Before we could even soothe An'an, the little rice cake in my arms suddenly started fussing, "Chestnut, chestnut."

She stretched her little hand towards his mouth. She had never even seen what a chestnut looked like, but hearing her aunt shout it so loudly, she knew it must be something incredibly delicious.

Zhou Rui turned his head to look at the dining table. Zhou Ping was busy eating and pretended not to see him. Lin Qiuyue had a smirk on her face as she slowly ate her meal, clearly waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

He was so bothered by the two little girls that he had no choice but to surrender.

"Alright, alright, after the busy farming season is over, I'll go to the town market and buy you a whole bag of chestnuts, enough for you to eat."

As soon as he finished speaking, An'an jumped up from the small stool with a loud "woof," her short legs clattering as she rushed to Zhou Rui, grabbing his arm and shaking it back and forth.

"I want the biggest and sweetest one, bigger than the one Tie Dan's uncle brought back!"

Little Niangao danced and gesticulated excitedly in Zhou Rui's arms, her little mouth shouting even louder, drool dripping down her chin and onto Zhou Rui's clothes, leaving a small wet patch.

Zhou Ping finally couldn't resist lifting his head from his rice bowl, his eyes shining as if they were glowing, with half a chopstick still in his mouth, and he leaned over with a slurred speech.

"Second brother, I'm strong, I can help you carry things when we go to the market."

Lin Qiuyue chuckled, reached out and pulled An'an back to her side, wiping her still dripping hair with a dry cloth.

"Your words have whetted the appetites of everyone in the family."

"But it's a promise, I'll go on market day too."

"I didn't see Suen last year, you still owe me a beautiful dress."

An'an listened with wide eyes, her little head nestled in Lin Qiuyue's arms, counting on her fingers.

"I ate marshmallows and grilled cold noodles last year, and I want to eat them again this year."

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Zhou Rui took Zhou Ping to work, leaving Lin Qiuyue alone in the yard to wash the bed sheets.

The educated youths passing by on their way to work noticed something strange.

Yang Ping called out from across the fence, "Qiuyue, why are you washing the blankets now? Didn't you just wash them the other day?"

"An'an was playing with fire yesterday, and as a result, she wet the bed in the middle of the night, making a huge drawing on the sheets."

"Haha... your An'an is quite artistic." Even He Wei, a girl from Beijing, couldn't help but laugh.

Suddenly, a window on the first floor was pushed open, and a puffed-up little face peeked out: "Auntie, don't laugh, or I won't let you come to my house for free meals anymore."

"Hehe..." "Haha..."

The group of educated youth, who hadn't been making much noise before, suddenly burst into laughter, and even the male educated youth couldn't help but laugh.