Reborn in 1977, starting with severing ties with family.

Zhao Guangming sat at the table to keep him company, while his wife was busy in the kitchen.

Zhao Erhu stood beside him, eating his rice bowl.

While eating, he didn't forget to take care of people, especially Shao Jiajia, who kept offering him more food.

Everyone saw this behavior, but no one spoke up.

Shao Jiajia blushed, thanked him politely, and sped up her eating so that Zhao Erhu wouldn't ask her to order more food.

Zhao Guangming watched with a smile, especially Shao Jiajia, who seemed quite satisfied.

Jiang Sen chatted with him casually, quickly finished eating, stood up and said, "Village Chief, thank you so much today! I have five yuan and twenty jin of grain coupons here, please accept them."

Jiang Sen took money out of his pocket.

Seeing this, the others also started taking money out of their pockets.

“We can’t let you pay for it all by yourself!” Sun Guohong said.

Jiang Sen said, "We'll settle this when we get back. I'll cover the cost for now."

Several people breathed a sigh of relief; they hadn't brought any money, and now they couldn't pull out anything.

Zhao Guangming deliberately put on a stern face, "What are you talking about? It's just a matter of eating and drinking! Giving money would be considered dishonest."

“One thing at a time. If it were just one or two people, we wouldn’t be so polite, but there are more than a dozen of us! If you don’t accept our offer, we won’t dare to come again.”

Zhao Guangming reluctantly let Zhao Erhu accept it.

They also said that this wouldn't be allowed next time.

It was already dark. Everyone had eaten a hearty meal, and the house was warm, so they all started yawning.

"How about we stay at home tonight? Da Hu lives in the east wing alone, so a few of us can stay there."

Which line of this?

Jiang Sen had no intention of giving Zhao Erhu any chance.

"No!" he said. "I have to go back today, otherwise the captain will worry."

"Just have Erhu make the trip and let him know!" Zhao Guangming said. "You also have one who is injured."

Shao Jiajia felt very bad; it was all her fault for being careless and putting Jiang Sen in a difficult position.

She raised her head and said, "I'm fine. Besides, it's not far from the educated youth settlement. I'm fine."

Jiang Sen nodded to himself. If he helped you like this, but you still didn't understand, he wouldn't help you anymore.

"Alright!" Jiang Sen said, "Then it's settled!" He called out to the west room, "Have you all finished eating?"

A cacophony of voices came from the west room: "We're done eating!"

"Village Chief, then we won't stay any longer! Thank you so much for today, otherwise we'd probably all get frostbite!" Jiang Sen looked at the table somewhat embarrassedly. "How about we help Auntie tidy up the table?"

"Hey! No need, no need!" Zhao Guangming quickly stopped her. "There aren't many bowls, just leave them there and let your aunt clean them up!"

Everyone put on their coats and hats, slung their baskets over their shoulders, and walked out of the house.

"They're leaving already?" The village chief's wife came out. "With such heavy snow, maybe they shouldn't go back."

"Thank you, Auntie. The team leader doesn't know yet. He'll definitely worry if we don't go back. He might even come looking for us in the mountains. We'll head back now."

"Great! Come visit sometime!"

Zhao Erhu put on his clothes and hat and followed them out.

After the meal, feeling warm all over, Sun Guohong helped Shao Jiajia up again.

Everyone waved goodbye to the village chief and his family.

As the group of people walked away, Zhao Erhu craned his neck to watch.

Zhao Guangming slapped him across the neck. "You're useless! Come on, let's go home!"

"Dad! That woman is so adorable!"

“I think it looks quite auspicious; a big bottom means she can have children!” the village chief’s wife chimed in.

"Look, Mom already said it, Dad! Why don't you ask someone to go and ask tomorrow?"

"What do you mean? If you're so capable, why don't you learn from that old bachelor and just make it a done deal? Wouldn't he obediently walk into the door then?"

Zhao Erhu chuckled, "I'd like to too, but all those educated youths are in groups, so I never see her alone. I'll have to wait for an opportunity..."

The heavy snow was still falling, blanketing everything, like a leak in a down comforter.

They won't get lost this time.

I walked along the edge of the village all the way to the village committee office, where the lights were still on.

As Hu Zhiqing and the others were discussing whether to go into the mountains to look for someone, they opened the door and exclaimed with delight, "You're finally back!"

Jiang Sen laughed too, "We went around to the other side of the village and had a meal at the village chief's house."

Hu Zhiqing was astonished. He looked around and saw that all the educated youth had rosy cheeks and did not look like they had been frostbitten.

"That's good, that's good! Let's go back!"

Ho Chi Thanh chatted and laughed with a few people, then turned off the lights, locked the door, grabbed a flashlight, and braved the heavy snow to walk back.

It's much closer to the educated youth settlement from here, only about two miles away, we'll be there in no time.

Everyone put their baskets into the canteen and then went home.

Jiang Sen glanced back and saw Sun Guohong and another female educated youth helping Shao Jiajia walk away. Then he turned around and went back with Hu Zhiqing and Wang Haiyang.

Mao Jun was still awake, adding firewood to the stove inside the house.

"Oh! You're finally back!" He stood up to make way for them and poured them some hot water. "Hurry up and drink some hot water, you must be freezing!"

Hu Zhiqing laughed and said, "They didn't freeze, and they even went to the village chief's house for a meal!"

"what?"

Haha! Didn't expect that, did you?

"That's amazing!"

Jiang Sen took off his coat, feeling a little sleepy.

People tend to feel sleepy when they move from a cold place into a warm environment.

Wang Haiyang kept yawning.

"Go to sleep first!" Hu Zhiqing said. "With this weather, we can't go to work tomorrow anyway, so sleep as long as you want!"

Soon, soft snoring could be heard from inside the room.

The lights in the other rooms went out one by one, and the entire educated youth settlement fell into silence.

The snow was falling heavily, showing no sign of stopping.

A dark figure appeared by the roadside, holding a flashlight. After determining the direction, it walked towards a mud-brick house.

"Caw caw..." After a few crow calls, the door quietly opened, and a person walked out, quietly closed the door, determined the direction, and headed towards the mountains.

Two dark figures, one after the other, walked out of the area and met at the edge of the woods.

They were talking, and for some reason, they started arguing.

Soon, one figure was slapped by another, and then pushed hard with both hands, causing the figure to fall to the ground.

He got up and tried to pounce on them, but the other person said something that made him stop.

Afterwards, the two huddled together and talked in hushed tones. After a while, they went back one after the other.

After they went their separate ways back to their respective residences, a person emerged from behind the tree.

He looked around and then left quickly.

The next day, the sky was still dark, and the heavy snow showed no sign of stopping, continuing to fall heavily.

Ho Chi Thanh went out in the snow and came back carrying a few cabbages.

He stamped his feet, brushed the snow off his clothes, and said to Jiang Sen and the other two, "We've discussed it, and we've decided that we'll each have to cook our own meals. They're getting their rations over there, so you guys can cook at home. I still have to go over there."

Wang Haiyang asked, "Do you need any help?"

"No need, I'll just stay in the cafeteria and come back after they've all received theirs."

Mao Jun said, "I brought back a lot of steamed buns yesterday, and I'm going to make a stewed cabbage."

Jiang Sen took out the mushrooms he had left behind from the basket on the ground. "I'll wash some mushrooms."

Wang Haiyang looked around, unsure of what to do.

Jiang Sen said with a smile, "Why don't you go outside and build a snowman?"