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

When Li Ju'an told his mother, Song Lanhua, about the hand-weaving group in the production brigade, she was stunned and hadn't recovered yet.

She made up for the opportunity she missed back then by not being able to join the hand-weaving group organized by the production brigade for women. Her sister, Qian Dingxiang, had joined the production brigade's hand-weaving group a few years earlier, weaving baskets and carpets using corn leaves that had been fumigated with sulfur.

Many women have to take care of their families. The leader of the hand-weaving group is also a woman from the village. She agreed that the women could take the weaving work home to do, and then hand it over to the village brigade office. The weaving group would then organize people to deliver it to the production brigade once a week.

Individuals were paid work points, and their income was deposited into the brigade's account. Distribution was based on labor, with more work resulting in more pay. Hand-weaving was a major source of income for the women of the village.

Who could refuse a job that allowed them to take care of their family and earn money at the same time? It's said that women hold up half the sky, and when Song Lanhua, the mother, heard that Captain Chen had agreed to let her join the weaving group, her eyes welled up with tears.

Little sister Li Xiao knew nothing of this. She smiled sweetly and hugged her mother's neck, saying she wanted to help her with the chores.

Song Lanhua choked up with emotion.

Years of overwork had taken their toll, leaving her breathless. Now her son was grown up and capable. She watched her increasingly sensible and competent son shoulder the burden of the entire family on his young shoulders. The Li family's hard times seemed to be over. Li Xiao was also growing up, and the heavy burden on her shoulders could finally be lifted a little. All of this moved her to tears.

Mother was happy, and Li Ju'an and Li Xiao were also happy.

The morning sun was warm and inviting, and the rich, delicious aroma of pork wafted from the kitchen—it was Mother cooking a large pot of Northeastern-style stew with half a pig. Li Ju'an wasn't idle either; he had piled up some firewood in the yard, and the fire was burning brightly.

He heated up the sticky rice cakes he had brought into the mountains that he hadn't finished eating, and then roasted two pieces of succulent black bear meat over the fire until they sizzled and dripped with oil.

The large pieces of bear meat were all sold to the production brigade canteen; these two pieces were specially kept by Li Ju'an. The pork was half a carcass given to him by Brigade Leader Chen as a thank you before he left.

At the kang table, the Li family was enjoying a harmonious gathering. Li Ju'an slurped up the pork stew, chewed on large mouthfuls of pork, and sucked on the juicy vermicelli. After finishing his meal, he went to the field to husk corn, eating with great gusto.

Looking at his sister Li Xiao's satisfied smile and his mother's smile, he felt incredibly content, his heart overflowing with happiness.

A family should be this grounded and content.

Da Hu and Li Guaizi's four hunting dogs had already eaten their fill and were playing and frolicking outside the yard. Da Hu was pinning Er Hua down on his back.

Li Guaizi and Song Desheng were drawn in by the enticing aroma. The two were already chatting with the villagers at the courtyard gate when they noticed the villagers peeking in, wondering what smelled so delicious – it was all hearty food! Song Desheng beamed with pride, patting his chest and shouting, "Our local Li, the formidable one, hunted down a black bear! Roasted black bear meat!"

The villagers looked at Li Ju'an with great surprise. If someone had told them a few years ago that Li Ju'an, that troublemaker from the Li family, could do serious work and even go into the mountains to hunt and make money, they would never have believed it and would have cursed him for talking nonsense.

But now, when Li Ju'an hunts wild boars, he also helps out with the forestry operation. After that, he organizes a hunt to kill black bears and even acts as the leader. Every villager looks at Li Ju'an differently now.

Li Ju'an ate quickly. After he finished eating, he had to catch the forest farm's small train and, together with Li Guaizi and Song Desheng, sell the bear gallbladders, bear paws, and other treasures from the bear in the county town to get a share of the profits.

He felt the hunt wasn't entirely perfect. Although the black bear had been killed, four consecutive shots had torn its pelt to shreds. The pelt on its chest was mangled beyond repair, unsellable, and would have to be tanned for his own use.

Fortunately, the bear hunted this time was large, and the bear gallbladders and paws obtained were of the highest quality. The bear gallbladder, in particular, weighed about six ounces after being soaked in water and dried in the shade. It was considered "iron gallbladder," and together it could be exchanged for five iron pots, nine zhang of silk cloth, ten skeins of needles and thread, and 20 jin of coarse salt. Or, if they gritted their teeth and added two bear paws and a bear skullcap, they could exchange them for a foreign-made cannon for firing medicine sticks.

Song Desheng was a sweet-talking young man. He praised his mother's pork stew with a smile, saying it was top-notch and always choosing the nicest things to flatter her.

"Auntie, the bear paw that Brother Li made, or rather his right paw, is worth a fortune."

"The black bear that sits in the barn doesn't eat or drink. When it's hungry, it licks its right paw until the veins are clear. It's fat, big, sweet, and soft. If it sells well, it's a very prestigious delicacy for banquets."

Seeing that Song Desheng was not very old, Song Lanhua, the mother, also advised, "Black bears are too dangerous, even more dangerous than injured wild boars. If you get swatted by a claw, how are we going to explain it to your family when we get back?"

Fearing that Song Lanhua would prevent Li Ju'an from taking him hunting in the mountains again, Song Desheng quickly waved his hand and said, "Auntie, don't look down on me because I'm young. I've already separated from my family and have a wife. My family doesn't care about me now."

Speaking of this, Song Desheng looked at Li Ju'an with a grin: "Brother Li, did you hear that the village is going to distribute land according to the number of people in the household? If you hurry up and get married, you can add one more person to the household registration, and when the policy comes down, you'll get more land."

Li Guaizi and Song Lanhua both stopped eating and looked at the two of them.

Land is being distributed based on the number of people registered in the household? What's going on?

Li Ju'an slapped his forehead. He realized that it was now the latter half of 80, and according to the policies of his previous life, it was indeed time to begin the policy of distributing land to individual households.

After my grandfather passed away in my previous life, my eldest and second uncles' household registrations were still in the old house, but the two uncles had already bought houses in the county town, but their household registrations had not been transferred out.

After he went south early in 80, his mother's family consisted of only an orphan and a widow, and the land they were allocated was taken away by his eldest and second uncles.

The two uncles disregarded all human sentiment. Their exact words to the two aunts were that Li Xiao was a girl anyway, and after she got married, she would be separated from her family, so where would she get any land? Li Ju'an was in another town and hadn't made a single phone call; they didn't know if he was alive or dead. Therefore, instigated by the aunts, the two uncles seized the mother's land, making life increasingly difficult for the mother and sister.

It's said that sisters-in-law are the most troublesome, always comparing themselves to each other. In Li Ju'an's opinion, this whole thing was instigated by his two aunts. Otherwise, out of consideration for his father's death, his uncle wouldn't have forced his mother into this situation.

His mother hadn't told him these things in his previous life, fearing it would affect his journey south and his business ventures. He only learned about it later, after he was released from prison, through a phone call with Lu Jinyang.

He didn't ask, and his mother only reported good news and not bad news, nor did he say anything.

Li Ju'an was consumed by rage at the thought of this, and his fists clenched tightly.

In this life, he has returned and will not leave his hometown again. He will also never allow these snobbish relatives to continue bullying his mother and younger sister.

Seeing that Li Ju'an didn't respond, Song Desheng was even happier and said with a smile, "My wife and I went on a blind date and fell in love at first sight. To be honest, if it weren't for the household registration for the land distribution, I really wouldn't have agreed to go on the blind date with my mother so quickly."

Li Xiao, the younger sister, ate the pork stew in her bowl with an expectant look on her face: "Brother, am I going to have a sister-in-law?"