Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The threshing ground was quiet and peaceful that evening, without any disturbances.

Those hooligans with their vacant eyes stayed quiet all night, and when the party ended, they quietly left the village with the crowd from the neighboring village.

As soon as Zhou Ping stepped into the house, Zhou Rui blocked him in the main room and made him stand as punishment.

The reason was that he was only focused on having fun and didn't keep an eye on his sister, so he rubbed her new navy blue cotton-padded jacket until it was covered in black and gray patches, and the original fabric texture was no longer discernible.

An'an noticed that her third brother kept giving her meaningful glances, but he had no intention of pleading for her. She tiptoed upstairs quietly, which made Zhou Ping so angry that he stood there stamping his feet.

When Lin Qiuyue returned with the stool, Xiao Niangao and Xiao Yan'er on the kang were already fast asleep, with the two little girls still clutching the thin wooden sticks left over from the sugar figurine in their hands.

She wrung out a warm towel and gently wiped the two children's chubby little hands, then turned and glared at Zhou Rui: "You, stop letting them have their way with candy every day."

"Newly grown baby teeth can't withstand this kind of abuse. They'll get cavities and cry from the pain later. You'll regret it."

"Hehe, I got it, I got it." Zhou Rui scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly, his fingertips gently brushing against Xiao Niangao's rosy cheeks from the cold.

Before, I always thought that once I made money, I would have to fulfill my sister's and niece's wishes. I forgot that the two kids are young and have delicate teeth, so they can't be allowed to eat so much candy.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Rui slung his canvas bag over his shoulder, put on his gleaming rifle, and went out the door, with Da Huang silently following behind him.

He had placed the empty bucket by the stream at the foot of the mountain beforehand; his last task for the day was to catch forest frogs.

When you come down the mountain, smash a hole in the shallow ice water, and you can easily catch the frogs hiding in the mud.

Once inside the deep mountains, with not a soul in sight, Zhou Rui was able to unleash his full potential.

His steps were so fast it was as if he were floating on the snow, and even Big Yellow, who ran in the mountains all year round, had to run fast to keep up.

Coupled with that sixth sense that could scan the surroundings, the pheasants and rabbits hiding in the snowdrifts on the snowfield had nowhere to hide.

He gripped his slingshot and aimed precisely where he wanted to shoot. In less than half an hour, his waist was laden with wriggling wild animals.

He glanced at the prey at his waist, then decided to change direction and head towards Badger Gully.

Anyway, the snow cellar in the backyard is mostly empty, so we should fill it up and store more snow there, so we don't have to brave the cold wind to go to the mountains every few days and run out of meat at home.

After two muffled firecrackers, smoke billowed over the earthen slope, and he was already carrying seven or eight fat, oily badgers, swaying as he walked down the mountain.

He only spent half a day climbing the mountain, without firing a single shot, and all the wild animals weighing over two hundred pounds were his.

Lin Qiuyue had just added firewood to the stove when she looked up and saw Zhou Rui dump more than twenty pheasants, rabbits, and badgers onto the snow in the yard with a whoosh. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

She knew Zhou Rui was a skilled hunter, but she never imagined he could be this good.

These wild animals in the mountains weren't running away; they were like frozen mushrooms in the snow, obediently squatting there waiting for Zhou Rui to reach out and pick them up.

"I was just lucky. This morning, I ran into a bunch of these guys coming out to look for food. I hadn't gone two steps before I bumped into a group of them and hit them with my bare hands." Zhou Rui scratched his head and made up some nonsense.

Lin Qiuyue nodded blankly, actually believing his story.

Only Zhou Rui dared to bully her because she came to the countryside late and didn't know the habits of wild animals in the mountains.

If his master, Wang Shouye, heard this, he would surely beat him to a pulp with his pipe.

Zhou Rui picked out two wild animals from the small mountain of them, and then picked up the half-bucket of plump forest frogs and patted the snow off his body.

Zhou Rui carried a bucket in one hand and a heavy bamboo basket in the other.

Not long after we arrived at the adobe house of the brigade headquarters.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, Zhang Aimin was seen chatting with a young man in his thirties. Next to him stood a young man in his early twenties, who was packing projector parts into a wooden box, seemingly preparing to leave.

Zhang Aimin's brows, which were furrowed so deeply they could trap a mosquito, instantly broke into a wide smile as soon as Zhou Rui stepped in carrying a basket.

He stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Rui's arm: "Oh my little darling, you're finally back."

"Comrade Liu, who is fighting against the Japanese, has already heated the stove to a blazing blaze, just waiting for the wild game you hunted to be cooked and served."

The projection team leader, who was in his thirties, immediately jumped up from his stool.

The young man packing boxes next to him also put down the parts he was holding, staring intently at the bamboo basket in Zhou Rui's hand, his lips curling up uncontrollably.

Zhou Rui knew perfectly well that these two projectionists wouldn't act until they saw results.

I was just pretending to pack my things. If this picnic at noon doesn't actually happen, I'll definitely leave right after this meal and won't stay a moment longer.

He didn't rush to take things out of the basket. He first gently placed the tin bucket he was carrying in his left hand on the ground next to Zhang Aimin's feet before reaching into the bamboo basket.

His tone carried a hint of the casualness of a mountain hunter: "There are few wild animals in the mountains in winter. I had to go through three or four mountain valleys to gather this little bit of stuff, so I came back a little late."

The two plump badgers had glossy fur, the two pheasants had their brightly colored tail feathers sticking up high, and the fat hare that was brought out last was just an extra to make up the numbers.

The young man stared wide-eyed. He had visited more than a dozen brigades and had never seen such an honest hunter. Jiaolong Gorge was truly a place where hidden talents resided.

Not to mention that the tin bucket was filled to the brim with fat forest frogs, which are a top-tier delicacy in the snow.

He didn't mention it at all when he chatted with Zhang Aimin yesterday, but he didn't expect that the brigade leader would secretly arrange it.

"Great! That's wonderful!" Liu Kangri slapped his thigh and grinned from ear to ear. "Tonight we'll show 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy'."

"Everyone watched and ate the fat badger meat, and also tasted Yang Zirong's hearty enjoyment of drinking wine from large bowls and eating large chunks of meat."

Zhang Aimin's heart, which had been hanging in suspense all morning, finally settled down.

It's practically a done deal that the film projection team will stay for two more days. From now on, everyone in the village will remember his kindness, and no hothead will dare to act arrogantly in front of him.

"Captain, I'm going home now. Remember to record my work points." Zhou Rui said, picking up his bamboo basket and leaving.

He needs to cook at home too, so he won't stay here and get in the way.

Zhang Aimin didn't mind Zhou Rui's attitude at all, and smiled as he watched Zhou Rui's back.

"I've got it, I've got it. Zhou Rui, you should go back and rest too."

That noon, Zhou Rui cooked over ten kilograms of meat at home, no less than what was cooked at the brigade headquarters.

Lin Qiuyue invited Yu Sitian and He Wei home, agreeing to eat until the movie started, and then they would go to the threshing ground together.

At night, Zhou Rui dared not let An An run around, and held her tightly in front of him.

He noticed that An'an was becoming increasingly unruly, and even that little brat Tie Niu couldn't escape An'an's clutches.

As expected, the movie shown that night was "The Taking of Tiger Mountain." It was only two years old and no one had seen it before, which drew loud cheers from many people.

Zhou Rui bought a bag of spiced beans from a vendor and shared them with Lin Qiuyue and the others. By the end, only the shells were left on the newspaper.

Zhou Rui blew away the crumbs and was about to throw the newspaper away when he suddenly saw a missing person notice on it.

It said that they were looking for their younger sister who had been missing for twenty years, surnamed Lu... and that she was wearing a bracelet made of something.

Unfortunately, half of the missing person notice was cut off, and many things were not clearly written.

Just then, a loudspeaker suddenly blared from the threshing ground.

"Zhao Changshan, Gu Dayong, Zhou Rui, Chen Ye, please come to the brigade headquarters..."