Xu Tao glanced thoughtfully at the brigade leader and the others, subtly slowing his pace. Once everyone else had gone inside, he went to speak with the brigade leader.
“What? You want to build a house to live in too?” the brigade leader raised an eyebrow at Xu Tao.
These new youths—what was going on with them? Every single one was wealthy, wanting to build their own houses.
Xu Tao explained the situation with Guo Xiaoya to the brigade leader. “We’re already engaged, and marriage is inevitable. Once the house is built, we’ll go get our marriage certificate. Living with the other youths isn’t convenient for us.”
What Deng Minghao said at noon was correct. He and Guo Xiaoya had been betrothed since childhood. After his family had troubles, Guo Xiaoya didn’t break the engagement but followed him to the countryside.
He had to take responsibility as a man and give Guo Xiaoya enough security.
So Xu Tao and Guo Xiaoya agreed that it was time to get married. Since they were marrying, they needed to move out—the youth commune was too crowded.
The brigade leader was even more surprised. Among the new youths, two couples were planning to get married—it was unusual.
“All right, we’ll measure your land as well. Any special requirements?” the brigade leader asked.
Xu Tao replied, “You’re measuring Deng Ruolan’s and Li Ruolan’s houses, right? Build mine the same way as theirs. Let me know how much money is needed, and I’ll get it immediately.”
Everyone at the youth commune knew about Deng Minghao and Li Ruolan’s relationship. Aside from Qin Wan, no one knew that they had already gotten their marriage certificate.
When they returned that day, Qin Wan noticed that Deng Minghao and Li Ruolan didn’t plan to tell anyone, so she didn’t reveal it either.
Their relationship was close enough that marriage was inevitable. With the brigade leader now measuring land, it was obvious that they were moving out to get married.
The brigade leader nodded. “Fine, same as theirs. Take fifty yuan for now. If it’s not all used, return the remainder. If it’s not enough, you can add more later.”
Next month was harvest time for corn. After that, with the first frost, they’d harvest sweet potatoes, followed by vegetables like cabbage. After that, there’d be no more work.
During the four to five months of downtime, most people earned nothing.
For the new youths hiring villagers to build houses, three houses cost 150 yuan. The villagers would earn a fair amount, so the brigade leader encouraged more houses being built—more houses meant more income for the villagers.
Xu Tao had brought a substantial amount of money with him, and Guo Xiaoya’s family situation was also good. They could easily provide fifty yuan.
After collecting the money, the brigade leader arranged for another plot of land to be measured.
At dinner, the older youths discussed building houses near the youth commune, speculating whether more new youths were arriving.
Deng Minghao, Li Ruolan, and Qin Wan quietly ate without speaking. Xu Tao naturally stayed silent too, listening to the older youths’ guesses.
After dinner, everyone queued to wash up and went to bed. Exhausted, the night passed quietly until morning.
After a week of weeding, Li Ruolan and the others had almost adjusted to the physical demands of the work.
Guo Xiaoya still couldn’t handle it. In the end, Xu Tao brought her to the brigade leader and requested a lighter task: working with the children to collect pig fodder, earning only two work points a day.
Initially, the brigade leader disagreed. Later, learning that Guo Xiaoya’s family situation was good and she received monthly allowances, he agreed since she wouldn’t starve.
At the end of August, heavy rain fell, and the brigade leader let everyone rest for two days. The first day was nonstop rain; by the second morning, the rain had stopped.
Once the rain cleared, the older youths carried their baskets and prepared to go up the mountain to gather mushrooms. After rain, mushrooms were plentiful, free, and edible—a source of food.
“You’re running low on food, so gather extra mushrooms. The mountain has plenty of good things that can serve as food,” the brigade leader explained.
The new youths immediately put on shoes and slung baskets over their shoulders, ready to pick mushrooms and wood ear fungus with the older youths.
Stepping out of the youth commune, they saw the brigade leader busy near the edge of the commune. The group greeted him and then headed up the mountain.
It was Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao’s first time gathering mushrooms. Everything they saw was fascinating.
They picked many mushrooms, but after the older youths checked, most were inedible. Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao began picking only the edible ones.
The mountain mostly had grass mushrooms and trumpet mushrooms, with large patches of wood ear fungus growing on dead trees.
Once on the mountain, the youths spread out, except for Li Yingying. She followed others, grabbing mushrooms in groups whenever she saw them.
After a few attempts, both new and older youths looked displeased at her. Li Yingying pretended not to notice, her face thick-skinned.
Her situation was desperate. She had little money and would soon run out of food. If she didn’t pick more mushrooms, she’d go hungry.
Li Yingying had wanted to join Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao, but one look from Deng Minghao made her retreat shamefully.
Qin Wan didn’t roam around for mushrooms. She moved deeper into the forest, where the wood-element energy was stronger.
However, lacking self-defense ability, she only stayed where everyone could see her. She subtly absorbed the wood-element energy while sensing good resources nearby.
Soon, she found a wild pheasant, but it had flown off. She did, however, find six or seven wild eggs.
Qin Wan was about to put the eggs in her basket. Wild eggs, no matter how small, were still eggs.
Since arriving at Shengli Brigade, she had eaten only bran meals. Even in the post-apocalyptic world, she had never eaten such terrible food.
Having endured so much, she was ecstatic to find wild eggs—they would improve her meals.
Before she could celebrate for long, Li Yingying’s unpleasant voice came from behind.
“What did you find? What is that? Oh my god! Wild eggs!”
Li Yingying was being deliberately provocative. She had already seen Qin Wan finding something valuable. Seeing the eggs made her drool.
She wouldn’t let Qin Wan secretly keep the eggs. If Qin Wan shared them, she could get a portion too.