White snow, a city swept by wind and frost

The wind howled outside the window, and the weather gradually grew colder.

Lian Youming hurriedly leaned out to look. Sure enough, several haystacks lay beside the tracks. Sun Duhe had landed face-first in one, then climbed out covered in dust and dirt. He waved to show he was all right, then limped off into the wilderness beside the tracks and vanished in moments.

"He's quite a character."

He turned and picked the old book up off the floor.

Presumably, his earlier question had made Sun Duhe think he was interested in it.

It really was an old book, its cover mottled and its pages yellowed. Everything inside was handwritten in small regular script. It clearly had some years on it.

It was actually a Buddhist scripture.

Lian Youming glanced through it and recognized what it was: apparently a handwritten copy of the Śūraṅgama Sutra.

But he had little interest in such things. After a few glances, he casually set it aside.

The scenery retreating outside the window gradually stopped, but before long, it began shifting again as the train started up.

Lian Youming sat on the bed, leaning against his pillow and dozing.

Time flew by, and the lush scenery outside grew considerably more desolate.

Without his noticing, the sky gradually darkened. Another night had arrived.

"Is it morning?"

The next day, hearing movement in the corridor, he opened his eyes groggily, then scrambled to stuff his scattered belongings into his bag.

Before long, he heard a train attendant calling outside the compartment.

"We're almost at Harbin! Everyone, make sure you don't miss your stop."

It was time to get off.

As the train slowly stopped, Lian Youming picked up his bag and left the carriage, squeezing out of the station with the surging crowd.

Outside the station.

Faded red banners snapped in the autumn wind, their slogans already blurred.

It was only September, but the northern air already carried a penetrating chill. The sun was hidden, and the weather was refreshingly cool, the streets full of everyday bustle.

At present, the saying that the whole country looked to the Northeast for its economy was no empty talk.

It seemed to be the morning commute. Many workers in blue uniforms rode bicycles with long bags hanging from them, ringing their bells as they passed through the streets like streams of blue floodwater.

The cool breeze occasionally carried the aroma of food from the entrances of state-run restaurants.

But Lian Youming had barely taken a few steps before the chill came at him from every direction, riding the north wind straight down his collar and making him shudder.

The mornings were still rather cold.

Before he could say anything, his nose began to run.

The educated youths' faces changed from the cold too. Anyone who dared open their mouth got a mouthful of cold wind.

Tall and sturdy, Lian Youming could withstand it standing there. But several young women carrying luggage beside him had barely run a few steps before a gust knocked them sideways as though they had suffered strokes, sending them sprawling and drawing laughter from the onlookers.

In fact, this was not Lian Youming's first visit to the Northeast. In earlier years, he had accompanied his father here several times to visit his old comrades. They had all come during the effort to develop the Great Northern Wilderness, then settled down and built lives here.

Otherwise, how could his family have felt comfortable letting him travel so far alone to settle in a rural work unit?

The place might be a little remote, but Lian Youming could at least call those people his uncles. Surely he would not suffer too badly.

He glanced at the educated youths. There had been four or five hundred when they set out, but many had got off along the way. Now only a few dozen remained.

As soon as they left the station, they saw people waving to them from two Jiefang trucks.

"Over here! Everyone, come over."

The whole group hurried over again.

The trucks had come from the north and were picking them up on the return journey. Their beds held a scattering of miscellaneous goods, leaving limited space, and everyone soon found a place.

The fifty-odd educated youths were then divided into two groups according to their destinations. With no time to say goodbye to their companions, the students parted ways again, drifting farther apart amid sobs.

Lian Youming sat alone at the side. He did not find this hard. Others had already borne the real suffering for them. What did this amount to?

After the hurried farewells came bewilderment and uncertainty.

Watching the city recede, then looking at the dense forests and hills passing along the road, everyone seemed lost about the future.

Amid the howling wind, someone suddenly raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Unity is strength! Ready, sing!"

"Unity is strength, this strength is iron, this strength is steel..."

The previously silent, dejected educated youths raised their heads and puffed out their chests, summoning their strength to sing.

Lian Youming was among them, because he was the one who had started it.

He meant nothing else by it. As his father would have said, this was the time to bolster their spirits and lift their morale.

"Huh?"

Lian Youming's gaze suddenly settled on a young woman wearing a Lei Feng cap. Her little face was blackened, her nose was running, and a ring of soot marked her cheeks as though she had licked the bottom of a pot. She held half a roasted corncob in one hand and a roasted sweet potato in the other, both still hot. Who knew where she had got them?

She had been singing along, but perhaps she noticed Lian Youming watching. First she froze, then her cheeks reddened and her eyes darted away. She slowly edged backward until she had tucked herself behind a sturdier young woman, then turned away and resumed eating.

She certainly stayed true to herself.

Seeing this, Lian Youming thought for a moment, then took a packet of fruit candies from his bag, opened it, and gave everyone a few.

Everyone immediately thanked him.

But just as he was about to finish handing them out, a slender right hand covered in soot suddenly reached over.

Lian Youming looked up. It was none other than the young woman who had been secretly gnawing her corn. A scarf was wrapped around her face as though she were a thief, but her large, dark eyes were fixed on the few remaining fruit candies.

Lian Youming smiled, took one for himself, and handed over the rest.

The young woman accepted the candies and immediately beamed, mumbling, "M̀h gōi!"

So she still had food stuffed in her cheeks.

But as soon as she spoke, she seemed to realize something and hurriedly corrected herself, saying rather awkwardly in a southern accent, "Thank you!"

Her voice was as quiet as a mosquito's buzz.

As time passed, the truck stopped at several farms and villages, and most of the educated youths got off.

Unexpectedly, however, the driver suddenly discovered partway through that he had one extra passenger.

After asking everyone, he found that the extra person was Lian Youming.

Lian Youming was baffled too.

He had got off at the wrong stop.

He was heading to Tahe. He had got off too early.

Fortunately, the driver said he could work something out. It would just take a little longer; he reckoned Lian Youming would not arrive until noon the next day.

"Just my rotten luck."

Watching the educated youths get off one by one, Lian Youming could not help letting out a long sigh.

The farther north they went, the colder it became.

Apart from Lian Youming, only four educated youths remained on the truck: one man and three women.

He heard them clearly. They had actually come from Guangdong and Guangxi. There had originally been more than a dozen of them, but they had split up earlier, leaving only these four bound for the same place.

As luck would have it, the young woman who had asked for candy was among them.

But they were southerners, after all. Lively enough earlier, they had now all wilted under the cold wind, shivering, their hands and feet trembling, as though all their vitality had been drained away.

Fortunately, the driver poured them some hot water. They recovered a little after drinking it.

They traveled without speaking until nightfall, when the truck entered a market town and the four educated youths got off.

As they parted, the young woman who had asked for candy said a little bashfully, "Goodbye, comrade student!"

Lian Youming smiled and waved goodbye to them.

The driver went out and looked around, then found another truck heading to the Greater Khingan Mountains to haul timber. Lian Youming knew how to behave. Seeing that the other driver was a middle-aged man, he took some food from his shoulder bag and handed it over along with a pack of cigarettes he had brought from home.

And so he caught another ride and continued on his way.

The difference was that, instead of enduring the cold wind in the back, he now sat in the passenger seat.

As the truck started, Lian Youming exhaled and was about to close his eyes for a while. But just as the truck turned and its headlights swung around, he suddenly caught a somewhat familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm?"

In an instant, every trace of sleepiness vanished from Lian Youming's eyes.

At the far end of his vision, a sallow-faced young man in a Zhongshan suit stood in the market town.

It was him.

The traitor from the Xingyi Sect.

Lian Youming was filled with shock and doubt. How is this possible?

He remembered the man disappearing midway through the journey. Whether he had jumped off the train or not, Lian Youming had changed vehicles and traveled several hundred li by truck. Yet they had still crossed paths.

This was downright uncanny.

Afraid he had mistaken him, Lian Youming looked more closely. Despite the darkness of the cold night, it was indeed that sallow-faced young man.

Under the dim lights around him, even the way he ate was exactly the same as before. The tendons in his face stood taut, as though he were a starving ghost reborn.

Lian Youming frowned slightly. He had thought he would never meet the man again, yet here they were, barely a day later.

Moreover, an inexplicable sense of danger stirred within him.

The appearance of such an extraordinary person here could hardly be a good thing.

But the next instant, Lian Youming shivered, looked away, and quickly ducked down.

The man had actually turned to look his way.

Fortunately, the truck picked up speed quickly, and the figure in the rearview mirror grew ever more distant.

In the street, the young man watched the departing truck, his expression wooden and silent but his eyes shining. He was still chewing, eating steamed buns one per mouthful, chewing hard and swallowing hard.

But an unwelcome figure suddenly blocked his view.

The newcomer looked like a peasant cart driver, bearded and thick-browed, with a felt hat on his head, a whip tucked down the back of his collar, and a tobacco pipe at his waist. His sheepskin coat was so dirty that grime had formed crusts on it, and his gaze was dark as water.

He was a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties.

"Boy, on account of your surname being Xue, I'll give you one chance today. Turn around and go back quietly, or I'll cripple you."

The young man's expression seemed wooden, but a sharp light flickered in his eyes. Even his rough, sallow face seemed to glow faintly at that moment. "A successor to one of the Xingyi Sect's Twelve Great True Forms. Which one are you?"

The middle-aged man raised his brows. "Tiger!"

The young man slowly swallowed the food in his mouth and paced closer. "The world has changed, and few true inheritances remain. Considering how hard-earned your skills must be, I'll leave your corpse intact."

As he spoke, he raised his hands in a fist-and-palm salute, spreading his mouth in wild laughter.

"I am Xue Hen. Let me experience your skills!"

The next day.

A ray of morning sunlight pierced the moisture-covered truck window.

The driver lay sprawled out, wrapped in a quilt and snoring, a rifle beside him. His exposed feet gave off a pickling-vat stench so strong it brought tears to the eyes.

Huddled in the corner, Lian Youming looked blank-eyed and listless. Amid his torment, he shook the driver awake.

The two continued driving.

As the truck followed the morning light into the heart of the Greater Khingan Mountains, Lian Youming finally grew completely calm.

Along the road, there was nothing but an endless sea of forest and range upon range of towering mountains.

"Once you're in these mountains, make sure you follow the logging camp's arrangements. Try not to go outside at night." The driver was very talkative. With half a cigarette between his lips, he could talk and blow smoke at the same time. "Especially in winter. People aren't the only ones who get hungry-the wild beasts in the mountains do too. You might get carried off in the time it takes to step outside for a piss."

Lian Youming nodded.

He had heard his father talk about it. Conditions in the Northeast were already much better now. The soldiers, civilians, and educated youths who had come to develop the Great Northern Wilderness back then had endured the real hardship. That vast expanse of black earth had all but been soaked in the older generation's blood and tears before it became today's Great Northern Granary.

Here in the Greater Khingan Mountains, he too would have to face hardship without fear and meet difficulties head-on.

At last, before noon, the truck drove into Tahe against the cold wind.

Although the sun hung in the sky, it sat at a slant, as though unable to rise.

Lian Youming thanked the driver with heartfelt gratitude, then hurried toward the educated youth office.

He was assigned to settle in a place called Kaoshan Village, not far from Tahe.

But the educated youth movement was now drawing to a close, and some villages and logging camps had essentially stopped accepting educated youths for rural settlement. Lian Youming felt rather uncertain.

When he hurried to the office and knocked on its closed door, he heard footsteps inside.

The wooden door opened with a creak, and a wave of warmth immediately washed over him.

Lian Youming felt as though he were basking in a spring breeze. It was wonderfully comfortable.

"Hello, I..."

He stopped halfway through, staring at the person who had opened the door.

"Are you Aunt Shen?"

"Good, you haven't forgotten me. Honestly, child, I've been waiting ages for you. Your parents called a while ago to say you were coming here for rural settlement. I reckoned you should have arrived yesterday, but everyone else turned up and there was still no sign of you."

The speaker was a middle-aged woman wearing a chestnut-colored turtleneck sweater, her belly slightly rounded and her hair in a long braid. Behind her, a stove glowed with red-hot charcoal, with potatoes and chestnuts roasting on top.

Lian Youming stared. "Aunt Shen? What are you doing here?"

The middle-aged woman laughed. "You weren't expecting this, were you? Your Aunt Shen is the director of the educated youth office here now. Otherwise, with your mother's temperament, would she have felt comfortable letting you come? Oh, come inside."

Lian Youming was pulled into the room and sat down beside the stove.

Her name was Shen Qinghong. She was not one of his parents' comrades, but her husband was his father's sworn brother through life and death-the kind who had taken a bullet for him on the battlefield. Though the two families lived far apart, their relationship had never faded. Every holiday, they sent each other things from home, remaining exceptionally close.

She also came from a scholarly family. She had come from Shanghai years earlier to help develop the Great Northern Wilderness, then stayed.

Shen Qinghong seemed to have been waiting a long time. She brought a basin of hot water and poured a bowl of brown sugar water. "Hurry and wash up."

"Aunt Shen, don't trouble yourself. I'll do it."

Lian Youming's eyelid twitched. He would not dare trouble this elder. If his parents found out, he would get a thorough beating. Besides, judging by Aunt Shen's belly, she was clearly pregnant, so he had to be even more attentive.

Only after he had washed the travel grime from his face did Aunt Shen ask with a smile, "Why did you get here so late, child?"

Lian Youming sighed. "I got off in Harbin and came by truck."

Shen Qinghong scolded him with an exasperated smile. "That's what you get for not paying attention. You had me worried sick."

As she spoke, she took out several aluminum lunch boxes and set them on the stove.

"I saved all this for you. Hurry and eat. Two boxes of pork-and-scallion dumplings and a box of pork rib soup. They've gone a little cold, so warm them up first."

Lian Youming took off his hat, revealing neatly cropped hair that lent his already rugged features a sharper, more vigorous look. In the firelight, a small, inconspicuous red mole could be seen at the center of his brow, standing out distinctly in the crimson glow.

Unlike the bearded faces typical of men from Guanzhong, Lian Youming had thick, slanting brows, tigerlike eyes sharp as blades, and hard, clearly defined facial contours. Though slightly rough-featured, he radiated a fierce masculinity.

"Your Uncle Qin has already come by several times," Shen Qinghong said with a smile, picking up a half-knitted sweater. "By the way, your father didn't tell you, did he? Your uncle is the logging camp director now."

Lian Youming was savoring his dumplings. "He got promoted? Don't tell me it's the logging camp where I've been assigned?"

"No," Shen Qinghong said.

Only then did Lian Youming relax. "That's good."

Shen Qinghong rolled her eyes. "Are you that scared of your Uncle Qin?"

Eating dumplings, Lian Youming mumbled, "I'm not scared. I could figure out with my toes that my uncle and my dad are the same kind of person. If I really went there, he'd definitely drill me every day like we were on a forced march."

Shen Qinghong smiled. "Don't just eat the food. Have more soup."

Then she added earnestly, "Going to work in the countryside is one thing, but you've had a head for studying since you were little. Don't let your studies slide. When Xiuxiu comes back from her break, I'll have her bring you some study materials. Remember to study hard while you're in the mountains."

"I brought some."

Lian Youming seemed ravenous. He gave only that brief reply before wolfing down his food.

Shen Qinghong's expression softened, and her smile was particularly graceful. "I'm glad you're here. In a bit, I'll go to the Post and Telecommunications Office and call your parents to let them know you arrived safely."

As the two chatted, the roar of a motorcycle rapidly approached outside. Then a muffled voice rang out, low and hoarse, as though something were stuck in the speaker's throat. "Is he not here yet?"

"He's here. We're chatting right now." A mischievous look appeared in Shen Qinghong's eyes. "The boy was just saying how lucky he was not to have gone to your Logging Camp for his countryside assignment."

"You little brat. I don't have that much free time to put you through the wringer. I'm so busy I wish I could split myself in two."

The door was pushed open, and a man in a fleece-collared military overcoat walked in. He looked refined, more like a civilian employee than a soldier. But while one half of his face was stern, the other bore a shocking patch of scars that seemed to be burns. Even one eye was grayish white, as though covered in a layer of white mist.

At the sight of him, Lian Youming shuddered, then put on a broad smile. "Uncle!"

I've changed the year the protagonist goes to the countryside to 1979. Also, regarding the update schedule: every day at six in the evening.

(End of chapter)