Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Zhou Shiwei played with the watch with great interest, while Zhao Jianjun took the opportunity to explain the purpose of his visit.

"Nephew, we were very lucky with the deer antlers. We found a buyer who was in a hurry and sold them for 140 yuan. The Ganoderma lucidum sold for 10 yuan and 8 mao, for a total of 148 yuan and 8 mao."

"Excluding the 20 yuan deposit, the remaining 128.8 yuan is here. Please click on it."

Zhao Jianjun had already tacitly agreed to work with Zhou Rui, and had not mentioned these things to Zhou Shiwei.

Zhou Shiwei had no objection to this, and besides, he was still immersed in the joy of the watch, so he naturally ignored the deal price the two had discussed.

Zhou Rui looked at the banknotes handed to him, and without hesitation, he reached out and took them. However, he did not count them, but instead pulled out a ten-yuan note and a five-yuan note and handed them to Zhao Jianjun.

This time, however, Zhao Jianjun refused to accept the offer no matter what. He said the following:

"We made some money on the leather, and the value of the venison and bones Zhou Rui gave us also offset that, so we can't accept this money."

However, Zhou Rui still tried to stuff the money into Zhao Jianjun's arms. In the end, Zhao Jianjun couldn't resist Zhou Rui's insistence and prepared to symbolically accept a five-yuan note.

However, Zhou Rui quickly swapped it for a ten-yuan note.

Zhao Jianjun shook his head helplessly, and finally said with a wry smile:

"Zhou Rui, Zhou Rui, you really are... Never mind, Uncle Zhao will accept it."

Zhao Jianjun accepted the money. In fact, the person he valued most in this business was Zhou Rui himself. Otherwise, even though he could make a lot of money in one round trip, he still had to consider other factors.

However, compared to Zhou Rui himself, what he earned was completely insignificant compared to the value of befriending Zhou Rui.

However, Zhou Rui was very principled and did not want to owe anyone favors. He knew that the debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay in this world, so he resolutely adhered to his principles.

Seeing this, Zhou Rui smiled and put the remaining 118.8 yuan into his pocket.

Then, he looked at his father and said, "Dad, we don't have much money."

Zhou Shiwei was fiddling with his watch and clearly didn't believe what Zhou Rui said, but he didn't feel the same heartache as the old man.

He carefully put the watch on his wrist, then laughed heartily at Zhao Jianjun as if showing off.

"Haha, Brother Zhao, how's my eldest son doing with your Xiaoya...?"

Zhou Rui didn't hear the second half of the sentence and fled back into the house.

At this moment, the lard rendered by Zeng Jiamei was already emitting a fragrant aroma, and the younger uncle was chatting with the second uncle.

Judging from his expression, the younger uncle was also quite shocked by his second brother's change, while Zhou Shijie, seeing his eldest nephew enter, frankly said:

"Thanks to my elder brother and nephew for their words of wisdom, otherwise I might still be stuck in the foolish things I did in the past."

Zhou Shiping turned his head to look at his eldest nephew who was walking in from the backyard and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, our nephew is no ordinary person; he might surprise us even more in the future..."

......

Time quietly moved forward another thirty minutes.

Around 6 p.m., the sun had already begun to set behind the western mountains, with streaks of sunset light reflecting off the landscape.

Before long, the house welcomed its last guest.

He arrived as scheduled for the weekly inspection of the supply and marketing cooperative's employees.

"Old squad leader, Xiao Jian is here to see you—how have you been lately?"

He was carrying two bottles of wine, not bulk wine, but expensive bottled wine. He probably brought them because he saw that Zhou Rui hadn't bought any.

And that was indeed the case. Just as he was wondering what to prepare, he suddenly remembered that Zhou Rui hadn't bought any wine.

He instinctively assumed that Zhou Rui didn't have enough money, so he took out two bottles of fine bottled wine from his own pocket.

Inside the Zhou family's house, Zhou Yong'an was about to turn on the radio to listen to the news when a sound coming from outside caught his attention.

He looked outside and saw Zhou Jian, a man with a square face and white hair, tentatively asking questions into the house.

Seeing this, Zhou Yong'an quickly walked outside. When they got closer, the two looked each other up and down.

After a long while, Zhou Jian's eyes were glistening with tears.

"Old squad leader, you've lost so much weight...!"

"Over the years, the junior prosecutor has been trying to contact you. After finding out about your hometown from elsewhere, he applied to come here and become the person in charge..."

Zhou Jian's voice was choked with emotion as he looked at the gaunt old man, Zhou Yong'an, his eyes already brimming with tears.

He simply couldn't reconcile the image of the frail old man before him with that of the sergeant Zhou who once struck fear into the hearts of the enemy.

The old man remained silent for a long time. After a while, Zhou Rui stepped forward to help him up, then said to Zhou Jian:

"Uncle Zhou, come in and tell me it's windy outside."

Looking at the square-faced Uncle Zhou in front of him, Zhou Rui felt a mix of emotions. He didn't know this Uncle Zhou in his previous life.

However, he suddenly remembered that after his grandfather passed away, there seemed to be this person among the crowd burning paper money. However, since the person was not outstanding at the time, Zhou Rui did not have a deep impression of him.

But at the same time, he also remembered that after his grandfather was buried, when he was sorting through the old man's belongings, he unexpectedly found some money.

Later, his family also inexplicably received some money from unknown sources...

However, after a certain period of time, this intermittent, unknown money disappeared completely.

Zhou Rui helped the old man into the house, followed by Zhou Jian, a man in his fifties who followed silently behind like a little follower.

Inside the Zhou family home, Zhou Jian, whose face was square and whose tear stains were still wet, held the old man Zhou Yong'an's hand with a look of heartache and sat quietly beside him, listening to the old man recount the little things that had happened over the years.

People over fifty years old, like children, often open their mouths and laugh.

As Zhou Yong'an was speaking, he seemed to remember something and asked:

"Xiao Jian, how did you end up here? And why did you go to the supply and marketing cooperative? With your abilities, you could have gone to a much better place."

This was the point of confusion for the elderly man, and upon hearing it, Prosecutor Zhou quickly provided an answer.

"Uncle Zhou, I am now the head of the supply and marketing cooperative here."

"I submitted the application to the higher-ups on my own initiative, because I wanted to see Uncle Zhou..."

"But how... how did you get into this state? Logically speaking, you should be receiving a considerable amount of pension subsidies."

As Zhou Jian finished speaking, his brows furrowed visibly. He wondered if someone had embezzled funds or if he had been deliberately suppressed.

Zhou Yong'an simply shook his head, saying indifferently:

"How can we take those subsidies for free? Our country is still facing difficulties, and I'm an old man. How can I shamelessly take them for free?"

At this moment, Zhou Rui said:

"Uncle Zhou, Grandpa asked the authorities not to give him any subsidies, and to let them use the money for the construction of the town's primary school."

Upon hearing this, Prosecutor Zhou was speechless for a long time. Finally, he sighed and said:

"What about Brother Zhou? I remember he was also a skilled soldier. Considering your contributions, he certainly doesn't deserve to condescend to this position!"

Zhou Jian became more and more excited as he spoke. He always respectfully addressed Zhou Shiwei as his elder brother, not only because he admired this fierce general who was no less capable than the old man, but also because of his respect for the Zhou family.