Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Zhou Rui lit the fire and then left it to its own devices; it was almost dark, and dinner hadn't been prepared yet. He instructed Zhou Ping to watch the fire, adding firewood as needed to keep it burning.

Zhou Rui led An'an into the house, told An'an to put down the little rice cake and stay inside with her, and went to the kitchen alone. There were still some leftovers from lunch, not much, so Zhou Rui planned to stir-fry half a rabbit. It was already June, and without a refrigerator, meat simply wouldn't keep.

Relying on his reborn and modified body, Zhou Rui was confident that he wouldn't return empty-handed once he went up the mountain. However, he was running low on oil and had no oil coupons. Looking at the rabbit meat in the pot, Zhou Rui was somewhat worried. He needed to think of a solution, otherwise, he wouldn't have any oil left for cooking for long. Actually, nowadays, no one uses oil as extravagantly as Zhou Rui; using oil like this would use up the entire year's worth for cooking in less than a month.

Once the food was ready, they called An'an and Zhou Ping in, and the group ate by the firelight in the kitchen.

"Second brother, rabbit meat is so delicious, and chicken is delicious too. Can we eat meat again in the future?" An'an's mouth was stuffed full, like a little hamster.

If Zhou Rui hadn't improved his hearing, he wouldn't have been able to hear what his sister was saying. Zhou Ping was also eating large mouthfuls of mixed grain rice, occasionally stuffing rabbit and chicken into his mouth. Zhou Rui didn't try to persuade his younger siblings to eat slowly or anything like that; he knew this was a natural reaction to long-term malnutrition and a lack of oil in their bodies. Once they had meat every day to replenish their nutrition, they wouldn't be wolfing down their food like this anymore.

Zhou Rui ate slowly by himself, occasionally putting a few pieces of meat on An'an's and Zhou Ping's plates. An'an got three pieces, and Zhou Ping got one. Of course, a younger brother couldn't compare to a younger sister. However, An'an was still too small, and she was full in no time. The rest ended up going to Zhou Ping.

After eating and resting for a while, Zhou Rui scooped up some hot water and washed the dishes. Whenever Zhou Rui was home, he tried his best not to let his younger siblings do anything. Zhou Rui thought to himself that in his previous life, his younger siblings had passed away so early and hadn't enjoyed much. In this life, he was determined to make up for it tenfold.

After tidying up, the family, except for Xiao Niangao, went to the backyard. Looking at the stone wall glowing red from the fire, Zhou Rui brought over a full bucket of water. He used a stick to pry away the still-burning firewood and poured the bucket of cold water over the stone wall. There was a hissing sound, followed by a large amount of water vapor rising into the air, and then several soft cracking sounds, much like the sound of ice cracking.

Zhou Rui waited for the mist to dissipate, and saw that the area around the original crevice was now covered with a dense network of cracks. He picked up the hoe, stepped forward, gripped the handle with both hands, and, with the back of the hoe facing forward, slammed it into the center of the crack with all his might. Bang… the hoe bounced back, and his hands went numb.

Crackling, whooshing... First, a few small pebbles fell, followed by a jet of water the size of chopsticks, carrying a small amount of mud and sand.

"Water...water...water is coming out!" Zhou Ping was amazed by what he saw, his jaw almost dropping in shock. His second brother had simply lit a fire, poured water on it, and then tapped it with a hoe, and water came out.

"Water's coming out, water's coming out, water's coming out..." An'an raised her hands and jumped around in the puddle on the ground, splashing up a lot of mud.

Zhou Rui watched the water column, no bigger than a chopstick, initially gushing out several meters under pressure, but now slowly forming a gurgling spring as the pressure subsided. A happy grin spread across his face; he laughed silently, showing no annoyance at An'an's childish behavior. Although the water volume wasn't large, it was enough for his family's needs. In fact, it could easily support several more families, since the water flowed continuously, 24 hours a day. Zhou Rui scooped some water with his hand and put it in his mouth. The water was so sweet, much cleaner than the river water. He would never have to fetch water from the river hundreds of meters away again.

Seeing the water stains spreading on the ground, Zhou Rui quickly picked up a hoe and started digging along the stone wall. He needed to dig a drainage ditch as soon as possible, otherwise the backyard would turn into a pond by tomorrow morning. Time was limited, so Zhou Rui didn't plan on doing anything too strenuous; digging just a shallow ditch would prevent the backyard from becoming a swamp.

Before long, a drainage ditch more than 20 meters long, only the width of a hand and the depth of a fist, was dug. Watching the water flowing in the ditch, Zhou Rui felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

"Pingwa, I'll still get up early to go hunting tomorrow morning. If you're free tomorrow morning, dig a pond at home. Just dig a pond about a meter wide right at the spring's outlet, don't dig it too deep. I'm afraid that when Xiaoniangao grows up a bit, she might fall in when she plays in the yard." Zhou Rui glanced at An'an, who was stomping in the mud, for a second as he spoke.

In front of An'an, it wouldn't be appropriate to say that you're worried An'an might fall into the water while playing, would it? Don't children have any pride?

"Alright, Second Brother, just you wait and see. I'll definitely dig up the pool you mentioned tomorrow morning," Zhou Ping patted his chest and replied.

Zhou Rui walked over and scooped up An'an, who was covered in mud: "Let's go, time for a bath and bed."

The next morning, Zhou Rui got up before dawn again. By the starlight, he put on his leggings, grabbed his machete and slingshot, tucked two sweet potatoes he'd simmered in the stove the night before, and set off with his basket on his back. He had a few more things than yesterday: five fish traps he'd made the day before. The fish trap in his left hand emitted a pungent odor; it was from the fermentation of the pheasant and rabbit entrails Zhou Rui had prepared the day before, which had become even more pungent and sour overnight.

Having finally reached the backwater where he had discovered fish yesterday, Zhou Rui placed a few stones inside and tied some vines to the sides of the fish traps. With a whoosh, he tossed the traps into the middle of the stream, watching them slowly sink. Then he tied the vines to a tree root near the water plants on the bank. Estimated the spacing, Zhou Rui lowered all five fish traps into the water, securing them with vines and then covering the vines with some grass.

"Perfect, no one will notice. Let's see what we find on the way back." Zhou Rui clapped his hands and muttered to himself.

With the morning dew still on his back, Zhou Rui set off on his way up the mountain again, carrying a basket on his back.

We need to find a way to earn some money; we only have a few dozen yuan left at home. We can hunt for meat in the mountains, but we still need to buy things like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. And with the few work points we and our younger siblings earn from gathering pig feed, the grain we'll get by the autumn harvest definitely won't be enough. We'll need money to buy some grain from the black market then. We also need clothes and shoes for An'an and Zhou Ping; they're both growing up, and these clothes and shoes have been worn for two years and are almost too worn out. And the quilts—last time my uncle came to collect grain, he took all the new quilts my older brother and his siblings used to have.

Summer is almost here, and even if we hunt, the pelts won't fetch much money. It seems the only option is to gather some herbs to sell, Zhou Rui thought.