Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"Go, where are you going?" The three turned around, seemingly wondering why they were about to leave again.

"Head towards where there are wild boars. The tracks here are from two days ago. The wild boars went that way, and we don't know if we can keep up, so we need to hurry." Zhou Rui pointed in a direction.

The three were at a loss, knowing nothing about hunting, and could only follow Zhou Rui's lead. Reaching a secluded valley, Zhou Rui surveyed the surroundings and ordered them to set up camp.

"It's still early, the sun hasn't set yet, why are you setting up camp?" Zhao Changshan had never hunted, but he had camped in the wild during militia training, and they always stopped marching after dark.

"In the mountains, where the terrain is unfamiliar, we have to set up camp early. Once it gets dark, it's hard to find a safe campsite, so we have to make do and lower our safety standards. This is where the wild boar stopped yesterday; it's sheltered from the wind. And the fact that the wild boar could rest here means there are no large predators threatening us nearby, so it's very safe."

Zhou Rui took out his knife and cut down some bushes, preparing to tidy up the surrounding area.

"Ruiwa, is the water bottle empty?" Liu Qingguo poured the water a couple of times, and a drop or two dripped out. During their daytime rest, he and Chen Xueqin would gulp down water; they were lucky to have lasted this long.

Zhou Rui and Zhao Changshan both have extensive experience walking for long periods of time, and they only take small sips each time. Even now, they still have more than half a pot of water left.

Zhou Rui closed his eyes and sensed the area for a moment, then pointed in a direction with his knife. "Go this way, and after a few hundred meters, you should find water."

Zhou Rui could sense the abundance of moisture here, but he wasn't sure whether it was from a mountain spring, a stream, or a pond. He could only point out the direction and let Liu Qingguo find it himself.

"Pretending to be something they're not, acting all high and mighty," Chen Xueqin muttered under his breath.

Zhou Rui, with his keen hearing, found it incredibly annoying. This little rascal was constantly gossiping behind his back, like a woman.

"Chen Xueqin, go and collect some firewood, enough to burn all night." Zhou Rui loudly assigned him the task, trying to get rid of him, otherwise he would always be buzzing around like a fly, and Zhou Rui always wanted to slap him to death.

"Uncle Changshan, let's tidy up the campsite and build a stove. We'll cook early and rest early so we can get up early tomorrow and make up for the time we lost today."

Chen Xueqin wanted to refuse, but seeing that Zhao Changshan had listened to Zhou Rui and started working, he dared not cause any more trouble and silently turned and left.

Zhou Rui didn't know how to set traps, but he had learned how to use the protective and early warning devices that his senior brother had set up last time. Following suit, he used wooden sticks to form a hedgehog shape behind the camp, and then used thin ropes to set up a large number of bells in front of it.

By the time Liu Qingguo returned with a jug of water, the campsite was already quite set up. Chen Xueqin hadn't returned from chopping firewood yet, but Zhou Rui had already gathered a small amount of branches and thatch and started a fire.

"How's it going? How far is the water source?"

"It's not far, just around the big rock. It's a small pond, and the water is fairly clean."

"Okay, you watch the fire while I go process the rabbit." Zhou Rui said, taking a small pot out of his bag and handing it over. "Boil the water before drinking. The water in the pond isn't very clean; drinking it directly will give you diarrhea."

When Zhou Rui returned after cleaning up the rabbit, Chen Xueqin was still not back. Zhao Changshan and Liu Qingguo had no choice but to clear away the surrounding branches to keep the fire burning.

Zhou Rui frowned and squinted, thinking that this kid was too unreliable. He would be a dog if he took him up the mountain again.

Seeing Zhou Rui's appearance, Zhao Changshan felt a chill run down his spine, as if a bomb was about to explode. He quickly stood up and said, "Chen Xueqin probably chopped too much firewood, it'll be hard to drag it back. I'll go meet him."

Zhou Rui didn't refute Zhao Changshan's words, but just watched coldly. Why did he feel that Chen Xueqin was Zhao Changshan's son, and why was he so protective of him?

When the two rabbits in Zhou Rui's hands were half-cooked, the two finally returned, dragging a large bundle of firewood, pretending to be very tired.

Zhou Rui didn't even look up, his eyes fixed intently on the rabbit in his hand. It's just for one night, why so much firewood? Who's he putting on this show for?

Once the salted rabbits were roasted, Zhou Rui handed one to Zhao Changshan, and shared one with Liu Qingguo. They ate in silence, heads down. Actually, Zhou Rui had brought spices in his bag, but he was too lazy to use them for these people. Liu Qingguo simply considered it collateral damage.

Everyone had been wandering in the mountains all day and was starving, so they devoured the salted rabbit. Besides, it was red meat; with meat to eat, what more could they want?

After finishing their meal, Zhou Rui checked all the bells around the campsite and then gave instructions: "Go to sleep now. We'll take turns on night watch, two hours each. Uncle Changshan will be on the first shift, followed by Chen Xueqin, Liu Qingguo, and then me."

"We'll start our journey after breakfast tomorrow. The wild boars sleep during the day, so we'll try to catch up with them by noon, hunt them down, and then head home." Zhou Rui glanced around. "Alright, that's decided. Time for bed."

Zhao Changshan opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Was the meeting really this quick? He finished in a minute.

Liu Qingguo didn't have any particular thoughts; he just did whatever Zhou Rui told him to do. Zhou Rui's decisions hadn't gone wrong all day. If he said he could find traces of wild boars, he could find them; if he said there was water over there, there was water. Anyway, following Ruiwa meant he didn't have to use his brain.

Only Chen Xueqin instinctively wanted to protest, but then he looked down at the unfinished rabbit meat in his hand. "Oh well," he thought, "I'm beholden to your kindness, I'll deal with it another time." He continued gnawing on the remaining meat scraps on the bones; this was much more comfortable than eating pickled vegetables at home every day.

The night was silent, and before dawn, Zhou Rui woke all three of them. The water in the pot was bubbling away, and a fragrant aroma wafted through the air.

"Eat quickly, and then leave." Zhou Rui didn't want to waste any more words; he couldn't reason with some people.

Liu Qingguo was the most enthusiastic; nothing could stop his determination to eat. He immediately scooped a large spoonful into his lunchbox. Seeing that there were some chunks of meat-like things in addition to the thin porridge, he quickly picked out the larger pieces and put them into his lunchbox.

"What is this? It smells so good." Taking a bite, the aroma of mixed grains and meat is so comforting.

"Eat your food, why are you talking so much?"

Then Zhao Changshan came over, filled a bowl, and took a sip from the edge of the lunchbox. It was delicious.

Chen Xueqin was the slowest and was still drowsy. Actually, Zhou Rui did the scheduling on purpose last night. Chen Xueqin was assigned to the second shift. He had only been asleep for two hours when he was woken up. He then stayed up for two hours but couldn't fall asleep again. After finally falling asleep, he was woken up again not long after.

Chen Xueqin brought over the lunchbox and saw that only a thin layer of porridge remained in the pot, and there were bones scattered all over the ground in front of Liu Qingguo, while the lunchbox was still full of porridge. He poured the porridge from the pot into the lunchbox, but it was still less than half full.

"Damn it, Liu Qingguo, you're so unfair! You only left me a tiny bit, and this is your second bowl!"

Liu Qingguo picked up the bowl and took a big bite, mumbling, "Who can I blame? During military training, the leaders said that if you don't eat actively, you have something wrong with your brain."

"The leader didn't say there was something wrong with his brain; the leader said there was something wrong with his thinking," Chen Xueqin argued.

Liu Qingguo picked up a piece of meat, swallowed it in one gulp, and said, "It's about the same, not much difference."

Seeing Liu Qingguo talking and eating non-stop, Chen Xueqin became anxious and quickly stepped forward to grab Liu Qingguo's arm: "You're eating too much, share half with me."

"Ugh, don't spit it out!" Liu Qingguo mumbled, his mouth full of porridge. Suddenly, as the lunchbox tilted, everything in Liu Qingguo's mouth sprayed out, filling the lunchbox perfectly without spilling a drop.

"I told you not to hold my hand, and look, you've made it so I can't even eat properly, I'm spitting it out now," Liu Qingguo kept muttering.

Chen Xueqin glanced at her meager breakfast, then at Liu Qingguo's bowl that had just been sprayed with water, silently turned away, and slowly drank her food to the side, her eyes filled with sorrow.

Zhou Rui was stunned. Liu Qingguo's move was amazing. Was it intentional? Definitely. Absolutely. It couldn't be otherwise.

Because of this incident, Zhou Rui decided to treat Liu Qingguo better from now on. Next time, he'll cook two pheasants; one won't be enough for Liu Qingguo.