Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Before Zhou Ping could finish speaking, Zhou Rui shot him a look, and Zhou Ping immediately froze, quickly picking up the bowl and burying his face in it.

"If you don't like my cooking, cook for yourself tomorrow. Cook whatever you want."

After saying that, Zhou Rui picked up his chopsticks and put the meat and eggs into Zhou Xiaolan's bowl, explaining in a low voice, "Auntie, you eat. I'm telling you, I didn't pay for these things."

"I hunted this meat myself in the mountains. I didn't finish it, so I smoked it. These eggs are wild eggs from the mountains, which I also picked up."

"And these fish, An'an and Pingwa caught them in the stream a while ago. They didn't even cost any money."

"Yes, Auntie, I caught this fish. It's delicious, you should eat more." An'an raised her hands. "The other day, my second brother took us fishing. We all caught fish, but he didn't catch a single one."

Zhou Rui rolled his eyes. An'an wasn't cute at all at this moment, constantly pointing out people's shortcomings. But children's words are also the most believable, because you know that children aren't good at lying.

"Yes, yes, this fish was caught by An'an. This fish soup is so delicious, Auntie, please have some more." As she spoke, she took a clean bowl from the side and ladled a bowl of milky white fish soup for Zhou Xiaolan.

Zhou Xiaolan's eyes instantly welled up with tears again. This was the feeling of her mother's home; the home she had just been to wasn't like that.

Zhou Rui brought Xiao Niangao over so Zhou Ping could eat in peace. "Auntie, is something wrong at home? We're family, we can talk about anything."

Seeing the old aunt's attitude in the yard earlier, Zhou Rui knew that she couldn't bring herself to ask the children for money, so he could only ask softly and slowly soothe Zhou Xiaolan's emotions.

Zhou Xiaolan swallowed the rice and vegetables in her mouth, but the aroma of the rice and cured meat could not soothe the bitterness in her heart.

"Ruiwa, your uncle was on night watch when a wild boar attacked him, leaving a hole in his stomach. When I heard the news, I felt like the sky had fallen. Luckily, he survived. But the village is short of money, and the other families in the village are poor too. We can't just give up halfway through his treatment, can we?"

"I thought I had to borrow the money no matter what, and pay it back slowly, working like a slave, as long as I could keep your uncle, who is the pillar of our family, safe and sound."

Zhou Rui nodded slightly; that made sense. In this day and age, the men in the village aged twenty to forty were the strong laborers and pillars of their families. If they collapsed, then like his family in the previous life, the whole family would be gone.

"Have you borrowed enough? How much did your third uncle give? How much did your eldest uncle and grandparents give?" Zhou Rui asked carefully, not for any other reason than to know just how cold-blooded that family really was.

"Your third uncle isn't doing well in the city either. He has a family to support, and he has to spend money on food and vegetables every month. He can't save much money. He lent me eight yuan."

"Your grandparents are old and can't earn many work points, so they deducted two yuan from their savings for their funerals. Your uncle has to take care of both the elderly and the young, so he lent me three yuan."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Rui gripped the table leg tightly with his right hand. He'd only received thirteen yuan from his trip back to his parents' home. His aunt was far too honest; even then, she was siding with that family.

His third uncle worked in a factory in the county as a level three worker, and his third aunt was also an ordinary worker in a paper mill. Their combined wages were at least seventy or eighty yuan, yet they only borrowed eight yuan.

And then there's his uncle, who spent several tens of yuan a few days ago on Zhou Chen's matter, but only gave him three yuan. He didn't want to talk about his grandfather; he was a selfish and emotionless person.

But this is a life, the life of his aunt's family! How could they be so heartless? Although Zhou Rui had expected it, he was still disgusted by this family.

"Auntie, how much money do you still need for Uncle's medical treatment?"

"Including what your grandparents, uncle, and third uncle gave you, you're still short by more than seventy yuan."

"Pingwa, give your aunt a hundred yuan. Your uncle has a hole in his stomach, which must have damaged his health. He needs to take good care of himself while he's recovering so he doesn't develop any chronic illness."

"No, please. Ruiwa, this is the family fortune your father and brother left you. I can't take it away. What will happen if something happens to the family, and you're still so young?" Zhou Xiaolan hurriedly put down her chopsticks and stopped her.

"I'll borrow from somewhere else; I'll be able to. I can't take your money."

"Auntie," Zhou Rui said, pressing down on Zhou Xiaolan's hands, "you've seen my family's situation. We have enough to eat and wear. You've heard in the village that I earned an extra month's work points just by hunting wild boars in the mountains. I also get eight work points a day when I work. We have enough food to eat this year."

"I don't need this money right now, so you can take it and use it. It's not like I'm not going to pay it back. Didn't we say that the medical expenses would be settled after your village sells its surplus grain? It'll only be a little over a month."

Zhou Rui took the ten ten-yuan bills that Zhou Ping took out and stuffed them into Zhou Xiaolan's hand. The cold banknotes in her palm burned her heart.

"Aunt, this is no small matter; it's Uncle's life."

"Yes." Zhou Xiaolan gripped the money in her hand tightly, tears streaming down her face, but this time it was different; these tears carried hope.

"Auntie, don't cry. Did you choke? Drink the fish soup, I caught it, it's delicious." Seeing Zhou Xiaolan crying, An'an quickly pushed the bowl of fish soup towards her.

Zhou Xiaolan touched An'an's face; it was much fuller than it had been a few months ago.

"The old aunt is drinking soup, the fish soup that An'an caught."

After finishing her meal, Zhou Xiaolan didn't rush to leave. It was already late, and since she had already borrowed the money, there was no need to be in such a hurry.

After dinner, Zhou Ping brought over a glass of water, and Zhou Xiaolan realized that Zhou Rui's family was really living well, even the water was sweetened.

"Ruiwa, have you really cut ties with your grandparents and uncle's family?" Zhou Xiaolan asked cautiously. Zhou Rui is really different now; he's starting to resemble Zhou Dashi more and more.

"I'm not saying you did something wrong, it's just that we share the same blood."

Zhou Rui was silent for a moment: "Aunt, please don't get involved in this matter. You may have heard some things, but not the whole story. All I can say is that sometimes the things that your own flesh and blood do can be more chilling than those done by outsiders."

Looking at Zhou Rui and Zhou Ping's immediately darkened faces and An An's somewhat frightened eyes, Zhou Xiaolan suddenly realized that her father and mother might really have made a mistake.

"Auntie, go to sleep early. Get up early tomorrow, I'll borrow a bicycle to take you home."

That night, Zhou Xiaolan had the most restful sleep she had in days. The anxiety and exhaustion of the past few days burst forth at that moment, and she fell asleep within seconds of lying down in Zhou Ping's room.

The next morning, when Zhou Xiaolan got up, Zhou Rui had already prepared the noodles. With the heavy weight lifted from her heart, Zhou Xiaolan felt that this bowl of plain noodles was even more delicious than the meat she had eaten the night before.

After Zhou Xiaolan finished eating, Zhou Rui was already waiting next to his bicycle with his big backpack and a fish basket on his back.

"Pingwa, remember to ask the village chief for leave. I'm taking Auntie to the Hongxing Town Health Center."

"I know, Second Brother. Come back soon."