Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

After Zhou Dashan and Chen Qiang finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but look at Zhou Rui. It had to be this kid; he was really ruthless.

Zhao Youzhi did not blindly believe what these people were saying, and he still did not understand why Zhou Chen and the other person had been arrested.

"Ruiwa, you tell us."

"Okay, I'll tell you what I saw." Zhou Rui cleared his throat, having already thought about what to say.

"Yesterday, after my friend and I finished shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative, my friend wanted to ask his buddy about something, so he took me to the place where his friend often hangs out."

"When we arrived, he handed the dog to me to hold while he went to talk to his friend. I didn't expect Zhou Chen and his group to be there too. The four of them came up to cause me trouble, just like my aunt had done earlier. It startled me, and as a result, the leash came loose from my hand. When the dog saw someone rushing towards it menacingly, it immediately bit the person. It wasn't intentional."

Tian Xiuying, who had stood up at some point, interrupted Zhou Rui upon hearing this. "You're talking nonsense, it's you..."

"Shut up. Let Ruiwa finish what she has to say."

"That dog isn't mine, I can't control it, so I didn't order it to bite. Even if it bites someone, you can't find me. Go to Gujiatun and demand compensation. Tell me, everyone, who can order someone else's dog around? We can have Qian Laifu and Chen Erbiao come over and confront them on the spot."

After hearing this, Zhao Youzhi turned to look at Zhou Dashan and the others. Seeing that they wanted to refute but couldn't say anything, he felt that Zhou Rui must have said the truth.

The surrounding villagers also believed that Zhou Rui was right; it wasn't Zhou Rui's dog that bit the person, so it had nothing to do with him.

"Go on, tell me about Zhou Chen and Da Biaozi being arrested later. Why did they say it was you who reported them?"

"It was my first time going there. My friend took me there on his bike, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find the place."

"That piece of land was in the reed marshes outside our town, surrounded by reeds on all sides, with a flat area in the middle. When I went there, a bunch of men and women were listening to a tape recorder and wiggling their hips. I was waiting nearby while my friend went to talk to another friend. And then..."

"Then Chen Dabiao and his gang saw me and came over to hit me, so I let go of the dog leash and tried to run away. Then I saw a person peeking out from the reeds, wearing a red armband, so I quickly grabbed my friend and ran. That's how it was."

"Those security patrol team members were brought by you. You reported my fellow villagers, which led to my son being arrested and suffering a terrible death!" Chen Dabiao's mother shouted, jumping up and down.

Zhou Rui crossed his arms and watched with a cold smile as Li Xiujuan raved like a madwoman.

"First of all, my friend took me there; I didn't know where we were going beforehand."

"Secondly, I didn't know my friend would run into Zhou Chen and his group at the place I went."

As the villagers watched Zhou Rui sorting through the first, second, and third items, it was as if they could see again the Rui boy from that day, with blood streaming down his head, who had left Zhou Dashan, Chef Zhang, and the rest of the group speechless.

"Third, when the community security team members wearing red armbands surrounded us, I was among them, but I ran away quickly. You can't say that I was the one who reported them just because I wasn't caught. I could have said that Qian Fulai reported them, but he ran away too."

"Fourth, even if I did report it, only a bad person would do that. You can't expect the bad person's family to cause trouble for the person who reported it, can you? This case doesn't make sense even if it goes all the way to the county level."

This is the pride of the Zhou family. What a pity! If only he could continue his studies, he could definitely get into a vocational school. Zhou Shumin couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Zhou Rui, who was speaking eloquently without changing his expression.

After he finally finished explaining, everyone understood what had happened.

"That has nothing to do with Ruiwazi, it's not like it's Ruiwazi's dog."

"It wasn't Zhou Rui who reported it. Didn't he say he was there at the time? The community security patrol arrests everyone when they make arrests, they wouldn't report himself, would they?"

"Then why did those two families wrongly accuse Ruiwa?"

"Jealousy and resentment, that's it. One person from each of Zhou Dashan's and Chen Qiang's families was arrested, but Zhou Rui wasn't. What do you think?"

"That's true. If my vegetable garden gets ravaged by wild boars while the neighbor's is fine, I feel uneasy."

"If you rephrase it, I'll understand; the logic is the same. It's just, why is it only my family that's unlucky, right?"

"kindness."

The villagers gathered and discussed it for a while, and then the most authoritative conclusion came out. What happened had nothing to do with Zhou Rui; it was purely those two families causing trouble. Tian Xiuying deserved the kick she received; it was entirely her own fault.

"I understand everything." Zhao Youzhi took out his old smoking pipe, the one he always used for important occasions, and took a deep drag. "So, Dashan, Chen Qiang, what gives you the right to cause trouble for Zhou Rui?"

Zhao Youzhi was shrewd enough not to talk to those two old women, because he couldn't explain it to them. Instead, he directly questioned the two leaders.

Zhou Dashan and Chen Qiang were speechless after Zhou Rui's relentless questioning, unable to refute a single point. When the village chief directly asked them a question, they stammered and couldn't utter a word.

Li Xiujuan didn't care about any of that; she'd argue even if she was in the wrong, especially since Zhou Rui was indeed present at the time. "That dog must have gotten away from that little beast Zhou Rui, how can you say it's nothing? He let the dog run away and it bit my two sons, so he has to pay compensation and medical expenses."

"Yes, yes, the dog bit my Chenbao, so he needs to pay for medical expenses. And... and that fatherless bastard just kicked me and hurt me. My stomach hurts, so I need to see a doctor too. Each of us should pay five... no, ten yuan. Ten yuan each." Tian Xiuying, clutching her stomach, echoed Li Xiujuan, determined to extort money from Zhou Rui.

He sold his house and job, he has plenty of money. Didn't you see Zhou Rui frequently going to the supply and marketing cooperative? That money was originally my family's money. Just thinking about this made Tian Xiuying's heart ache terribly.

Zhou Rui watched their performance silently, without saying a word. With the village chief there, everything could be resolved; he didn't need to be the one to rush to the front lines.

"Pfft..." Someone next to them laughed out loud: "I remember Ruiwa kicked him in the chest, right? There's still such a big footprint! How could it be a stomachache? Did he kick out a baby?"

A group of men immediately looked towards Tian Xiuying's chest, especially the old bachelors, whose eyes practically peeked inside her clothes. They kept thinking, "Ruiwa kicked too hard; I wonder if she's dented it."

"Enough!" Zhao Youzhi roared. "Can you two control your wives? If not, then call your two clan elders to take charge. You're a shrew, cursing, making trouble, arguing, and talking nonsense."

Li Xiujuan and Tian Xiuying used every idiom that village chief Zhao Youzhi knew.

"Everyone's here today, including me. I'll just say it straight: this has nothing to do with Ruiwa. Go do whatever you were doing. Do you agree or not?"

"Clothes."

"You've said it like that, how can we disagree?" the two muttered to themselves.

"What? You're not convinced? If you're not convinced, then say it, and we'll all judge together." Zhao Youzhi kept poking at the two men's eyes with his eye bags.

"Instead of wasting your energy, you should hurry up and figure out how to get them out. By the way, what's the deal with Zhou Chen and Da Biao? What are their charges?"