Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Jiang Chuntao's mind kept replaying the scene from yesterday. She clearly remembered someone calling the little girl's name from afar, but it was as if it was stuck in her throat and she couldn't get it out no matter what she did.

She rubbed her temples hard, sighing inwardly at how old she was, as she could barely remember what others had said.

When An'an woke up this morning, she was still dazed. This was the first time she had spent the night in a guesthouse, and the atmosphere around her was completely different from that at home.

The bed I was on was much narrower than the one at home, and even turning over felt cramped.

She quietly got up. Her second brother, Zhou Rui, was still fast asleep beside her, while her sister-in-law, Lin Qiuyue, and Xiao Niangao were lying on the opposite bed.

An An carefully stepped over Zhou Rui and shuffled to the window in her slippers.

This window is completely different from the wooden windows in the house; it's an old-fashioned glass with patterns, and you can't see the outside scenery clearly.

The soft sunlight streamed in, and she reached out to touch the glass surface; it was cool and smooth, like the old mirror at home.

She hadn't stood there for two minutes when she tiptoed over to Lin Qiuyue's bedside. Her second sister-in-law was sleeping soundly, just like she always was at home, with a relaxed expression that made people feel at ease.

An'an kicked off her shoes, climbed onto the bed, and gently rolled over onto Lin Qiuyue.

The little rice cake sleeping inside had a face as red as an apple, her little mouth opening and closing unconsciously, and her long eyelashes casting a small light shadow under her eyes.

She couldn't help but lower her head and gently tap the little rice cake's face, then pulled the soft little body into her arms. The little rice cake tilted its head to the side and curled up to sleep in a couple of seconds.

Dodo...dododo.

The knocking sounded rhythmically outside the door, two short knocks followed by three long ones.

"Zhou Rui, Zhou Rui, are you up yet?" The familiar loud voice rang out as soon as the knocking stopped.

Zhou Rui suddenly sat up in bed: "Coming, coming!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he put his hand to the side, as if something was wrong.

He turned his head and glanced into the inner room of the bed. There was no one there, but he remembered clearly that his sister had shared a bed with him last night.

"An'an! Where's An'an?"

His exclamation startled Lin Qiuyue, who had just opened her eyes in a daze, awake.

Lin Qiuyue's sleepiness vanished instantly. She sat up abruptly, the blanket slipping off her shoulders to reveal her floral shirt underneath.

"What? An'an isn't in your bed? I saw her curled up next to you before I went to sleep, her little head resting on your arm."

Zhou Ping's snoring stopped abruptly. He groggily propped himself up on his arms and sat up, still muttering to himself.

"No way, I personally bolted the door to this guesthouse last night. Nobody outside can get in. How could a little girl like her open the door and run out by herself?"

The three of them woke up instantly. Zhou Rui stepped barefoot onto the cool cement floor, and the bed creaked as he shook it.

He lifted the blanket, then bent down and glanced under the bed. There were only his own cotton shoes on the floor, not even a corner of An'an's clothes.

"I'll go look outside!" Zhou Rui grabbed the jacket draped over the back of the chair and put it on. Just as his hand touched the door latch, he heard two soft little hums coming from Lin Qiuyue's side.

Lin Qiuyue looked down and saw two small bulges at the corners of the blanket.

An'an buried half her body in the quilt, her arms tightly wrapped around Xiao Niangao's waist. Xiao Niangao was squeezed against the wall by her, her little eyebrows furrowed slightly, she was not fully awake yet.

"Don't panic, it's here." Lin Qiuyue was both amused and annoyed, and gently patted the blanket.

"This little brat, when did she sneak over here? I didn't even notice."

Zhou Rui's heart, which had been in his throat, suddenly settled back down.

He reached up and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, pointing at An'an, who was fast asleep in bed, both angry and amused.

"You silly child, you ran over without saying a word, you almost scared your brother out of his wits."

There were two more knocks on the door, and that loud voice came in again: "Zhou Rui? What are you dawdling for? If you don't get up soon, the department store will be packed. You might not even be able to squeeze in."

"Coming, coming, I'll open the door now." Zhou Rui responded and reached out to pull off the latch.

He Wu was standing outside the door, holding a net bag in his hand. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that he was barefoot.

"What's wrong? Did you just wake up from a dream?"

"Eat quickly, inside are meat buns, fried dough sticks, and soy milk that I bought from the cafeteria."

Zhou Rui took the net and his eyes lit up immediately.

Meat buns are nothing special; we make them at home quite often.

But getting fried dough sticks at a state-run restaurant is a rare treat. Not only do you need food coupons, but if you don't get up very early, you won't even be able to get a turn.

An'an, still half asleep, was disturbed by the noises and began to open her eyes, groggily peeking her head out from under the covers.

Several red marks were pressed onto her little face, and she was still tightly hugging the sleepy little rice cake in her arms, mumbling something indistinctly.

"Brother...I want big fruit...and lots of sugar in the soy milk..."

The people in the room were stunned for a moment, and then they all burst into laughter.

Immediately afterwards, everyone squeezed into the communal washroom, their enamel mugs clanging loudly, and toothpaste almost getting onto their clothes.

He Wu handed the breakfast he brought to the two younger children first; the fried dough sticks he had just brought back from the cafeteria were still steaming hot and fragrant.

An'an gripped the golden, crispy edge and took a big bite. With a crisp crunch, the salty and savory oily aroma traveled straight down her tongue and into her stomach. She didn't even want to throw away the crumbs that fell on her clothes.

Little Rice Cake, watching from the side, got anxious and called out, "Auntie!"

Without even reaching out to grab it, the little head went straight to the fried dough stick, grabbed the back half and stuffed it into its mouth.

The fried dough sticks were too big to bite, so I just held onto the edge and nibbled off a small corner, getting oil splattered all over my face.

While Zhou Rui's family was busy getting up and eating, Qin Zhan was also dressing Qin Tao, who had just gotten up.

On the balcony, He Jing was standing on tiptoe, sorting through the two large bags of things that Zhou Rui had carried over yesterday.

The two sacks were stacked up to waist height, weighing more than 100 pounds in total, and frozen solid like two ice blocks.

She first untied the top one, and the fresh aroma of dried hazel mushrooms mixed with the oily fragrance of pine nuts wafted out.

The wild mushrooms, their caps brittle from sun-drying, the blanched and dried wild vegetables, and at the very bottom, over twenty pounds of red pine nuts, slowly roasted in an iron pot, their shells cracked open.

The bag below was so heavy that she tried to shake it by the corner but it wouldn't budge. She called out to Qin Zhan, who came over to help.

As soon as the bag was torn open, several white, frozen fish were revealed, their silvery scales still covered with ice crystals.

Further down, there were neatly arranged pieces of frozen meat, with fat as thick as a finger's width, but it was impossible to tell what kind of meat it was.

When she flipped to the bottom and the pair of thick, black, velvety palm pads were revealed, He Jing paused, turned around and called into the house.

"Qin Zhan, stop what you're doing and come take a look. Zhou Rui and the others brought back some really good stuff from the mountains this time."