Rebirth 1979: Hunting wild boars and saving educated youth

Chen Feng was busy on the mountain for a while and collected a lot of matsutake mushrooms. He was so excited that he couldn't describe it.

Seeing that it was getting late, he packed up and set out on his way home.

On the way, my head was like a movie, with the image of the pot of pheasant stewed with matsutake mushrooms at home in the evening. Thinking that my mother and younger sister could drink this delicious soup, my heart was warmed.

It's a pity that Ning Yao should have returned to Lijia Village today. As an educated youth, she couldn't stay away from the village for too long. Ning Yao didn't have this good fortune, but it's okay. She would find a chance to make it up to this girl later.

When he thought of Ning Yao, Chen Feng felt warm again, and the aroma of the pheasant soup with matsutake mushrooms seemed to float to his nose.

Alas, traveling back to this era, where everything is lacking, it’s really frustrating.

As the door of his home was right in front of him, Chen Feng found that the atmosphere inside was not right. He could faintly hear his mother and little sister Yaya sobbing.

His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pushed open the door and rushed in.

The scene before him made him furious - his father Chen Dali was waving his fist and hitting his mother Chen Yufen's thin body viciously, while his sister Yaya was curled up beside him, tears in her eyes, crying helplessly.

"Stop!" Chen Feng shouted, shocking everyone in the room.

He quickly stepped forward, pushed his father away, and stood in front of his mother, glaring at Chen Dali.

Chen Dali staggered a few steps to steady himself, looked up and saw that it was Chen Feng, his face became even gloomier.

"You little bastard, how dare you push me?" He roared, clenching his fists, as if ready to attack again at any time.

"You still dare to do that?" Chen Feng's eyes showed no fear, only cold determination. "From the moment you moved out of that house, we've had no relationship. If you dare to touch my mother again, I promise to make you regret it!"

Chen Dali was intimidated by Chen Feng's aura and slowly loosened his fist, but he still insisted: "Who do you think you are? I'm determined to take the money today, otherwise I will never leave!"

"Money? What money?" Chen Feng frowned and turned to look at his mother, only to see her tears streaming down her face, but she said nothing.

Yaya mustered up her courage, pointed at Chen Dali and said, "Dad lost a lot of money playing cards, and he wants to steal our money to pay off his debts!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Feng turned around, glanced at his father coldly, and said, "You have no shame, but you are good at living off your wife."

When his father heard this, he flew into a rage. He pointed at Chen Feng's nose and said, "You little bastard, you dare to teach me a lesson? Don't think I don't know that your money didn't come from a legitimate source. It must have been stolen!"

Chen Feng's face darkened, and he said in a cold voice, "Don't use your dirty thoughts to speculate about others. Don't think that everyone is the same as you in your eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. This money is hard-earned by me, and it has nothing to do with you. Now, get out of this house immediately, otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."

After hearing what he said, Chen Dali's face turned pale and blue, and he shouted angrily: "You bastard, just wait and see!" After that, he slammed the door and walked out angrily.

Chen Feng ignored his father as he left. He turned around and gently helped his mother up, comforting her softly, "Mom, don't be afraid. I'm here. I won't let anyone bully you anymore."

Then he turned to Yaya and smiled, "Look, I picked a lot of matsutake mushrooms today. Let's make pheasant soup tonight, okay?"

Yaya held back her tears and nodded vigorously, a smile blooming on her little face again.

Although Chen Yufen still felt a little scared, seeing the children's resilience, a warm feeling welled up in her heart. She knew that this family finally had a real support.

She quickly took the basket from her son, and looked at the two pheasants he brought back and the half-full basket of matsutake mushrooms. She was so happy that she couldn't express it in words.

The slight unhappiness I felt just now was instantly washed away by this joy.

She turned and went into the kitchen, intending to prepare a sumptuous meal for her son and Yaya.

In the kitchen, Chen Yufen was busy. She washed the pheasant clean, carefully scraped the dirt off the matsutake mushrooms, and cut them into slices, preparing to stew a pot of delicious soup.

The fragrance filled the whole house before it even came out of the pot, and Yaya was so greedy that she would pop her head in from time to time to ask if it was ready.

But this warm scene did not last long. There was suddenly a commotion outside, as if a lot of people had come.

Chen Feng rushed out of the room first and took a look outside. Wow, Chen Dali had returned with the village chief and a group of villagers, including the two hooligans he had driven away before, Li Ergou and Zhang Mazi.

Chen Dali stood in front of the crowd with a smug look on his face. He pointed at Chen Feng and said in a loud voice, "Look everyone! This is my disappointing son, Chen Feng! He actually stole money and refused to admit it!"

Seeing this, the two hooligans immediately came forward and joined in the fun.

Li Ergou shouted, "Yes, we saw it with our own eyes. He not only stole the money, but also the matsutake mushrooms from the mountain! That was a treasure trove we just discovered this morning, and it's collective property of the village. We were just about to report it to the village chief, but he took it all for himself!"

Zhang Mazi said, "That's right. If you don't believe me, go search his house and you'll definitely find those stolen matsutake mushrooms! Chen Feng looks so honest, but I didn't expect him to be so shady!"

When the villagers heard this, they all cast scrutinizing glances at him. Some whispered to each other, while others looked at Chen Feng with displeasure.

Chen Feng stood there, watching all this coldly, and then said, "Chen Dali, what makes you accuse me of stealing money? Do you have any evidence? As for the matsutake mushrooms, I went up the mountain to pick them with great effort. What does it have to do with anyone else? Not to mention collective property. They are products of the mountains and forests. Don't tell me you haven't gone to the mountains to pick mushrooms or chop firewood before."

Chen Dali squinted his eyes and said, "Evidence? What evidence do you need? Even if you stole something, everyone in the village knows you're a good-for-nothing. What's so strange about stealing something? And you two saw it with your own eyes, right?"

Li Ergou and Zhang Mazi nodded repeatedly, looking very confident.

The villagers began to whisper and talk among themselves.

Seeing this, the village chief coughed lightly and said, "Chen Feng, you need to give an explanation for what happened today. Chen Dali is your father, and you're absolutely right when you say he stole the money. As for this matsutake mushroom, everyone knows it's a treasure of our village. Did you go and pick it without permission from the village?"

Seeing this, Chen Feng knew that it was useless to reason with these people, as they were just jealous.

He looked at the village chief coldly and said, "Village chief, you know in your heart that I have never stolen anything. I picked these matsutake mushrooms with my own ability."

"Don't try to pressure me with these big accusations. I'm putting this out there today. I won't be polite to anyone who bullies me."