Li Yingying could not hold back and let out a loud cry, startling Deng Minghao and the others. They hurried over to ask what had happened.
Li Ruolan explained, “She said she was tired, couldn’t lift her legs, and wanted us to clean her spot. We’ve been walking a long time too, so we’re tired. When we said no, she just started crying.”
Deng Minghao and Liu Kunming knew Li Yingying’s background. They rolled their eyes and walked away.
Li Yingying had no choice but to cry while looking at Shen Yi and Ji Hongjun. But the two acted as if they hadn’t seen her and followed Deng Minghao and Liu Kunming. Xu Tao, the male lead, didn’t come over either.
With no one paying attention to her, Li Yingying had to start cleaning her own spot, grudgingly.
Li Ruolan wanted to keep some distance, so she chose the foot of the bed, the coldest part in winter.
Qin Wan was next to Li Ruolan, and Zhou Shengnan and Zheng Fanghua were next to Qin Wan, leaving Li Yingying to take the head of the bed. She cleaned furiously, making a lot of noise.
After several days of exhaustion, Li Ruolan was furious at encountering such a troublesome person. She grabbed the broom by the bed and threw it toward Li Yingying.
The broom flew past Li Yingying’s face, hit the wall, bounced down, and landed on her leg, scaring her.
“If you make another sound, next time I’ll aim for your head,” Li Ruolan said harshly, then lay back down.
Li Yingying fell silent for a moment, then started sniffling again.
Qin Wan looked at her coldly. “Shut up!”
Qin Wan had been killed in the apocalypse, fought through mountains of corpses, and her aura was terrifying. Li Yingying trembled and dared not speak.
The room finally quieted.
The four of them fell asleep immediately. They were so exhausted that they fell asleep within three seconds, sleeping for an hour and a half. They only woke when the noise outside signaled the older educated youths had returned from work.
The four got up, but Li Yingying kept sleeping. Eventually, Zheng Fanghua went over to wake her, saying the older youths were back.
Li Yingying opened her eyes briefly, then went back to sleep. Zheng Fanghua did not press further; she had done her part.
When Li Ruolan and the others came out of the room, they saw the courtyard bustling with activity.
Some were fetching water, others washing vegetables and cooking.
Seeing the new educated youths, Li Baozong approached and explained the meal arrangements.
“Everyone eats together. This saves time and conserves firewood. Female youths take turns cooking, while male youths fetch water and gather firewood.
You just arrived and have no work points yet, so you don’t have food rations. The brigade will give you some tomorrow.
You can decide later whether to eat with us or cook separately. Each room has a stove. If you cook separately, you will need to provide your own pot.
The vegetable patch in front of the gate belongs to us. There’s plenty to eat, but you are responsible for watering, weeding, and fertilizing.
If you don’t want to do that, you can trade with the villagers. Either way works.”
Li Ruolan discussed it with Deng Minghao, and they decided to eat with everyone for now. Once their house was built, they would move out.
Today, the older female youths Wang Mingzhu and Zhang Bao’er were cooking. Because they had just arrived, they had no rations, so the youth point had to provide food for them.
Li Ruolan noticed that Wang Mingzhu and Zhang Bao’er didn’t look happy. In the original book, these two were known to be stingy, which was normal given how precious food was at the time.
Li Ruolan returned with a small piece of cured meat to add to the meal, as a token of thanks for using the older youths’ food.
Zheng Fanghua and Zhou Shengnan followed suit. One brought half a cured chicken, the other half a jar of meat paste. Qin Wan offered a stick of cured sausage.
Guo Xiaoya and Xu Tao did not have these items but brought some pastries to share.
The male youths, including Deng Minghao, also contributed, except for Li Yingying, who was still asleep.
“Today we don’t have rations, so we will eat yours. Sorry for the trouble. Use this cured meat to cook a dish,” Li Ruolan said, handing the meat to Wang Mingzhu and Zhang Bao’er.
The two originally scowling older youths immediately brightened and accepted it cheerfully.
Zheng Fanghua and Zhou Shengnan also brought food over gradually, improving their moods further.
The oldest female youths, Zheng Hongmei and Li Juhong, exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes at Wang Mingzhu and Zhang Bao’er. Another youth, Sun Qin, quietly stood aside without speaking.
Li Ruolan fetched water and washed her face and hands. Deng Minghao handed her a towel and whispered, “After the meal, let’s go see the village chief to discuss our marriage and building a house.
I asked along the way. Our files have already been transferred. The brigade leader said we could rest tomorrow, so we can go get our marriage certificate then.”
Li Ruolan nodded. “Okay.”
With the male and female leads and the female supporting character here, the youth point was bound to be lively. Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao preferred to stay out of the chaos. Moving out would be more comfortable and save them trouble.
The meal was quickly prepared, but a small conflict arose at the table.
Smelling the food, Li Yingying finally came out of her room, blushing. She apologized to the older youths and sat down to eat.
Her actions caused no objections from the others, but Wang Mingzhu and Zhang Bao’er were displeased.
“Since you just arrived, we had to share our rations. These meat dishes were provided by the new arrivals as a thank you. You didn’t bring anything, so you shouldn’t eat the meat. There’s barely enough for us.”
Wang Mingzhu said sharply. Zhang Bao’er agreed, “Yes, eat the porridge, vegetables, and bread if you like, but leave the meat.”