Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

Liu Qingguo woke up in the middle of the night, too excited to fall back asleep. Zhou Rui was truly a good friend; he always remembered his promise. Now, he took him hunting in the mountains whenever he had the chance, even managing to avoid the rice harvest.

Liu Qingguo initially thought of lying down and taking a nap, but then he wondered what if he overslept? Would Zhou Rui be waiting for him then? He decided to get up, grab the steamed buns his mother had made for him, and head straight to Zhou Rui's house.

Gu Dayong, along with his mistress and three hunting dogs, left home at the crack of dawn. Arriving at Zhou Rui's house, he was startled to see a dark shape near the gate and quickly untied the dogs.

But the dogs didn't bark; they just circled the shadowy figure once and then came back, the villagers said.

Gu Dayong stepped forward and finally saw who was leaning against the door. He nudged them with his foot: "Hey, wake up. Qingguo kid, wake up."

Liu Qingguo rubbed his eyes. "Who is it? Can't a person get some sleep?"

Once he saw who it was, he quickly stood up.

"Uncle Gu, you've arrived. I didn't see you clearly earlier, please don't mind. Hehe..."

Liu Qingguo's face was full of obsequiousness. Who is this? This is Gu Pao, everyone in the surrounding area knows him. Gu Dayong's reputation built up over the past ten years is something Zhou Rui can't compare to now. Liu Qingguo was as obsequious as he could be in front of Gu Dayong.

"What are you doing? Instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, you're lying around at someone's gate. Who are you trying to scare?"

"No, well... I was just too excited in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. I was worried you guys would leave early and not wait for me, so I came to wait outside Ruiwa's house. I didn't expect to fall asleep like that. Hehe..."

"The Jiacheng brothers are here too."

When Liu Qingguo greeted him, Gu Jiacheng nodded in acknowledgment. He was somewhat introverted, not as outgoing as his older brothers, so Gu Dayong hadn't let him join the army. Gu Dayong knew the risks of military service and wanted someone to stay home to continue the family line.

Gu Dayong nodded. He might be a bit simple-minded, but he was honest enough. Little Zhou Rui had a decent eye for people.

"Ruiwa, are you up yet? Let's go, we're going up the mountain." Gu Dayong didn't knock on the door, but shouted directly into the yard.

Zhou Rui pushed open the door and came out, already fully equipped, looking like he had been up for a long time. He just hadn't opened the courtyard gate, unaware that a big idiot was sleeping in his yard.

"Uncle Dayong, Brother Qingguo, Brother Jiacheng," Zhou Rui greeted them one by one.

"Ruiwa." "Brother Zhou Rui."

"Have things been arranged at home? We can't come down the mountain without finding these jackals, otherwise we'll have searched this area today and they'll hide back when we search that area tomorrow, and then it'll all have been for nothing," Gu Dayong asked.

Zhou Rui nodded. He knew very well that this trip up the mountain to hunt the jackals was almost like fighting a war. If they didn't wipe out the jackals in one fell swoop, they might really be playing hide-and-seek, just like Gu Dayong had said.

"It's all arranged. My younger siblings won't be working; they'll stay home and take care of the kids. If we need anything, we can ask the two female educated youths next door. They're cultured and can help out a bit."

"Okay, let's go then."

Zhou Rui casually closed the courtyard gate, carrying a large bag, and followed at the very back.

Deep in the mountains, Zhou Rui pointed to the spot where badger bones had been found yesterday, near the badger's den.

"Uncle Dayong, this is it. This is where we found the bones and red hair yesterday."

Gu Dayong made a tactical hand signal, telling Gu Jiacheng to hold back the hunting dogs and prevent them from coming closer. Zhou Rui saw this and his eyes lit up; he hadn't expected Gu Dayong to teach his son this way.

Gu Dayong knelt on one knee, carefully observing the marks. Although several days had passed, the traces were still clearly visible.

Gu Dayong stood up and patted the grass leaves off his hands.

"That's right, it's like a pack of jackals hunting. It really is them." Gu Dayong turned to Zhou Rui: "Rui, now we can only use the brute force to search."

"Ever since my Black Panther died in battle in the mountains, I haven't been able to find another slutty dog ​​for the past few years, otherwise this wouldn't be so troublesome. These three dogs are okay in combat, but their scent tracking skills are lacking; it's all a matter of luck."

Zhou Rui tilted his head and thought for a moment: "I have a different opinion from Uncle Dayong."

Gu Dayong's eyes lit up when he heard this; it was good that he had an idea. A famous gunner wasn't just someone with good marksmanship and experience; he also needed to be quick-witted and good at thinking.

Otherwise, why are there so many hunters in the surrounding area, yet only a handful can be called "cannon hunters"? His third son is just too dull; he often doesn't think things through and won't achieve much in the future.

Tell me about it.

"Jackal packs are generally quite large, even larger than wolf packs. A larger jackal population leaves a stronger scent and trail. If we can find fresh tracks, we can use the scent left by the jackals to locate them, even if these aren't slutty dogs."

Gu Dayong is different from Chen Ye. He was bold and magnanimous in the army. Watching Zhou Rui analyze things slowly and methodically, he was just like that student soldier in the army back then, but unfortunately, he ended up staying in that remote mountain area abroad.

"That's right, that makes a lot of sense. That way, our success rate will be even higher, which is a good thing."

"Ruiwa, which way did you come from yesterday? Let's avoid that area for now."

"there."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, looking down from the sky, two groups of people were walking in the mountains near Jiaolong Gorge, separated by a mountain peak. One group of four people with three dogs were moving horizontally, while the other group of two people and two dogs were wandering aimlessly.

Unbeknownst to everyone, a pack of jackals was chasing and intercepting a large, solitary boar. The boar, weighing six or seven hundred pounds, was helpless against the jackals and could not escape.

The pack of jackals was enormous; over thirty jackals attacked from different directions, like a well-trained army. Every now and then, a jackal would bite the boar, then nimbly dodge away, unharmed. This was a tactic hunting dogs usually used to hunt wild boars, but the jackals executed it with far greater fluidity than trained dogs.

The large lone boar kept dodging, only to be forced to stop again. It turned back, intending to use its tusks to knock away the jackal that had ambushed it, but instead missed. The large lone boar was expending more and more energy, seemingly unable to run any further, and was panting heavily.

The group of two men and two dogs were still wandering in the mountains, but after changing their direction, they seemed to be getting closer and closer to the hunting grounds of the jackals.

By this time, the wild boar had almost no strength left. It sat down on the ground and refused to get up, instead spinning around in circles with its rear end as the axis.

After probing back and forth, the jackals finally determined that the large lone boar was no longer able to escape.

So a slightly larger jackal slowly approached the wild boar from the side. After the other jackal attracted the wild boar's attention with its howl, this jackal suddenly rushed over and bit the wild boar's ear, refusing to let go.

The wild boar struggled desperately, but to no avail. At that moment, five or six jackals pounced on it at the same time, biting different parts of the boar's body: its ears, nose, tail, and forelegs.

After a while, the wild boar finally stopped moving, and the jackals that had been fighting slowly loosened their teeth and stepped back to let the young jackals eat first.

While the young jackals were feeding, the other jackals spread out around to keep watch, ready to form a defensive formation at the slightest disturbance.