Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Li Ju'an opened his eyes and saw the nine beams of the old house's roof. Above the beams were woven willow branches and sparse spider webs hanging on them.

He turned his head and saw his mother sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) mending clothes, with a basket of needles and thread beside her. The kang was covered with linoleum, and newspapers were pasted on the walls of the old house.

The aroma of homemade soybean paste wafted in; it was Aunt Zhang, the neighbor, putting crushed soybeans into the jar, releasing the fresh and delicious fragrance of Northeastern soybean paste.

This is the old house in my hometown that I cherish in my memories.

Li Ju'an sat up and stared intently at the calendar hanging on the wall.

Tuesday, November 4, 1980.

Winter Solstice is in three days.

1980? He looked around the old house in disbelief. The wrinkles around his mother's eyes had lessened. His mother, looking younger, and the 1980 calendar made his heart pound faster.

He was certain; he had indeed been reborn back in 1980!

Overwhelmed with joy and a surge of emotions, his eyes welled up with tears.

That year, he was 18, in the prime of his life, brimming with boundless energy. It was also the year his father passed away, leaving him to support the family alone. In his previous life, he had toiled in the fields, unable to endure the year-round poverty, and, swayed by the promises of ginseng traders from the south, resolutely headed south to seek his fortune.

In that crazy era, he went south to trade goods. The bold got rich, the timid starved. He exploited price differences between regions, speculating and making a fortune, becoming a millionaire. His extravagant lifestyle and astonishingly rapid accumulation of wealth fueled his growing greed, leading him to become arrogant and lose all sense of reason.

As his business grew, he became increasingly cautious in his actions, no longer daring to bring the money from speculation back to his hometown.

He had planned to pull one last heist, retire from crime, return to his hometown, build a new house for his mother, pay for his sister's education, and provide a stable and prosperous life for his whole family. However, his long-time partner betrayed him, and he faced a crackdown on illegal construction activities.

He was convicted of speculation and profiteering, and the amount of profit he gained was extremely serious. He was prosecuted and sentenced to 20 years in prison and all his illegal gains were confiscated.

During his 20 years in a labor camp, he saw his white-haired mother and his emaciated sister. His family was poor, and his mother and sister scrimped and saved to bring him clean clothes and food. He learned that after he went south, his widowed mother and eight-year-old sister were left destitute and helpless in the village, suffering from gossip and bullying.

After his release from prison, he sat listlessly on the old-fashioned green train heading back to his hometown. He was only in his early forties, but his eyes were weary and worn, like those of an old man who had suffered half his life. The monotonous sounds and vibrations of the train left him in a dazed, half-asleep state, his face puffy. For him, the word "hometown" was a double torment, both mentally and physically.

He wanted to slap himself a few times.

During his heyday, his family didn't benefit from his success and rarely returned home. Now that he's bankrupt and heavily in debt, how can he possibly have the face to go back to his hometown?

"If God could give me another chance, I would spend my whole life making up for my mistakes."

Li Ju'an, who had regretted half his life, fell into a deep sleep on the train. When he opened his eyes, he was truly back in the old village house that he had longed for all his life.

Mother Song Lanhua put down her needlework and sighed.

“Son, you can’t just drift around like this all day. You have to find something to do for yourself. Stop running around like a vagrant all the time.”

"Mom knows you like Lin Mei, but you can't keep chasing after Sun Weimin every day. Let's work hard. You're definitely more interesting than that Sun Weimin kid."

Looking at his mother's young and gentle face, Li Ju'an felt a surge of intense guilt.

"Mom, let me give you a hug."

A tight, powerful hug, the warmth of family love, brought tears to Li Ju'an's eyes. He vowed in his heart that since God had given him a chance to start anew, he would abide by the law and ensure that his mother and sister could live a peaceful and prosperous life.

The mother, Song Lanhua, was a little awkward being held and spat.

"You're such a big boy, if you don't learn your lesson, no one will be able to find you a wife."

“If you beat Sun Weimin into the hospital, there will be no one left to help with the forest patrol. What will we do then?”

Li Ju'an suddenly remembered.

In November 1980, a heavy snow fell before the start of winter.

Qing'an Forest Farm organized several nearby family villages to set up a hunting ground at Shanggongyaolingzi.

That autumn, wild boars became rampant in the mountains near the village, damaging many crops. The wild boars, just entering winter, were very fat and juicy. The forestry leaders thought of taking advantage of this opportunity to organize a hunt.

The three-day siege involved militia members, forestry security personnel, local hunters, and their hunting dogs. The forestry leaders wanted to deliver meat to residents of several nearby villages before the start of winter, making dumplings for each household to improve their meals. The extra pork could be used to make sausages to entertain guests during the Lunar New Year.

Sun Weimin, whom he had beaten up, was originally responsible for assisting in the encirclement; his role was that of a hunter driving the prey. During a hunt, the hunter would strike the metal object and shout loudly—this was called "sounding the rod"—and its purpose was to drive the prey into the ambush set up by the hunters. If the wild animal failed to enter the designated ravine or gully and instead escaped from the side, it was the hunter's fault.

Now that Sun Weimin, who was chasing the cane, has been beaten into the hospital, there is one less person to help him.

Li Ju'an smiled, exuding a rugged, youthful charm that was both refreshing and handsome.

"Mom, you know perfectly well that Sun Weimin and I have never gotten along since we were kids."

“If he can’t go to help, I’ll go in his place. I’ll talk to the village chief and the forestry leaders.”

The mother, Song Lanhua, was startled.

"What the hell are you doing? Where have you been going to cause trouble again? If you dare to go and cause trouble, and hit someone again, I'll kill you."

Li Ju'an stood up and smiled.

"Mom, don't worry, I promise I won't be reckless anymore. Just you wait and see. I'll definitely be doing something worthwhile."

Who told him to leave such a deep impression on people before? He caused trouble, gambled, beat people, kidnapped the village beauty Lin Mei, and went south to speculate and profiteer—he never did anything honest.

Having been given a second chance at life, his life motto is: please his mother, take good care of his sister, live freely and happily until the end.

In the 1980s, when guns and hunting were not prohibited and wildlife was not protected, one needed a letter of introduction to even leave the house. If one wanted to abandon the extravagance of their past life and legally acquire money, the only option was to hunt in the mountains.

That year, land in Northeast China had not yet been distributed to individual households, and wild vegetables and delicacies from the mountains were not worth much.

Fortunately, Northeast China has three treasures: ginseng, deer antler, and Ula grass, as well as countless other mountain delicacies and local treasures.

He believed that in his previous life he could thrive in the materialistic capitalist world, and in this new life, as long as he dared to work hard, was diligent and hardworking, and was bold yet meticulous, he could also live a good life.

Mother Song Lanhua lit the stove, which was made of stones and yellow mud, with a bellows next to it. The stove was connected to the kang (heated brick bed) in the bedroom. The fire would produce smoke, and the bellows would be used to blow it so that the firewood could burn more vigorously and the kang in the bedroom would become warmer.

"Sure, let's work hard too. We're no worse than them."

"If you've figured it out yourself, that's fine. Son, eat your meal first, then go."

In my hometown in Northeast China, we didn't build stone walls around the courtyard. Instead, we used simple wooden sticks to form a row of partitions, and the doors weren't locked. It was a time when life was much slower.

In the dead of winter, apart from hunters who go into the mountains to hunt, everyone stays at home during the day or visits each other. Little sister Li Xiao sat on the wooden table, holding a sticky rice cake and starting to eat.

Sticky rice cakes, boiled potatoes, sauerkraut stew, stewed cabbage and radish, and a bowl of pickled radish strips were the daily meals of the Li family in those days.

Li Ju'an ate the sticky rice cakes made by his mother with big bites, and a sense of happiness and satisfaction welled up in his heart.

The meal wasn't lavish, but it was full of the warmth and comfort of everyday life, giving him a sense of peace and contentment. It brought him immense satisfaction.

Eight-year-old Li Xiao is so thin that her eyes are sunken in, she is malnourished and small, and her face is pale. She looks several years younger than her actual age.

Little sister Li Xiao asked with her big, watery eyes, "Mom, we haven't eaten meat in a long time."

Mother Song Lanhua straightened her bamboo-like body and comforted her with difficulty: "We'll be able to eat meat at the end of the year. When the production team slaughters a pig and distributes the meat at the end of the year, we'll have some too."

The younger sister, Li Xiao, being sensible, didn't ask any further questions.

Lijiatun is a small village with about 70 households. The local people are not simple and honest; on the contrary, they are fierce and unruly.

It's uncertain when the production team will slaughter the pig, and even if they do, it's unknown how much will be allocated to the Li family.

Looking at his malnourished, thin little sister and his mother, who was haggard and pale from years of hard work, Li Ju'an felt an urgent need to do something.

A hunter needs a gun to support his family.

The village's old hunter uses an old-fashioned pump-action shotgun, and he has to get his ammunition separately from the supply and marketing cooperative. Given his current financial situation, he can barely feed his family of three, let alone afford a gun and ammunition.

Are there any other ways to get a hunting rifle?

He suddenly slapped his forehead, remembering something.

A few years ago, a major event occurred in the village: armed tomb raiding gangs became rampant in the mountains. At that time, the Zhalainuoer Xianbei ancient tomb complex was discovered in the Xing'an Mountains, and the tomb raiding gangs were taken away by the public security bureau during a crackdown. In his previous life, he learned from his childhood friend that a woodcutter had found two guns, along with a lot of armed equipment and ammunition left behind by the tomb raiding gang in the back mountains.

If he can get his hands on the guns and ammunition left behind by the tomb raiding gang in the back mountain, he can get a hunting rifle and bullets for free!