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

Li Ju'an laughed and said, "Brother, tell me your thoughts."

Everyone on the little train was bored, but the old hunter, having smoked a cigarette, was happy to talk more. The next village was called Niubei Village. A few days ago, a wildcat came to the village and killed a family's cow in the middle of the night, as well as the two guard dogs of the same family.

The Niubeitun village brigade organized a hunt, gathering the village's hunters specifically to kill this mountain weasel.

"Guess what?"

"What's wrong?"

"The Women's Federation director was giving a family planning talk in the village that day when she was killed by a wildcat. The wildcat didn't go into the mountains that day; it hid behind the village and was very cunning."

A woman is dead! A raccoon has killed her.

Everyone on the little train gathered around to listen to the commotion, offering their opinions and passing the time. Seeing so much attention, the old hunter was happy to say a few more words, enjoying the amusement of being surrounded by people chatting.

Li Ju'an gasped.

He knew the head of the Women's Federation in Niubeitun, especially after he went south in his previous life and heard many stories about her later life. The family planning policy was implemented in 80, became a basic national policy in 82, and was written into the Constitution that same year, officially and vigorously implemented in the Xing'an Mountains. That day should have been the day the Women's Federation headed down to the grassroots to promote the family planning policy; he never expected to encounter something like this.

He remembered that in his previous life, the director of the Women's Federation didn't encounter the mountain fox; instead, she held meetings and broadcast announcements every day! She advocated for late marriage and late childbirth, fewer births and better births, and she managed everything herself. Anyone who violated the policy was taken to the township government for sterilization.

If there were people fleeing, she would personally issue notices, demanding they return home within a specified time. If any villagers refused to return, she would seize their cattle, pigs, and grain. As long as no one died, she diligently implemented the policies and was extremely selfless. Her sister-in-law unintentionally became pregnant with her second child. When she discovered she was already four months along, the couple couldn't bear to have an abortion and went into hiding, but she still managed to pull her out of the sweet potato cellar and take her to the village for an abortion.

These were all things he had heard in his previous life about the director of the Women's Federation. He never expected that his rebirth would ultimately trigger a butterfly effect. Some things changed; after his rebirth, the people and events around him, and their trajectories, all underwent significant changes.

It was at that moment that he suddenly realized he might be able to change many things. Because he had been given a second chance at life, many more people would have very different life paths.

Li Ju'an asked for more detailed information, including the location and time of the mountain lemur's appearance, and the location and route tracked by local hunters.

Old hunter Wang Guochang, his face flushed, slapped his thigh and shouted, "Damn it! This beast killed a woman and even our village's cow. I'll shoot it down sooner or later, skin it, and sell it!"

He shouted his words with great gusto, and some people from the forest farm laughed at him: "These past few days have passed, and I haven't heard that so many people from your village have killed this animal."

So many hunters, unable to kill a single wildcat, and the wildcat even managed to return to the village and kill the women. The old hunter's face turned pale and then red, his expression extremely unpleasant, unable to save face.

Li Ju'an and Li Guaizi exchanged a glance, both understanding the meaning in each other's eyes.

This wildcat killed people and cattle. The hunters of Niubei Village couldn't handle it, so they'll have to rely on the hunters of Lijia Village. They're determined to bring down this valuable animal.

……

When Li Ju'an returned to the old Li family house, Yang Dezheng, the village head, was broadcasting a message to all villagers to go to the team's drying ground for a meeting, saying that they were distributing land and farm tools.

He felt a chill run down his spine; the household responsibility system had been implemented so quickly. At that time, the commune members had been eagerly anticipating this day. So, unable to contain his excitement, he said to his mother, Song Lanhua, "Mom, our good days are coming."

Song Lanhua, the mother, looked somewhat worried. The Li family's old house still had the household registrations of her eldest and second uncles' families. Even with the land being distributed to individual households, her sisters-in-law wouldn't be so easy to talk to.

That day, the threshing ground of the fifth production team in Lijiatun was filled with men, women, and children. Before the meeting, everyone was talking at once; some wanted to share the threshing machine, and others wanted oxen for plowing.

Finally, the commune and brigade cadres came to the meeting and explained the various policies and specific distribution methods of the household contract responsibility system. Only then did everyone start to use "drawing lots" to determine the distribution of labor tools.

"Fellow villagers, don't worry. Farmland will be allocated according to the number of people in each household. The closer fields will be given to families with fewer laborers, while the fields further away from home will be given to families with more laborers."

The Sun family erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers.

The Lu family members looked grim and uninterested. They had spent the entire day searching for Lu Zhiqiang in the mountains, but to no avail. The Lin family, on the other hand, were eager and ready to try their luck.

With a bruised and swollen face, having just been scolded by his own father, Sun Quande, Sun Weimin opened the paper he had drawn and exclaimed with great joy, "My luck is pretty good! I drew the spinning machine! Hahaha!"

He was very proud; winning such a large farm tool was a great contribution to the Sun family.

Sun Quande's complexion improved.

Lu Jinyang from the Lu family started drawing lots, opened the slips of paper, and drew a water buffalo!

The entire Lu family was excited. The Sun family, on the other hand, remained silent. Sun Quande secretly glared at his son, scolding him for being useless.

As luck would have it, Lu Zhiqiang came down the mountain on a dog sled at that moment.

The Lu family members wore somber expressions, all believing that Lu Zhiqiang had died on the mountain. Even if they reported it to the police, the public security bureau would likely write down an ambiguous answer: "died from a wild animal attack."

Lu Zhiqiang is now safely riding a dog sled down the mountain, much to the delight of his family, who are even more surprised than if they had drawn a good farm tool by lottery.

The old man of the Lu family leaned on his cane, his hair seemingly turned whiter overnight. He poked Lu Zhiqiang with his cane, his eyes red as he yelled, "Where did you run off to?"

Lu Zhiqiang also had a fiery temper. In front of the entire village, he pointed at the trembling Sun Weimin and shouted, "That bastard! He deliberately gave me a gun that exploded, trying to kill me!"

The orderly scene on the drying ground immediately descended into chaos. The Sun family and the Lu family started fighting again, one demanding evidence, the other arguing that killing a dog or a person should be punished with death. Commune and brigade cadres tried for a long time to separate the two families, but to no avail.

Looking at the chaotic household contract responsibility system meeting, Li Ju'an pulled Li Xiao along: "Let's go, let's draw lots together."

Li Xiao won the threshing machine. That's a good thing.

The most tiring job was threshing rice by hand; it was really hard work, you had to slam the rice down to get the grains off. This threshing machine was diesel-powered, a two-stroke engine. Its advantage was its lightness, but its disadvantages were high fuel consumption and less power than a traditional diesel engine. However, it was still much easier than threshing rice by hand. Li Ju'an thought he'd use it for now and replace it with a 3-horsepower air-cooled diesel engine later.

He planned to raise some livestock at home after the household responsibility system was implemented. He didn't need many—just four fattened pigs, a dozen chickens, and rabbits. The following year, when the millet harvest was plentiful, after paying the state and collective taxes, he would still have plenty left over. He would sell what he couldn't eat at the city's free market. He would spend the rest of his time hunting in the mountains, and his life was sure to improve.

When he returned to the Li family home, half asleep, he could still hear the sounds of the Lu and Sun families fighting on the drying ground.

Not only was Sun Weimin beaten, but his father, Sun Quande, was also beaten black and blue by the Lu family. This time, the Lu family truly unleashed both old and new grudges. Even if Lu Zhiqiang wasn't actually hurt, the gun had indeed exploded. If the explosion hadn't been severed, not only would he have lost a hand, but he would have been dead.

He was fast asleep in the middle of the night when he heard a knock on the door.

He thought it was Sun Weimin coming to take revenge, and he was even prepared to give Sun Weimin another vicious punch to teach him why the flowers were so red. But when he opened the door, it was Lu Jinyang from the Lu family.

Lu Jinyang was fair-skinned and somewhat resembled Lu Zhiqiang. However, Lu Jinyang clearly looked more disciplined and exuded an air of refinement and scholarly elegance.

“Li Ju’an, my brother has told me everything. I’m so grateful for your help this time, otherwise he might have died in the mountains.”

He presented the slip of paper he had drawn from the lottery, which read "water buffalo," and Li Ju'an was taken aback.

Water buffaloes are a great item; they're arguably the most coveted item in the farm tool distribution.

Lu Jinyang was there to relay a message on behalf of the Lu family patriarch. He smiled and said, "Grandpa said that you saved my brother's life. You can take this water buffalo. We don't need your threshing machine. Just take the water buffalo."

Li Ju'an said, "Since the old man is so generous, it's fine. You can help me raise the water buffalo for a couple of days. I'll come back to collect it after the land distribution is finalized."

Lu Jinyang glared at him, "I owe you something, you cunning bastard, you even used your tricks on others, did you use them on me?"

Li Ju'an fussed over him and said with a smile, "I'm just being cunning. You can see how much hay the water buffalo needs to be fed every day. Look at me, I can pull out a piece of hay right now. I appreciate your old man's kindness, but I'll have to wait a while before I can accept it."

Lu Jinyang laughed and cursed, "Damn, you're really cunning. No wonder Sun Weimin couldn't outsmart you."

"Haha, that's for sure. Who can he possibly beat?"