When she returned to the room, the other three educated youths were busy. Seeing her walk in, Qu Tong’s eyes lit up, and she quickly stepped forward, pulling Ye Qiu toward the door. “Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, let’s go out and talk.”
Ye Qiu was dragged, bewildered, to the corner of the courtyard.
“What’s wrong?”
Qu Tong looked at her with eyes full of anticipation. “Ye Qiu, let’s move out together!”
Although she had only been here for three days, she could no longer stand the youth quarters.
The first night they arrived, Chen Zhongshi had given them a warning, and although it was aimed at the two male youths, Qu Tong felt she had been caught in the crossfire as well.
After settling in, everything was even more frustrating. Gu Shu was easy to get along with, but the other two female youths were not kind-hearted; they argued over every little thing, especially Wang Lili, who tried to take advantage of her all day long.
Although she wasn’t afraid of them, having to face them every day had made her fed up. She didn’t want to wait even one more day; she was desperate to move out of the youth quarters immediately.
Ye Qiu was a smart person. Although she sometimes countered her, they got along reasonably well. Qu Tong wasn’t good at dealing with the villagers either, so she wanted to pull Ye Qiu along to move out together.
She even promised, “If you don’t have enough money, I’ll pay! You just need to take responsibility for more of the housework!”
“So, are you planning to build a new house in the brigade or move in with a villager’s family?” Ye Qiu wanted to understand her plan.
Qu Tong thought for a moment and hesitated. “Build a new house?”
Yesterday, when she went to the Jiang family, she had wanted to ask Jiang Yi to help her discuss building a house with the brigade leader. It could solve her worries while also allowing her to build a connection with Jiang Yi. With more opportunities to spend time together, she wouldn’t have to worry about not winning over the villainous bigwig.
It was just a pity that even though she had told Jiang Qiong and Jiang Ting to tell Jiang Yi to find her at the youth quarters, she hadn’t seen a shadow of him after waiting all day.
Ye Qiu shook her head, rejecting her idea. “I don’t think building a new house is appropriate.”
“Why?” Qu Tong asked, confused.
“It’s too eye-catching.” Ye Qiu reminded Qu Tong, “We are both outsiders. If we spend a lot of money to build a house in the village right after arriving, what do you think the villagers will think?”
Qu Tong realized suddenly, “They’ll think we’re suckers and try to take advantage of me!”
“Not only that, if we live in the village by ourselves, we won’t know the neighbors on either side. If we encounter someone with bad intentions, who can we ask for help?” Ye Qiu held up two fingers. “You should know that in the village, people who can afford to build a house are in the minority. If everyone knows you have money, some will definitely harbor sinister thoughts. It’s not uncommon for educated youths who go to the countryside to be bullied.”
Looking at Ye Qiu’s meaningful expression, Qu Tong couldn’t help but shiver. She stammered, “No, it wouldn’t go that far, right?”
Ye Qiu spread her hands. “Nothing is harder to look directly at than the human heart. If something really happens, it will be too late to regret it.”
Frightened by her words, Qu Tong had to look to Ye Qiu for advice. “So, we’ll just stay in the youth quarters?”
Ye Qiu tapped her on the head. “Are you silly? Can’t we move out?”
“Isn’t living in a villager’s home the same as living in the youth quarters? We’d still be living with other people.” Qu Tong wore a look of disdain.
“We can find a family with few people who are easy to get along with,” Ye Qiu said. “I went to inquire this afternoon. There’s someone named Zhao Lan in the village who only lives with her grandmother. There are few people, lots of rooms, and since they are both women, the safety level is higher.”
“Zhao Lan?!” Qu Tong raised her voice in astonishment, almost drawing the attention of the others.
“Keep your voice down!” Ye Qiu reminded her to watch her volume.
“Oh, oh.” Qu Tong lowered her voice. “How do you know her? Have you met Zhao Lan?”
Zhao Lan was the female protagonist of this era novel. She was a childhood sweetheart of the villainous bigwig. Although she had hurt Jiang Yi, Jiang Yi had let her and the male lead go out of their childhood affection, which eventually led to the villain being betrayed and committing suicide.
After arriving at the Qingshan Brigade, Qu Tong had always wanted to find a chance to meet Zhao Lan.
But she was too tired. Working in the fields was truly exhausting. Being able to squeeze out time in her busy schedule to find Jiang Yi at the Jiang family was already a result of her own hard work. As for the female lead, she would just have to find a chance later.
Ye Qiu pretended to be confused and asked back, “Why that reaction? Do you know Zhao Lan?”
“No, no.” Qu Tong denied it repeatedly, making an excuse: “I was just, I was just surprised that you had already gone to find the villagers. Yes, I was just a little surprised.”
Ye Qiu didn’t intend to expose her excuse. “I see.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Qu Tong nodded frantically, afraid she wouldn’t believe her.
Ye Qiu naturally steered away from the topic. “I found out when I went to the village to buy straw hats today. Zhao Lan’s family has few people, which is most suitable for our current situation. I’ve already spoken to her about renting a room; she has to discuss it with her grandmother, but I think the probability of her agreeing is very high. I’ll go look for her again after work tomorrow.”
Qu Tong felt this was a great opportunity to observe the female lead at close range. She shook Ye Qiu’s hand and pleaded coquettishly, “Good Ye Qiu, could you please help me ask Zhao Lan? I’m too embarrassed to go find her myself.”
Ye Qiu pursed her lips and smiled, thinking that the normally flexible “Miss Qu” was actually kind of cute. Since it wasn’t an unreasonable request, she naturally agreed.
When they went to work the next day, Ye Qiu was actually assigned to the same plot of land as Zhao Lan.
Ye Qiu walked to Qu Tong’s side and signaled, “That’s Zhao Lan, on the front left.”
Qu Tong, who had been pulling weeds in low spirits, had her eyes light up. She looked up and peered around, “Where?”
One could only say that a protagonist is a protagonist; she was exceptionally eye-catching among the group of people working.
Zhao Lan couldn’t be called a great beauty; her appearance was slightly inferior to Ye Qiu’s, let alone compared to the meticulously dressed Qu Tong.
But she had a vitality about her. Even when squatting down to pull weeds, she was different from the others, appearing remarkably distinct.
Qu Tong felt complicated. She didn’t know if she was disappointed, but she sighed with a sense of loss, “So that’s what Zhao Lan looks like.”
Ye Qiu pretended not to hear her talking to herself and said with her head down, “I’m going over to ask for her thoughts; you work by yourself first.”
After saying that, Ye Qiu slowly moved over to Zhao Lan’s side.
“Comrade Zhao Lan.”
Suddenly being called by her name, Zhao Lan looked up in surprise, seeing Ye Qiu crouching next to her.
“Educated Youth Ye?”
Ye Qiu didn’t stop her hands, continuing to pull weeds. “Comrade Zhao, how did you consider what I said yesterday?”
Zhao Lan glanced at her, lowered her head again to continue working, and her lips moved slightly. “My grandmother said it’s okay to rent a room to you.”
There were only her and her grandmother in the house. Living in such a large courtyard was indeed eye-catching in the village, but it was only because her father was a martyr that no one dared to do anything.
But she didn’t know how much longer the protection left behind by her father would last.
Renting out the extra house to new educated youths was indeed a good idea.
“That’s great.” Ye Qiu smiled brightly. After a while, she asked with a bashful smile, “I also want to ask, does Comrade Zhao’s house only have one extra room?”
Zhao Lan looked at her unexpectedly. “What do you mean?”
Ye Qiu smiled. “There is another female educated youth who came to the countryside with me this year. She also wants to move out and live with me so we can look after each other. So, I wanted to ask if Comrade Zhao’s family could accept another female educated youth?”