Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

The pencil in the middle-aged woman's hand hovered over the register. She shook her head: "The child's name wasn't registered."

"This is the old rule; all the guesthouses in the region do it this way. Only adults are considered official guests."

"The register clearly shows only two names, Zhou Rui and Lin Qiuyue, but there isn't a single word about the three children."

"Then their commune/brigades must have been listed on the letter of introduction, right?"

"Written clearly, Jiaolongxia Production Brigade, Hongqi Commune." The middle-aged woman's fingertips slowly traced the blue ink writing, reading each word with exceptional clarity.

She glanced at Lu Duanshan and noticed that the collar of his Zhongshan suit was faded but crisp, and the iridium fountain pen in his jacket pocket was polished to a shine. She immediately understood what was going on.

This must be a leader from some unit in the city; his demeanor is exactly the same as that of the director of their guesthouse.

"Duanshan, don't delay any longer." Jiang Chuntao reached out and tugged at his sleeve, her voice trembling with urgency.

"Hurry up and go to the transport team to find Old Zhou to drive a jeep. We're heading to Jiaolong Gorge in Hongqi Commune right now."

The middle-aged woman's eyes lit up immediately.

As expected of a leader, the first thing he said was to find a Jeep.

For an ordinary employee like her, if she wanted to borrow the tricycle in front of the guesthouse to transport a few dozen kilograms of rice to the grain station, she would have to pester the director for most of the day.

"Mom, don't panic." Lu Duanshan reached out and gently pressed her hand down, patting the back of her hand twice to comfort her.

"We don't even know when they left. If we rush into the mountains, what if they've already left and the houses are empty? We'll have wasted dozens of miles of mountain road."

"Yes, yes, you're right." Jiang Chuntao's mind was in complete turmoil at this moment, and she listened to whatever her son said.

"Comrade, could you please check again for me? Did their letters of introduction specify the exact reason for their trip to the city?"

Lu Duanshan had already guessed that the fact that five people, including their families, were staying at the guesthouse meant they were definitely not on official business; they were most likely visiting relatives in the city.

However, confirmation from the official register is far more reliable than guesswork.

The middle-aged woman flipped through the register two pages in a flash, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh! I wrote it down. They're here to visit relatives. The person they're visiting... is Qin Zhan, the deputy director of the Forestry Bureau."

"Qin Zhan?" Lu Duanshan's brows furrowed into a knot, and his fingertips unconsciously pressed against the wood grain on the counter, which had been worn white by countless people over the decades.

Last month, he went to the Forestry Bureau for a spring tree planting work meeting and had lunch with Qin Zhan on the same bench.

However, he couldn't understand how the deputy director of the forestry bureau could be related to Zhou Rui, an ordinary farmer in Jiaolong Gorge.

"Deputy Director Qin personally came over three days ago to book rooms for them."

The middle-aged woman pointed her finger at the line for the registration date in the register, adding.

"They even made a special trip to our director's office, saying that this family are distant relatives from the countryside and are easily embarrassed, so there's no need to knock on each room to check on them at night."

By the way, they checked out and left just before dawn today, carrying several white canvas bags with the words "Forestry Bureau" clearly printed in red on the corners.

Jiang Chuntao suddenly gripped Lu Duanshan's wrist tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force: "Let's go! We'll go to the Forestry Bureau's family compound right now to find Qin Zhan. He definitely knows if Zhou Rui's family has a child named An'an."

"Okay." Lu Duanshan nodded emphatically.

The two walked and asked for directions along the way, searching for more than half an hour along the bluestone path of the residential compound, and finally stopped in front of the three-story blue brick building at the very end.

Lu Duanshan raised his hand and knocked on the wooden door three times before the door creaked open from the inside.

The woman who opened the door was wearing a faded yellow shirt, a blue apron tied around her waist, and her hands still had some cornmeal left on them.

Seeing the two unfamiliar faces standing at the door, a look of confusion crossed his face: "Who are you two looking for...?"

"Hello comrade, is this Comrade Qin Zhan's home?" Lu Duanshan realized that his voice was too tense when he spoke, and even the end of his voice was a little trembling.

"Yes." He Jing nodded with a face full of doubt, then turned around and called out into the house, "Old Qin, there are two comrades looking for you at the door."

The rustling sounds of packing luggage coming from the inner room suddenly stopped at that moment.

"Who is it? Everyone's on holiday for the Lunar New Year, what's going on at work?"

Qin Zhan's voice came from the inner room, sounding somewhat hurried from being interrupted.

The next second, he came out of the inner room with a cloth bag in his hand. His eyes fell on Lu Duanshan's face, and he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Director Lu?" Qin Zhan's voice was full of surprise: "What brings you here? Is there any change to next year's sapling allocation plan?"

Lu Duanshan was the director of the planning office under the Revolutionary Committee, half a rank higher than him.

Although he was not the direct superior of the Forestry Bureau, he was in charge of overall planning, statistics, labor, materials, and infrastructure construction, making him a powerful figure in the government administration.

"Comrade Qin, I'm not here to talk about work today. I just have a personal question I'd like to ask you."

Lu Duanshan stepped forward and shook Qin Zhan's hand. His tone was no longer as serious as it was at work; it sounded more like two colleagues who were on good terms discussing the weather.

Qin Zhan was even more surprised to hear this, wondering what personal problems Lu Duanshan could have that had come to him.

Given the sensitive nature of the situation, and the faction they belong to, it's impossible for them to have any personal interactions outside of work.

However, he hesitated for only two seconds before extending his hand to let the person into the house: "Director Lu, let's talk inside."

Lu Duanshan didn't look around much after entering the house. The housing allocated to people of their level was all similar, a three-bedroom, one-living room house with a separate kitchen.

Although not as large as the houses of later generations, it was still much better than that of ordinary workers.

The group had barely sat down, and before the tea had even been served, Jiang Chuntao couldn't help but nudge her son.

Lu Duanshan didn't waste any words, cleared his throat and said directly, "Comrade Qin Zhan, I heard that you had relatives visiting your home in the last two days..."

Before Qin Zhan could finish listening, his heart skipped a beat. He wondered what Lu Duanshan was doing and what he wanted to do by asking about his family's private affairs.

"Is there a little girl named An'an inside?"

Qin Zhan was stunned after hearing the whole sentence, not knowing how to respond, how it had suddenly turned to An An.

"Qin, Comrade Qin Zhan..."

Jiang Chuntao was anxious, and Lu Duanshan was no less so. Seeing that Qin Zhan didn't react much after listening, he had no choice but to urge him on impatiently.

"What is your relationship with An'an?" Qin Zhan did not answer directly.

Zhou Rui had been kind to his family. Since he had recognized Zhou Rui as his brother, then Zhou Rui's sister was his sister too. He couldn't reveal his own family's situation without knowing anything about it.