Chapter 1: A Precious Rebirth

In the Lesser Khingan Mountains under the jurisdiction of Heilongjiang Province, there was a small mountain village called Kaoshan Tun.

In a three-room mud house on the west side of the village, Wang An woke up from his sleep. In his daze, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, staring in astonishment at the nine rafters on the ceiling. Above the rafters were woven willow branches, with sparse spiderwebs hanging from them.

He looked left and right. This—this was the old house from his hometown in his memories!

Was today’s dream really this realistic?

He closed his eyes, opened them again, and pinched his thigh hard! "Ah... that hurts like hell!" Had he been reborn?

In his previous life, Wang An had been unwilling to endure the bitter days of facing the yellow earth with his back to the sky, never seeing any money from one end of the year to the other. He listened to the sweet talk of ginseng traders from the south and resolutely headed south to seek his fortune.

In that crazy era, after two years of moving bricks without making any money, Wang An began to trade goods all over the country.

By exploiting price differences between regions, he made a fortune in just a few years, joining the ranks of millionaires!

If he had continued on that path, Wang An would have at least become a multi-millionaire businessman.

But people change. He indulged in debauchery and luxury, eventually doing anything that made money.

During a crackdown in the 90s, the police discovered in a routine inspection that the goods transported by Wang An’s gang were mixed with tiger skins, tiger bones, and a large quantity of various firearms, bullets, and gunpowder. Wang An was detained on the spot!

After repeated investigations and interrogations, the police prosecuted Wang An for trafficking in precious wild animals and illegal trading of firearms and ammunition. The court soon delivered its verdict: life imprisonment, permanent deprivation of political rights, and confiscation of all property!

Thus, Wang An began his life in prison. By the time he was 65, the long years of incarceration and heavy manual labor had left his body in terrible condition.

On his deathbed, full of regret for half a lifetime, the same dream returned, bringing him back to the Kaoshan Tun and the old house that had haunted his soul!

How he longed to return to the past and live this messed-up life all over again!

Upon confirming that he had truly been reborn, that heaven had really given him a second chance at life, an ecstatic Wang An jumped from the *kang* to the floor and hopped around in excitement!

He looked at the calendar hanging on the wall: November 1, 1980, Saturday, the 24th day of the ninth lunar month! This year, Wang An was 19 years old!

Kaoshan Tun was surrounded by rolling mountains, covered in various trees, shrubs, wild vegetables, mountain delicacies, medicinal herbs, and ginseng. Naturally, all kinds of animals also thrived in these forests.

Kaoshan Tun was not large, with about seventy or eighty households. The local customs were not exactly gentle; rather, they were quite rugged. Surviving on this land meant fighting against the heavens, the earth, natural disasters, and most importantly, the wild beasts of the jungle!

In this geographical location, seven out of twelve months were spent in the cold. Even in the hot summer, the maximum temperature was only 31°C, while the nighttime temperature in winter could reach -45°C!

This land only produced one harvest of crops a year, mostly coarse grains like sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and sorghum.

In this year, the Northeast had not yet implemented the household responsibility system. Wild vegetables and mountain delicacies were not yet valuable. The grain harvested from the black soil was only enough for rations, with potatoes and sweet potatoes still making up a large portion of the staple diet. The state had not yet fully opened up to private business!

The supply and marketing cooperatives were already purchasing large quantities of animal furs for export to earn foreign exchange. The government encouraged the hunting of wild boars and black bears, and firearms and ammunition could be bought and sold!

The vast working masses had not yet solved the problem of food and clothing! Yes, just eating and dressing were very difficult things.

Soon calming down, Wang An carefully recalled and sorted through the major events that happened in his hometown during and after his 19th year, wondering if he could gain an advantage from his rebirth. After all, his family’s life was truly too difficult right now!

Having finally been reborn, Wang An set a life motto for himself: "Live freely and happily until I die!"

He had to admit that a happy life required money to change.

So, if he wanted to get money legally—in this era where most people were idle and one needed a referral letter to go anywhere—there was only one path: mountain hunting!

He would never touch illegal trading again!

After thinking for a while, Wang An finally thought of a major event that could break his current predicament!

Because he wanted to hunt now but had no gun, and he certainly couldn't afford to buy one! In his previous life, as someone who traded in firearms and ammunition, Wang An was certainly most familiar with guns.

He couldn't remember the details clearly, only that in 1985, when he left his hometown to take a train to the county seat, he heard people discussing it!

Four criminals who had stolen a large amount of gold from a gold mine in JY County had fled here in 1979 and were captured by the police. Those four men had guns, but before they were caught, they had buried their guns and gold behind a dilapidated temple on the back mountain of Yangshu Tun. A few days ago, it had been discovered by a shepherd and two woodcutters at the same time.

Wang An decided to go to Yangshu Tun tomorrow to dig up the guns. After all, with his current family conditions, even buying bullets was a struggle!

And even if he could afford it, he guessed his parents would never agree to spend the money!

In the evening, Wang An’s father, Wang Dazhu, and mother, Liu Guilan, returned from playing cards and chatting at the village store. His younger brother, Wang Yi, also came running back, chasing and playing with his two younger sisters, Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli.

At this time of year, except for hunters going into the mountains, every household stayed home or visited neighbors during the day.

In an era without electricity, everyone’s schedule was very regular: early to bed and early to rise. If you asked what they did if they couldn't sleep? Just look at how many children every household had, and you’d know.

Looking at these people who were his dearest, Wang An’s eyes filled with hot tears—guilt, regret, self-reproach, and sorrow!

He thought of his previous life in prison, where his already poor family lived on meager rations, visiting him every two or three months to bring him clothes and food!

Yet, when Wang An was at his peak, his family never enjoyed any of his success, and he never gave them a single cent!

Fortunately, heaven had given him a chance to make amends in this life!

"Dad, Mom, little brother, big sister, little sister, you're back!" Wang An greeted them solemnly.

Wang Dazhu glanced at Wang An, Liu Guilan asked "Huh?" in confusion, and Wang Yi and the two sisters also stopped playing. The whole family looked at Wang An in bewilderment!

Wang Dazhu broke the silence: "What's wrong? Is something the matter?" The other four were still looking at Wang An, waiting for his answer.

At this moment, Wang An realized his behavior was abnormal; his family didn't know he had been reborn!

He quickly laughed: "Haha, nothing's wrong, I was just saying hello to you all."

Wang Dazhu rolled his eyes at him: "Always acting weird!"

Liu Guilan smiled and went to cook, while Wang Yi and the two sisters resumed their playing.

Before long, Liu Guilan had dinner ready: boiled sweet potatoes and cornmeal porridge, with a bowl of pickled radish strips as the side dish.

In the Northeast at this time, this was basically the diet of every household for every meal.

"Mom, Gou Dan said his family had meat for lunch, it was so delicious!" 5-year-old little sister Wang Xiaoli said in a milky voice.

After Wang Xiaoli finished speaking, 13-year-old Wang Yi and 6-year-old Wang Xiaomei looked up and secretly glanced at Liu Guilan. Noticing the children's gazes, Liu Guilan sighed. It was true; it had been a long time since they had seen any meat!

After a while, Liu Guilan squeezed out a smile and said: "When the production team slaughters a pig at the end of the year and distributes the meat, we'll eat some too!"

The three younger ones sensibly didn't ask any more questions.

Looking at his parents, whose eyes were sunken from thinness, his two sisters with small, malnourished bodies, sallow complexions, and yellowish hair, and his brother with a body like a bamboo pole, Wang An felt an urgent need to do something...

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Wang An, who hadn't slept well all night, got up and dressed, intending to go dig up the guns. His younger brother, who slept in the west room, was still having sweet dreams, and his parents and sisters in the east room were also fast asleep.

Wang An used hemp ropes to tie his pant legs (to prevent wind and snow from getting in), tied a hemp rope around his waist, tucked an axe and a hunting knife into it, hung a coil of hemp rope over his shoulder, put on his cotton hat, draped his mittens around his neck, and quietly set off.

Yangshu Tun was not far from Kaoshan Tun, about ten *li* away, and it was also on the way to the county seat.

After about forty minutes, Wang An arrived at the back mountain of Yangshu Tun. The dilapidated temple was easy to find; rural temples were just small houses of about three or four square meters. However, digging for the guns was difficult. The snow, thirty centimeters thick, was frozen solid, and the soil beneath was likely frozen even harder!

Wang An took a deep breath and swung the axe. The sounds of "clink," "clink," "clink" echoed incessantly. Fortunately, at this time, the villagers were all asleep.

The temple was also far from the village, otherwise, Wang An’s fate likely wouldn't have been good.

Half an hour later, Wang An finally managed to chop a hole about ten centimeters deep into the black soil, then began to gently chop at an angle into the hole with the axe.

The guns were buried for easy access, so they couldn't be buried deep. This time, in less than 5 minutes, Wang An discovered a burlap sack buried in the soil. His spirits immediately soared, as if he hadn't spent any effort chopping the ground just moments ago!

A short while later, a long object wrapped in a burlap sack was pulled out of the ground by Wang An. He weighed it—about 20 pounds. It had to be two guns!

Wang An laboriously filled the dirt and snow back in and used the axe to chop at the surrounding area to cover his tracks. Although no one usually came here, because of his past life experiences, he knew that being careful never hurt!

Without even looking at what was in the sack, Wang An grabbed it and turned to head deep into the mountains.

After walking about six or seven *li*, Wang An could no longer suppress his curiosity. He found a sheltered, sunny mountain hollow, opened the sack, and unwrapped the yellow oil paper.

Two Type 56 semi-automatic rifles! The serial numbers on the guns had all been filed off. The supply and marketing cooperative wouldn't accept guns like these!

One was new, with the gun oil still on it; Wang An wrapped it back up in the oil paper. The other was in eighty-percent new condition.

In addition, there was a small oil paper package. Opening it, he saw three stripper clips and 6 boxes of bullets. Each clip held 10 rounds, and each box contained the standard 25 rounds. There was also a small gold nugget, weighing about two *taels*!

Looking at everything before him, Wang An felt as if he had taken a stimulant. In this era, what a massive fortune this was!

Although Wang An hadn't walked the straight and narrow in his previous life, he now felt that everything before him was a gift from heaven for his rebirth!

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(End of chapter)