Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Team leader Liu Yuan patted Wei Chen's shoulder forcefully, so hard that Wei Chen staggered. "Wei Chen! Well done! If this mission is successfully completed, I, Liu Yuan, will be the first to recommend you for commendation! I'll even risk my reputation to get you a big award from Factory Director Li at the end of the year!"

"Hey, Team Leader Liu, you flatter me," Wei Chen said with a humble smile, but his heart was as steady as a mountain. "It's all part of my job, it's what I should do. The factory needs it, and while we mountain kids may not have many other skills, we at least know our way around these creatures. I'm happy to help the factory solve its problems."

He changed the subject abruptly, "Well... I'll go and inform Corey right away, pack some things, and ride back to the village immediately to prepare? Time waits for no one, and the mountain roads are difficult to travel."

"What's there to report! I'll take care of it for you! You're leaving now! Immediately! Right now!" Liu Yuan waved his hand, exuding a heroic air. "If anyone in the department asks, just say I sent you on an emergency procurement mission! Be careful on the road! Take some dry food and water! Do you need any help? Should I send two security guards with you?" he asked with concern.

"No need, no need!" Wei Chen quickly waved his hand, his tone confident. "I know that place well. Too many people will make a lot of noise and easily scare those beasts. I can go alone, I'll be quick and back. You can just stay at the factory and wait for good news!"

"Okay! Okay! I believe you!" Looking at Wei Chen's calm and confident demeanor, Liu Yuan's last trace of doubt vanished, leaving only anticipation and gratitude. "Be sure to drive safely! See you at the abandoned outpost tomorrow at 2 PM!"

"Okay!" Wei Chen nodded emphatically, and without further delay, turned around and strode towards the bike shed.

Watching Wei Chen push out his bicycle, nimbly mount it, and quickly disappear into the road leading to the factory gate, Liu Yuan let out a long, relieved sigh.

He felt that the back of his shirt was soaked with cold sweat from earlier, and now the wind made it feel chilly, but his heart felt like it was burning hot.

He rubbed his face, trying to calm his excitement, straightened his collar, and strode briskly towards the transport team, his steps much lighter. This trip required him to personally escort the truck; it was a chance to make a name for himself!

Wei Chen rode his bicycle out of the steel rolling mill's tall, somewhat dilapidated gate. Old Zhang, the security guard at the gatehouse, recognized him and greeted him with a smile: "Wei, the purchasing agent, out in the countryside again?"

"Yes, Master Zhang, there's urgent work at the factory!" Wei Chen replied with a smile, slamming his foot on the wheel as it rolled over the uneven coal ash road outside the factory area, heading briskly towards the outskirts of the city and towards the Yanshan Mountains.

The morning sun shone warmly on him. A faint smile played on his lips. A thousand or so pounds of wild boar meat was, to him, nothing more than a tiny fraction of the mountain of spoils piled up in his spatial dimension.

But in an era of extreme scarcity of resources and resounding slogans that could not mask hunger and exhaustion, those thousand pounds of meat were solid achievements, the capital that enabled him to establish himself and steadily rise in the steel rolling mill.

More importantly, this "hunting" trip provided him with a perfect cover—he could use the pretext of transporting wild boars to smuggle the peach and jujube saplings he had been eyeing back to his brand-new but still empty east wing. With those "huge" wild boars keeping him in check, who would care about carrying a couple of fruit trees in the truck bed? Wei Chen had originally planned to ask the transport team if any trucks were passing through their village recently and bring the trees back, but now he didn't need to.

The road back to the village, bathed in the golden glow of the rising sun, stretches towards the rolling, dark green Yanshan Mountains. Wheels rumble across the dirt road in the countryside, kicking up fine clouds of dust.

Wei Chen took a deep breath of the air, fragrant with earth and grass, and felt a sense of openness fill his heart. He could almost see the fruit trees taking root, sprouting, blossoming, and bearing fruit in his carefully planned little courtyard. His footsteps became more powerful.

Wei Chen rode his old-fashioned bicycle, the wheels rolling over the dirt road leading to Baoyuquan Village, kicking up fine dust. Leaving the hustle and bustle and coal smoke of the steel mill area, the air seemed much fresher, carrying the unique scent of early autumn fields, a mixture of soil, ripe crops, and faint wood ash.

However, beneath this rural tranquility, a different, more intense, even somewhat anxious, wave is surging.

As soon as you enter the village, a bright red slogan painted on the earthen wall catches your eye—"Surpass Britain and catch up with America, the Iron Marshal takes command!" The ink is dripping, and each word is as big as a bucket.

Beneath the slogan, in the shade of the old locust tree at the village entrance, where elderly people used to gather to play chess and sew shoe soles, is now mostly empty. In its place stand two makeshift earthen blast furnaces erected in the threshing ground in the center of the village.

The furnace body was made of yellow mud mixed with chopped wheat straw, rough but sturdy, and thick smoke was billowing from the furnace mouth, carrying a pungent smell of iron and sulfur.

Several men, their faces blackened by coal smoke, were laboriously stirring the dark red, viscous mixture of molten iron in the furnace with long iron spades. Sweat streamed down their bronze backs, dripping onto the scorching furnace walls with a soft "sizzle."

Almost all the able-bodied men in the village are gathered here, taking turns to guard these two earthen furnaces that embody their "steel dream".

The women were busy boiling water and cooking on makeshift earthen stoves nearby. The rising steam mixed with smoke and dust, enveloping the entire threshing ground in a hazy, busy atmosphere. Even the village dogs seemed quieter than usual, tucking their tails between their legs and lurking at the edge of the crowd.

Wei Chen pushed his cart, avoiding the bustling threshing ground, and turned onto the path leading to his old house. The path was quiet, with only a few speckled chickens scratching for food at the base of the wall.

Pushing open the half-closed courtyard gate, I saw my mother, Wang Xiulan, hunched over, cleaning the yard. She had just finished cleaning and was preparing to go to the village canteen to make lunch.

Hearing the noise, she looked up and saw her son. Her tired face immediately broke into a smile. She put down the tools she was holding, wiped her hands on her apron, and came to greet him.

"Chenzi? Why are you back now? Is things not busy in the city anymore?" Her voice was filled with surprise, but also a hint of worry that was hard to detect. She knew that her son now had a decent job in the city, and he had just come back last time to say that he would be working in a steel furnace in the city and wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

"It's nothing, Mom." Wei Chen propped up his bicycle, took the rough porcelain bowl his mother handed him, and drank a few mouthfuls of cool boiled water. "I came back to take care of some things. There's quite a commotion in the village." He pointed towards the threshing ground outside, where thick smoke was drifting in with the wind.

Wang Xiulan sighed and lowered her voice, "That's right! It's been almost a month of this! Every household has handed in anything with even a speck of iron in it—shovels, door knockers, broken hoes, old sickles…! As you instructed before you left, I even handed in our old, patched-up iron pot that was completely unusable. A few days later, they said the task was urgent and there was a big shortfall, so they asked us to gather more. So I handed in… those few pieces of junk you had left in the corner of the west room." She spoke with a sigh.

Wei Chen understood. He had deliberately placed that "lump of scrap metal" there, and had casually collected it during his recent treasure hunt.

He waved his hand dismissively, "Good! Good! It's supporting national development! Mom, you did the right thing!" He glanced around the somewhat empty courtyard and asked, "Where's Xiaoran? Is school closed too?"

"It's all stopped! The teachers have all gone to work in the steel mill, and the students are herding sheep. They call it labor class, but it's really just running around the village collecting branches for firewood," Wang Xiulan said helplessly. "I'm still helping out at the village canteen, doing my chores."

Just then, a clear voice rang out from the doorway: "Brother!" Wei Ran, the younger sister, skipped in like a little deer. She was wearing a faded floral blouse, her two braids were a little loose, her face was smudged with soot, but her eyes were bright and sparkling. She was clutching a handful of dry twigs in her hand. "Brother, you're back!" she exclaimed, rushing over and affectionately hugging Wei Chen's arm.

Wei Chen smiled and ruffled his sister's hair: "Yeah, you're back. Went to gather firewood?"

"Mmm!" Wei Ran nodded vigorously, proudly holding up the branches in her hand. "Look! I've collected so many! Enough to burn for a while! Brother, have you eaten yet? Let's go to the cafeteria together later!"

"Okay." Wei Chen looked at his younger sister's innocent smile, and his heart softened. Children of this era bear the weight of life far too early. He didn't say much more, only reminding her, "Be careful when you play outside, stay away from that earthen stove, sparks flying from it are no joke."

"Okay!" Wei Ran replied crisply.

Wei Chen turned to his mother: "Mom, I came back to take care of something. I need to go see my uncle."

"Looking for your uncle? What's up?" Wang Xiulan asked.

"I want to get two fruit trees and plant them in our little courtyard in the city," Wei Chen explained. "The courtyard is bare, and I'm thinking of planting something to make it feel a bit lifeless."

"Oh, about that..." Wang Xiulan thought for a moment, "Now all the trees in the village are collective property, unlike before. Your uncle is the village chief, so it's only right to talk to him. Go quickly and come back soon, head straight to the canteen."

"Yes!" Wei Chen responded, turned around, pushed the cart out the door, and headed towards his uncle Wei Changsheng's house.

Wei Changsheng's house wasn't far from the threshing ground. When Wei Chen pushed his cart over, he saw his uncle wearing a tattered straw hat, his hands behind his back, frowning as he paced around the earthen blast furnace, occasionally exchanging a few words with the men busy at the furnace. The furnace fire illuminated his dark face, making the wrinkles on his forehead appear even deeper, revealing an indescribable pressure and exhaustion.

"Uncle!" Wei Chen called out.

Hearing the voice, Wei Changsheng turned his head and saw Wei Chen. His tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly: "Chenzi? Why are you back?" He walked over quickly and patted the ash off his clothes.

"Uncle, I need to talk to you about something." Wei Chen parked the car and got straight to the point. "I've finished tidying up my yard in the city, and I'd like to plant a couple of fruit trees. One jujube tree and one peach tree. I want big trees so they can bear fruit next year, and the yard will have more life. But these trees are village property now, and I can't just take them for free. What do you think? I'll pay for them, is that alright?"