Struggle Life in the 1970s

In the black market, the buyers and sellers are usually familiar faces, and strangers are brought in by others. As for Chu Ye, who came straight here without any hesitation, there were many eyes watching her closely in secret as soon as she stepped into this area.

Chu Ye knew it very well. It was the same in his previous life. After all, no transactions could be made openly here and everyone inside was very cautious.

Chu Ye was not in a hurry. She pulled the bamboo hat on her head closer to cover most of her face. Then she found a place with few people, spread out a black cloth, and laid out the things she had picked one by one. She simply washed the ginseng and mushrooms, and they looked clean and tidy at the moment.

There was a handful of purple berries next to it, and a large leaf underneath, which made it even more delicious.

Since Chu Ye was new and had never been here before, most people just passed by and took a quick look. Seeing that there was nothing of interest, they ignored him.

Occasionally, a few people saw that the ginseng and mushrooms were good and wanted to ask the price, but when they saw that Chu Ye was covered tightly and that she was a young girl, they shook their heads and left.

Half a day passed, and it was almost time to reunite with Brother Jianwen and go home. Chu Ye glanced at the things on the stall and saw that nothing was missing. He knew that this matter could not be rushed, so he planned to pack up and leave.

She was getting up to leave when a young man who had been observing for a long time came over. He first walked around the stall and finally came over quietly.

When Chu Ye found that the man was running towards her, she was not in a hurry. She sat back in her original place and asked the man what he wanted.
"When did you pick these mushrooms? They don't look very fresh." The man had a handsome face and didn't look like a country boy from his dress. He came here for mushrooms right away. Chu Ye had a ready answer in his mind.

"I picked the mushrooms yesterday at noon and carried them back home in the afternoon. If you know the business, you'd know that these mushrooms grow deep in the mountains. Not only are they scarce but they're also hard to find. I rushed to the town early in the morning to sell them, so they're already very fresh." Chu Ye said honestly.

The person in front of him obviously also believed what he said. It was because this kind of mushroom only grows in June and July every year, and only grows in the mountains. It is extremely demanding on the surrounding environment, but it tastes extremely delicious, and he craves for it every year.

The batch picked by Chu Ye was of very high quality, and each one was medium in size, which is when the mushrooms are most delicious.

He had come to the black market to see what game there was, but he hadn't expected to run into his favorite kind. He had thought that the stall owner had just arrived and that the transaction was risky, but seeing that she was about to close the stall and leave, how could he sit still? He didn't know when he would be waiting again.

"Name a price. I want these mushrooms." The man asked the price directly.

Chu Ye heard this and held up two fingers, "Two dollars, I'll give you all the mushrooms."

In her previous life, Chu Ye often came to the black market to sell things, so she knew all the prices. She had also sold this kind of mushroom in her previous life, so the price she mentioned now was also a real number.

Don't ask for too much, and you won't suffer any loss.

After hearing the price Chu Ye said, the young man had no objection and even thought that the price was reasonable. He guessed that there must be someone behind the stall owner who often came to the black market and set a price that was impossible to refuse.

The young man no longer hesitated, took out two dollars from his pocket and handed it over. Chu Ye took it and handed the mushrooms and berries to the man.

"You are the first person to buy something from me today, so these berries are for you." Chu Ye had a faint smile on his face.

These berries are not valuable, but giving them away for free when selling something can make buyers feel good and make them more willing to visit her stall next time.

Hearing this, the man raised his eyebrows, then thanked him cheerfully, took the things and walked out.

Chu Ye put away the wild ginseng and went to find Brother Jianwen.

When he returned to the village, it was almost noon. Chu Ye did not go to the fields, but went home to cook lunch.

It is now late June and the weather is getting hotter. Chu Guangyao went to school again a few days ago to prepare for this semester's final exams.

When Chu's father and mother returned home, Chu's father told them an important news at the dinner table.

It turned out that the verdict on Zhao Xuesong had come down.

Half a month ago, Zhao Xuesong was suddenly taken away by the police, followed by a search of the mountain behind Zhao’s house.

The report letter recorded in detail where Zhao Xuesong had thrown his brother. Based on the clues, the police successfully found the body in a long-abandoned dry well on the mountain.

When it was found, the well, which had been abandoned for a long time, was filled with dead branches and rotten leaves, and there were many fallen rocks at the bottom of the well. It looked like someone had thrown them in recently.

At that time, it had been three days since Zhao Xuesong was put into the detention center. The police extracted fingerprints and palm prints from the dry well, compared them with Zhao Xuesong, and found that they were all from the same person.

Zhao Xuesong wanted to cover up the incident, and his parents begged him, even trying to use money to smooth things over. Unfortunately, the incident was ordered by the county public security bureau, and because of its serious nature, it was reported to the city, and the matter had to be thoroughly investigated. In the end, facing the inescapable evidence, Zhao Xuesong admitted to the crime.

From this, Chu Ye found out the truth about the death of the four-year-old child from the Zhao family.

It turned out that the Chinese New Year had just passed, and the youngest son of the Zhao family had received a lot of New Year's money. Zhao Xuesong lost several rounds of cards playing with his friends at that time, and not only did he give away all the money he had received during the Chinese New Year, he also owed some money.

His friends knew they had won and did not want to fight anymore, but Zhao Xuesong was not happy. Seeing that his younger brother was so young and could not spend the money, he instigated his younger brother to give him the New Year's money.

Although the kid was young, he was not stupid. During the argument, Zhao Xuesong became impatient and pushed him, causing his head to fall on a stone in the yard and blood gushed out immediately.

The child only felt pain, and his mouth suddenly shrank, crying for his brother to save him. At this moment, Zhao Xuesong's head was buzzing, and the world was spinning, as if he was struck by lightning. When he woke up, the soul in his body had changed. The Zhao Xuesong who died of suffocation in the previous life woke up again.

Zhao Xuesong subconsciously touched his neck, the pain seemed to follow him like a shadow. When he looked over again, his brother's crying had gradually subsided, his breath was weak, and his eyes were rolled up.

He was panicked for a while but then calmed down. He remembered that he had experienced the same thing in his previous life. At that time, he hurriedly wanted to carry his brother to find a doctor, but just after walking a distance, he felt cold in his arms. He looked at his brother's cold face and calmed down instantly.

If his brother cannot be rescued, then he will be the murderer. When the time comes, with all the evidence and witnesses, he will definitely be arrested and put in jail. He is still so young, he cannot go to jail.

Seeing his brother's body getting colder and colder and his breathing getting weaker, he remembered that his parents had gone to town because of some urgent matters at the factory, leaving him and his brother alone at home.

As long as he destroyed the evidence and made up a lie, no one would know about it.

He turned and walked towards the back mountain. There was a dry well on the mountain. His heart was pounding and his hands couldn't stop shaking. However, thinking of his future, he made up his mind to throw the well into the well. Then he threw a lot of leaves into the well and found stones to fill it.

Thanks to God, he didn't meet any strangers along the way. When he came down from the mountain, he hurried home to clean up the yard, wiped the blood clean, changed his clothes, found his brother's New Year's money, and continued to play cards with his friends.

At midnight, he returned home and pretended to be surprised to find that his brother was not at home. So he hurriedly knocked on the doors of his neighbors and asked from house to house. By the early morning, the whole village knew that the four-year-old son of the Zhao family was missing.

Zhao Xuesong, who should have died in his previous life, was reborn at this time. Faced with the scene before him, he obviously knew what to do. He stepped forward to cover his brother's mouth, imitating the previous method and doing exactly the same thing.

After all, in his previous life, his actions were flawless and he successfully escaped legal sanctions.

Everything happened just like in the previous life. Upon hearing the news, his parents hurried back from the town, crying and begging the villagers to help look for him. Zhao Xuesong took the opportunity to say that his younger brother seemed to be going to play by the river in the afternoon, thus drawing everyone's attention to the river bank.

After searching for a few days, Zhao's parents suddenly said there was no need to look anymore, and while their neighbors were puzzled, the old couple hurried back to town.

Zhao Xuesong felt that everything was settled, so he began to think about finding Chu Ye.

He was confused until he was taken to the detention center, not understanding how something that was perfectly fine in his previous life could be discovered in this life.

However, even though he tried desperately to deny it, when the police put all kinds of hard evidence in front of him and faced all kinds of high-pressure questioning, he still admitted the crime he had committed.

Unexpectedly, Zhao's parents did not seem surprised when they heard the news. They just seemed to have aged a dozen years in the blink of an eye. Then they continued to cheer themselves up and strive to obtain lenient treatment for Zhao Jiasong.

So the villagers had a vague guess that the Zhao parents must have guessed this was the case when they suddenly stopped looking for their lost son. They originally wanted to cover up for their eldest son, but they didn't expect the truth to be completely exposed.

However, the two men's running around did not produce good results. Zhao Xuesong's nature was bad, and the city government asked him to supervise him. The people below did not dare to be careless. Finally, amid the cries of Zhao's parents, Zhao Xuesong was taken to the city and sentenced to ten years in prison.

Zhao Xuesong also thought it through. The only omission in this matter was Chu Ye, who was reborn with him. However, he was in prison now, and he had no way to ask someone to meet Chu Ye.

Zhao's parents lost their two sons at once, and the old couple also lost their energy and spirit. What's more, the letter of complaint was sent to the factory where they worked.

The scandal spread throughout the factory and the village in an instant. The two had to face contemptuous looks wherever they went. To make matters worse, Zhao Xuesong still owed the casino a large sum of money. Now that the creditor was in jail and no one was paying him back, the casino sent people to block the old couple.

In desperation, the two men could only sell the old house in Zhaojia Village and collect enough money to pay off Zhao Xuesong's debts. However, because of their bad influence, the two men were fired from the factory, received a sum of compensation, and went to an unknown place.

(End of this chapter)