Tang Tang checked on her space. Good, it was still there.
The supplies? Still there too.
Only then did she finally feel completely relieved.
After stretching her body a bit, she got out of bed and looked around the room.
It seemed she was living here alone. She didn’t see any of anyone else’s belongings. There was a small heated brick bed, at most about two meters wide. A travel bag sat in the corner of the bed, probably not unpacked yet because she had been feeling sick these past few days.
Beside the bed was an enamel mug, and on a wooden stool below sat an enamel washbasin.
…
That was it.
Those few things were all she owned.
According to her memories, three educated youths had arrived together this time, including another man and woman. Looking at the time, it should almost be time for everyone to get off work and eat dinner.
Supporting herself against the wall, she slowly walked outside.
Right outside the door was the kitchen. There were two clay stoves, one on each side. Another door stood across the kitchen, likely leading to another room, though it was tightly shut.
On the right side were two small doors. Based on her impression of Northeastern rural homes, they were probably used for storing dishes and firewood.
This little house truly had everything a proper Northeastern countryside residence should have.
The door on the left side of the kitchen led directly into the yard. The door was open, so after thinking for a moment, she followed the light outside.
Just as she steadied herself against the wall, she saw streams of people heading back from afar.
Had they finished work already?
As she was thinking that, a pleasantly surprised voice rang out.
“Tang Tang, you’re awake?”
This was Zhang Hongjun, the senior educated youth at the youth station. He was a genuine Northeastern man who had already been here for more than a year.
“Mm, Brother Zhang, I’m feeling much better. Did everyone just get off work?”
“Yeah, we’re going back to cook now. Come over and eat with us later.”
Only then did Tang Tang realize something was off.
The educated youth station was actually next door.
When they first arrived, the women’s dorm next door only had space for one more person, meaning one of the female educated youths had to stay with a local family. Everyone knew living with villagers was nowhere near as convenient as living independently, so naturally no one wanted to go.
Then they discovered this broken little house.
The older educated youths all knew what this place was like—wind leaked through it on sunny days, rain leaked through it on rainy days, and it looked ready to collapse at any moment.
The other newly arrived female educated youth had been so frightened that she immediately backed away.
The original owner, however, had always wanted a quiet place of her own because of her unusual strength. Now that the perfect opportunity had appeared, she weakly said in her sickly voice:
“Th-then I’ll go.”
The whole situation looked like a classic scene of a group bullying a weak, sickly girl.
The village leaders also didn’t like educated youths mixing too closely with villagers. Seeing the problem solved, they didn’t say anything more, though they did think a little more highly of the girl.
Newly arrived educated youths didn’t yet have grain rations. The village loaned food to them, and after the autumn harvest they would repay it using work points.
Because she had been sick, her food ration hadn’t been separated out yet, which was why Zhang Hongjun invited her to eat with them.
“Okay.”
Tang Tang silently planned to separate her food supply later. Though everyone said it was out of concern, over time resentment would inevitably build. Besides, now that she was here, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
After finishing a meal of thin porridge and coarse grain pancakes, Zhang Hongjun and the two male educated youths helped move her ration supplies into the neighboring kitchen.
As for the so-called rations, each person only received thirty jin of cornmeal, thirty jin of dark flour mixed with wheat bran, fifty jin of sweet potatoes, plus a little potato and cabbage.
By this period, Northeastern China no longer mainly cultivated wheat. Rice, corn, and soybeans had become the primary crops. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, the main staple crops were corn, sorghum, wheat, sweet potatoes, and a small amount of rice.
The wheat was dark wheat, which produced black-colored flour.
If the bran were sifted out and the flour used to steam buns, the rich aroma of wheat would make anyone drool.
But that counted as precious fine grain now. Nobody was willing to waste it. People wished they could mix in even more bran so the food would last longer.
According to the original owner’s memories, this was the 1960s, though history here didn’t seem entirely identical to the history Tang Tang remembered.
Maybe this was simply a parallel world?
If historical events followed a similar trajectory, then there were still at least sixteen or seventeen years before returning to the city became possible.
And thinking about the original owner’s troublesome family, relying on them was impossible.
That meant the greatest opportunity to return to the city would probably be the restoration of the college entrance examination.
In other words, she would have to live here for over a decade.
The original owner had just graduated high school this year and was only sixteen years old. Sixteen or seventeen years later, she would already be over thirty.
Wait…
Didn’t that mean she would probably marry and have children here?
She wasn’t opposed to the idea.
Neither the original owner nor Tang Tang herself had ever been particularly ambitious people. Both preferred peaceful and quiet lives.
As for this place, from what the original owner had learned during the past few days, the people here were generally simple and honest.
There was only one issue.
Poor.
Very poor.
Extremely poor.
Since she had mentally prepared herself to settle down here long-term, there were some things she needed to reconsider.
Food wasn’t a problem. Publicly, she had those coarse grains, but once she closed her doors, who would know what she actually ate?
As for clothing, her space really did contain suitable items. Back then, she had purchased a batch of outdated labor cloth clothing from a garment factory, along with huge amounts of fabric.
The stock had apparently been sitting in storage for years. She remembered practically clearing out the entire warehouse, causing the old factory director to tear up while grabbing her hands and calling her a savior.
The factory had too much unsold inventory and no money to purchase new materials. They had been unable to pay wages for a long time.
If Tang Tang hadn’t appeared, the factory truly would have gone bankrupt.
No wonder the old director called her a savior.
There were so many clothes that even if she changed outfits every single day, she still wouldn’t finish wearing them in several lifetimes.
The biggest issue was housing.
If she only planned to remain an ordinary educated youth while waiting to return to the city, then enduring this broken little house would have been manageable.
But now that she intended to stay long-term, simply making do was no longer enough.