Reborn in 1977, starting with severing ties with family.

At the intersection, a tractor carrying a pile of packages and letters was waiting.

Wang Haiyang was already sitting in the truck bed waiting.

The two men were talking and smoking.

The woman from the communications room walked towards us.

Smiling, she said to Jiang Sen, "Have you taken leave? Go on, we're waiting for you!"

"Thank you, sis!"

"Don't mention it, go ahead!"

Jiang Sen jogged over, stepped into the truck bed, and the driver said, "Are you leaving?"

Wang Haiyang said, "Let's go!"

"Suddenly..."

The tractor drove along the road toward the farm headquarters.

A short while later, Zhao Erhu and his group came over on the road in Jiazigou Village. After seeing the tractor drive away, they said to one of the people behind them, "That's the two of them."

"Just two little brats, alright, I got it, I'm going back!"

The speaker was none other than Zhang Shuibing, the son of Zhang, the accountant of the farm.

When Jiang Sen first arrived here, he was chased a long way by Li Chaoyang with a shovel over a trivial matter.

After that, I didn't see him much.

I never expected them to end up here.

Zhao Erhu, Erlvzi, and Heizi always hung out with him, stealing chickens and dogs, and flirting with women.

After being beaten up by Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang at the village entrance, he held a grudge.

But I haven't found a chance to deal with them yet.

Just then, Zhang Shuibing arrived, and they embellished the story.

The group of people had been in cahoots and had done a lot of bad things.

Zhang Shuibing also received a lot of benefits from them.

When asked for his help with something, namely dealing with two newly arrived educated youths, he patted his chest and said he would take care of it.

He got another bottle of wine and two packs of cigarettes from Zhao Erhu, then got on his old, beat-up bicycle and drove off.

Erluzi asked, "Is he capable?"

"Why don't you go?" Zhao Erhu said irritably. "You've been watching for two days and haven't found an opportunity to make a move, and you're criticizing them?"

Erluzi fell silent and glanced at Heizi.

Hei Zi said, "We went to the field and didn't see them. Did they just come here on business and not come back today?"

Zhao Erhu said, "I asked my dad, and he said they'll be staying here all winter."

"How about we have your dad bring them to the village? Whether they're toads or crayfish, that's not up to him."

"It's not that easy!" Zhao Erhu turned and walked back. "Let's go back first. We've been keeping an eye on that little wench for days. We heard something happened to her. Let's go check it out!"

It's nearly 100 kilometers from the Fourth Brigade to the headquarters, and even with a tractor, it would take several hours to get there.

Zhang Shuibing, riding a 28-inch bicycle, would only be later than them, not earlier.

It was past noon when the tractor finally arrived at the farm headquarters.

After thanking the driver, Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang went straight to the manager's office.

When Li Chaoyang saw them arrive, he quickly invited them in to sit down and closed the door at the same time.

He was a little nervous and asked, "Haiyang, you said there was danger, what exactly happened?"

Jiang Sen was surprised.

He was right next to Wang Haiyang when he made the call, and he didn't hear Wang Haiyang say anything about danger at all!

Wang Haiyang said, "Uncle Li, we've seen the Japanese devils."

"What did you say?" Li Chaoyang was shocked; this was a big deal. "Where did you see it?"

Wang Haiyang made up an excuse for Lu Xiu to go into the mountains with them. After she refused, she went in alone. When they returned, they found that she had not come back.

All the male educated youth went to the mountains to search together. Then he and Jiang Sen went down into the canyon and found Lu Xiu in the hunter's cabin. He also recounted the whole process of seeing the man.

Are you sure you're speaking Japanese?

“I’m sure! He said he’ll come back in a few days to hear from you.”

Li Chaoyang nodded. "Did you get a good look at that man's face?"

"The lights were on in the room at the time, and he had his back to the door, so we couldn't see him clearly. But if I see him again, I will definitely recognize him from his figure and voice!"

Jiang Sen spoke up at this moment, "Manager! I might know who it is."

"Who is it?" Li Chaoyang's eyes widened, as if he would immediately grab his gun and shoot the person once he found out who it was.

Jiang Sen thought for a moment and said, "Like Wang Haiyang, I feel it's the same person based on their figure and voice, but I'm not sure! What if I'm wrong and wrongly accuse him?"

"Say it directly!"

"Wang Weimin!"

"Him?" Li Chaoyang looked suspicious. He paced back and forth in the office a couple of times before speaking again. "This matter is extraordinary. Enemy agents have been hiding within our ranks all along. Many of them stayed behind under the names of the dead civilians during that time. We have never let our guard down! So, for your safety, don't tell anyone about this. Two lightly injured educated youths have just returned. Take them to the Fourth Brigade. I'm going to the division headquarters."

“Okay! I got it!” Wang Haiyang said. “Uncle Li, don’t mention me to my dad.”

Li Chaoyang laughed, "Just behave yourself, kid." Then, his expression turned serious. "You two must be careful. And that Lu Xiu, I've heard your captain and squad leader's reports; she's also suspicious. Don't alert her, understand?"

"understand!"

"Alright, go! They're behind us, go find them!"

After saying that, Li Chaoyang opened the door and called out, "Officer Ma, prepare the car, the division headquarters wants me to go to a meeting!"

Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang nodded to Li Chaoyang and then walked to the back.

Instead of looking for the other educated youth in the class, I went to the canteen.

The little bit of porridge I had at the Fourth Brigade this morning has long been digested.

They used the public account to buy a box of corn porridge, two cornbreads, and a serving of chicken stew with mushrooms. They sat down and started eating.

I had only been eating for a short while when someone came into the cafeteria.

"Jiang Sen! Wang Haiyang!" Feng Chao ran over with a smile. "I heard from the farm manager that you were coming to pick us up, so I've been waiting for you!"

It was him!

Jiang Sen suddenly felt that the chicken stew with mushrooms didn't taste good anymore, and it made him lose his appetite.

"Didn't you say there was one more?" Wang Haiyang asked.

“There’s also Xiao Ma, he went to the post office,” Feng Chao said with a smile, his eyes fixed on the chicken stew with mushrooms. He swallowed hard, then looked away. “There are a few other people who will be back in a couple of days, saying they’re going to other brigades.”

Jiang Sen felt that the farm headquarters hadn't originally planned to assign them to the Fourth Brigade, but because of Wang Haiyang's phone call, Li Chaoyang changed his mind at the last minute, which gave the two of them an excuse to come to the farm headquarters.

"Where are you hurt?" Jiang Sen asked.

"I was only scratched a few times, nothing serious. I went with the squad leader to take people to the state farm hospital! The state farm hospital is huge, with three floors, lots of doctors and nurses, and the food for patients is good. But we didn't get to eat more than two meals. They just applied some medicine and sent us back."

He spoke with a hint of self-satisfaction, yet also seemed somewhat unsatisfied.

Wang Haiyang used a flatbread to scrape the last bit of chicken soup from the lunchbox, stuffed it into his mouth, and said to Jiang Sen, "It's so delicious!"

Jiang Sen nodded, wiped his mouth, and got up to wash the lunchbox.

Wang Haiyang also got up, took his lunchbox and walked out, with Feng Chao following behind.

“There’s a water tap at the very back!” he pointed to the back of the log cabin.

Jiang Sen didn't say anything and just walked over there.

Wang Haiyang said, "Go and call Xiao Ma. We need to hurry back, or we won't make it before dark."

"Don't you have a car? We can hitch a ride there." Feng Chao caught up a few steps. "Didn't you come by car?"

Wang Haiyang glanced at him and said, "Then go and see if there are any buses going that way."

"Okay, I'll go right away!"