Li Ruolan interjected, “Uncle Captain, if we don’t want to live in the educated youth point, can we pay to build our own house?”
The brigade leader looked back in surprise, studying Li Ruolan carefully. His eyes flickered, then he smiled. “Of course you can. You can build near the educated youth point, but you’ll have to pay for it yourselves. Once you leave, the house will belong to the village.”
Li Ruolan nodded. “I see.”
The other educated youths behind them all looked thoughtful as they listened to the conversation.
Li Ruolan had already observed that Zheng Fanghua and Zhou Shengnan came from wealthy families. On the train, they had eaten either braised pork or meat pies and even had apples and walnut pastries.
Liu Kunming’s family was probably slightly less well-off, but he likely had some money.
As for the male and female leads and the female supporting character, they were all naturally not short of money.
Li Yingying, needless to say, had been surviving on coarse corn buns for the past three days. She clearly didn’t have money to build her own house.
Shen Yi and Ji Hongjun were well-dressed and appeared to be military men, so they were probably not short of money either. It seemed that more than just Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao might want to live independently.
No matter what others thought, once Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao were settled, they would register their marriage. As a married couple, they naturally wanted to live together. The other educated youths at the point would not object.
After that, Li Ruolan stayed quiet while Deng Minghao chatted enthusiastically with the brigade leader about everything imaginable.
Deng Minghao was a social dynamo; he could talk to anyone. The brigade leader’s gaze softened as they walked, and he even said Deng Minghao could call him Uncle Wang.
Deng Minghao did not hesitate and called him “Uncle Wang” repeatedly.
The other educated youths listened quietly along the way, occasionally adding a comment. They walked for an hour.
Li Ruolan had expected Guo Xiaoya to be the first to give up under such hardship.
After all, Guo Xiaoya was a real little princess who had never endured suffering, except for the hardships she experienced in her previous life. Yet she walked silently, keeping pace with Xu Tao without falling behind. Xu Tao supported her the whole way.
Watching their intertwined backs, Li Ruolan suddenly felt that perhaps Xu Tao and Qin Wan might never end up together in this life.
Among the group, the first to really struggle was Li Yingying. Her cloth shoes were already worn, and after such a long walk, her feet were bleeding.
Finally, Zhou Shengnan could not stand it any longer. “I have a pair of Liberation shoes I’ve only worn a few times. Do you want them? I’ll sell them to you for two yuan.”
A new pair of Liberation shoes would normally cost five or six yuan. Zhou Shengnan’s lightly used pair for two yuan was a fair deal.
Li Yingying hesitated. She didn’t want to buy them, but these were her only shoes. If she didn’t buy them, she would have to work in the fields barefoot tomorrow. Gritting her teeth, she bought Zhou Shengnan’s shoes.
After changing her shoes and walking another hour and a half, they finally reached the Shengli Brigade.
Looking at the continuous mountains at the village’s edge and the clustered houses below, Li Ruolan smiled. They would spend the next several years here.
By all appearances, this place was not bad. At least the scenery was beautiful.
The educated youth point was in the southwest corner of the village, somewhat remote. The nearest household was two or three hundred meters away.
The brigade leader instructed them to unload their luggage. He called out at the gate, and soon someone came out of the youth point.
The newcomer was around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, with tanned skin and tall stature. His smile revealed a row of white teeth.
He said, “Hello, welcome to Shengli Brigade. I’m the leader of this educated youth point. My name is Li Baozong. Come in, I’ll take you to your rooms.”
The brigade leader said, “I’ll leave them in your care. I’m heading back now,” and then drove the ox cart away.
Once he left, the eleven of them carried their luggage into the youth point.
It was a square compound with five main rooms. In the center was a kitchen, and the rooms on either side were for the youths. The rooms were small, probably only accommodating a few people.
To prepare for their arrival, two larger side rooms had been built on the east and west ends of the compound.
Female youths stayed in the east, male youths in the west.
“The youth point currently has eleven people—six male youths and five female youths. The main rooms are small. Each room can only fit three people. Those people have gone to work and haven’t returned. Since you are eleven, five male youths will share one room. For the female youths, six of you will have to decide who stays with the older youths. Work it out among yourselves.”
Li Ruolan had read the original book. None of the older youths were easy to deal with. She didn’t want to stay with them, so she carried her luggage into the east side room. Qin Wan followed, then Zhou Shengnan and Zheng Fanghua.
Upon entering, Li Ruolan saw a clay stove immediately. Behind the stove was a fire wall, and behind that was a round clay bed. There was nothing else in the room.
After the long journey by train, tractor, and then walking, Li Ruolan was extremely tired. She just wanted to rest. Without overthinking it, she picked a spot on the bed and began tidying.
Qin Wan, Zheng Fanghua, and Zhou Shengnan were also tired. Seeing Li Ruolan start cleaning, they exchanged a glance and mustered their energy to tidy their own spots.
The last to enter was Li Yingying. Li Ruolan looked at her and immediately understood. Guo Xiaoya had chosen to stay with the older youths.
Li Yingying probably wanted to avoid Qin Wan. This was fine. It was better that the female lead and the female supporting character were separated, preventing potential trouble.
Li Yingying sat on her luggage without moving, her eyes red, staring at Li Ruolan and the others.
Once Li Ruolan, Qin Wan, Zheng Fanghua, and Zhou Shengnan had made their beds and stacked the quilts, Li Yingying weakly spoke up.
“I’m really so tired. Can you help me clean up? I can’t lift my legs, and my feet hurt so much!” Her face was full of grievance.
Qin Wan didn’t even lift her head. She kicked off her shoes and lay down on the clay bed, closing her eyes. She hadn’t had a proper rest in a long time and was utterly exhausted.
Li Ruolan ignored Li Yingying as well. She got on the bed, too. Who wasn’t tired or sore? She had no time to help.
Zheng Fanghua and Zhou Shengnan also refused Li Yingying’s request.