Chen Jiahui’s face fell with disappointment, but just as she turned to leave, she suddenly caught sight of someone who, in her previous life, had never appeared in their brigade at all.
She stared at Shen Zhiyi, narrowing her eyes. Whoever you are, as long as you don’t get in my way, I don’t care.
But if you dare stand in my path, I’ll make sure you die without a place to be buried!
The brigade leader drove the ox cart and delivered them straight to the entrance of the educated youth point.
“Here it is.”
Liu Guanjun, the person in charge of the educated youth point who had been waiting for some time, heard the commotion and hurried out.
“Brigade leader.”
The brigade leader nodded. “Mm, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
The group followed Liu Guanjun into the courtyard, and instantly, all the veteran educated youth under the eaves turned their gazes toward them in unison.
Liu Guanjun introduced the situation of the educated youth point to them on the side.
“Our brigade’s educated youth point is pretty good. There are plenty of rooms, and everyone gets their own space. In other brigades, it’s one room for the men and one for the women, sleeping on a big shared kang.”
The educated youth point was originally the house of a landlord in the village, later requisitioned by the brigade.
The brigade leader thought the rooms were too large, so he had the woodshed and such torn down, using those bricks to divide each room into three smaller compartments.
Shen Zhiyi was quite satisfied with this—it saved her a lot of trouble.
Liu Guanjun pointed to the rooms at the front of the courtyard. “The middle one is our kitchen. The grain and where we eat—everything’s in there.”
“On the left and right are our bathhouses—men on the left, women on the right. Everyone washes up in there.”
“Mm… there’s also a river in the back mountain. After work, the male comrades can go bathe in the river too.”
Then came the dormitories.
“The left side is the men’s dormitory, with several rooms still empty. The right side is the women’s dormitory—there should only be four empty rooms left. The remaining one will have to stay on the left.”
Shen Zhiyi counted. There were nine rooms on each side, meaning there had originally been five female educated youth. Now, with the five newcomers, there were ten in total.
The others chose first, and she lagged behind, ending up on the left side.
Near the main gate, in the very last room.
The room was completely bare, with only a small bed measuring one meter by two.
Originally… she could have stayed in the villa, but… thinking of that person who was either friend or foe, she had to take action.
While they were putting away their luggage, Liu Guanjun didn’t idle either, shouting from outside.
“You new educated youth, for the first year, you can eat commodity grain according to the urban ration.”
“Tomorrow, take the educated youth point’s certificate to the commune grain station, and you can buy the grain back.”
Wang Xiaoxia breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Her parents were both in poor health, and she had younger siblings at home.
So, of the hundred-plus yuan in educated youth subsidy funds, she had only brought fifty, and even fewer ration tickets.
This way, at least for the first year, she wouldn’t have such a hard time.
She had to work hard and try to send some money home by the end of the year.
Under the eaves, a few male educated youth huddled together, quietly discussing the new female educated youth.
“There are quite a lot of new female educated youth this time.”
“Yeah, and one of them is especially pretty.”
Liu Peilan overheard every word and couldn’t help gritting her teeth.
Hmph, that vixen!
She’s only just arrived and already knows how to seduce men!
In the courtyard, Liu Guanjun was still shouting at the top of his lungs. “You all must be tired today, so go rest.”
“If you’re hungry and don’t have grain, you can borrow some from the veteran educated youth.”
Shen Zhiyi frowned at the sound of his shouting. This really was a place where transportation relied on walking, communication on shouting, warmth on shivering, and security on dogs.
She just wondered if his throat hurt.
-_-||
Shen Zhiyi had originally planned to go straight into the Island Villa. Such a good Golden Finger—there was no way she’d hand it over to someone else.
Then she’d just fight for it. Let’s see who could outdo whom.
Just as she was about to enter the Island Villa to battle it out to the death, a knock suddenly came at her door.
“Thump, thump—”
Shen Zhiyi: “Who is it?”
Wang Xiaoxia sounded a bit nervous, yet also a little excited. “Comrade He, we’re planning to borrow some grain from the veteran educated youth to cook a meal.”
“What about you? Want to join?”
Shen Zhiyi thought for a moment. “No thanks.”
“I’m too tired. I won’t eat today.”
Everyone ate coarse grains at this time, and the food had little oil or flavor. She’d skip the commotion.
“Ah…” Wang Xiaoxia was slightly dejected. “Alright then, we’ll eat on our own.”
Seeing her come back alone, Zhou Hong, who was standing at the kitchen door, curled her lips. “I told you there was no need to ask, but you just had to go.”
“See what happened? You warmed your face against someone’s cold backside!”
Wang Xiaoxia didn’t like her much, always feeling she was a bit arrogant.
“That’s not it.”
“She’s just too tired and wants to rest.”
Zhou Hong snorted disdainfully. “Pfft.”
“That’s just an excuse not to bother with you. You actually believe it.”
In the kitchen, Zhao Xinghua had already started the fire and called out to them.
“Hey, don’t just stand around idle either. You can’t leave me to do all the work alone.”
Wang Xiaoxia hurriedly responded, “Coming, coming.”
Chen Xiuhua, who had been silent all along, picked up a basket and quietly went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables.
Liu Peilan lifted the door curtain and walked out. She took a disliking to these new educated youths at first sight.
This time, so many women had come.
And there was even one so beautiful.
Moreover… her gaze swept over Zhou Hong from the corner of her eye.
Hmph, there was even one wearing a dress here.
Dressed so flashily, who knows who she’s trying to impress.
“Let me tell you girls, don’t think you can just skip work and do nothing.”
“Know that the water you use for cooking, the firewood you burn, and even the vegetables you eat—we’re the ones who got all of that!”
Wang Meili lifted the door curtain and stepped out a moment later, “That’s right.”
“Don’t you dare eat our vegetables and use the water we hauled, then shamelessly loaf around the educated youth point doing nothing.”
Even a person with no temper at all would feel uncomfortable hearing those words, let alone the few of them.
Zhang Sumei shot them a glare, “Oh really?”
“Then what did you two do on your first day here? Go on, tell us, so we can learn from you.”
Coming here on the very first day and trying to throw their weight around—who the hell do they think they are!
Zhou Hong wasn’t about to let them push her around either, “So all the work at this educated youth point was done by you two? Nobody else has a problem, so why are you two the only ones yapping on and on?”
Liu Peilan and Wang Meili were about to say something more when the door curtain lifted again, and another female educated youth walked out.
Li Yanqiu glanced at them with a blank expression, “Alright, that’s enough. When you two first came down to the countryside, didn’t you also rest for two days without doing anything?”
“Why bother meddling in other people’s business?”
Shen Zhiyi was completely unaware of the conflict outside, because she had entered the Island Villa once again.
She went in with her gun drawn, on high alert.
The living room, the bedroom… no one was there.
Finally, she turned into the dining room and immediately spotted the piece of paper on the island counter.
Shen Zhiyi narrowed her eyes, and at last, reached out her hand toward the island counter.