Using the tools available at the youth point, Su Yun cleaned up her room. Zhao Jiayan came by afterward and gave everyone a stack of old newspapers to lay on the kang.
She spread the newspapers over the earthen kang, placed her luggage on top, and took a look around. The room had the kang at the far end, a small window in the wall pasted over with old newspapers, and the rest of the space was empty.
It was just past two in the afternoon. Su Yun planned to go get some furniture for storage.
She headed out and had barely stepped through the door when she ran into Liu Huan, who had come looking for her.
“Comrade Zhao said he’ll take us to the carpenter’s place! Everyone’s waiting at the gate!”
“Hurry, hurry! We need mats for the kang — we can’t just sleep on newspapers.”
Su Yun quickly followed along.
“Let’s go. What else do you need to get?” Liu Huan took Su Yun’s hand as they walked. “I want a kang cabinet — otherwise, I have nowhere to put my things.”
They followed Zhao Jiayan for a few minutes until they reached a house. The gate was open, so they walked straight in.
The carpenter was Zhou Laosi, a well-known craftsman in the surrounding brigades and the uncle of Brigade Leader Zhou Zhengguo. He was a small, dark, thin old man but looked sturdy.
The younger villagers called him Fourth Master Zhou. Everything the youth point needed had been obtained from him.
Zhao Jiayan greeted him first: “Fourth Master, the new educated youth need some furniture. We’ve come to take a look.”
“I knew new youth were coming, so I’ve been making cabinets in advance. They’re in that room over there — go pick whatever you want.”
Fourth Master Zhou sat on the doorstep, puffing on his pipe, and pointed to a side room.
Su Yun and the others crowded over. The room was packed with items — seven or eight kang cabinets, plus plenty of tables, chairs, and wooden trunks.
In the end, Liu Huan and Li Jianjun, who were staying in the communal rooms, each got just one kang cabinet.
The others in private rooms each took a kang cabinet, a wooden trunk, a desk-and-chair set, and a washbasin stand. Su Yun also got an extra wooden basin.
Each person also took a kang mat. They carried the mats back to the youth point first; the furniture would be delivered later by cart, brought by Fourth Master Zhou’s sons and grandsons.
The cost of the furniture would be settled through the accountant, who would convert it into work points for Fourth Master Zhou when they collected their subsidies later.
Not long after they returned to the youth point, Fourth Master Zhou’s sons delivered the items.
Once the furniture was all set up, Su Yun surveyed the room. This would be her home for the next several years!
The kang was covered with a mat, and on top of that, she spread the original owner’s old quilt as a mattress.
At the foot of the kang, against the wall, sat the kang cabinet and the large wooden trunk. To the right of the door, against the wall, was the desk and chair. Beside the door stood the washbasin stand.
Su Yun put small odds and ends — like the clam oil and hair ties — into the kang cabinet, and placed the original owner’s few old clothes, along with the buraji dress, into the wooden trunk.
After a moment’s thought, she took out the two outfits and two pairs of cloth shoes she’d gotten from check-in. Both sets were made of cotton — pretty, and just right for rural wear, not as flashy as a dacron shirt.
The two outfits had the same cut — black straight-leg pants with different colored tops: one a dark blue floral print, the other a brownish-yellow plaid pattern. Both had shirt-style collars and were finely made.
Su Yun changed into the plaid set right away. It fit perfectly, and the pure cotton was comfortable and breathable. Wearing long sleeves to work in the fields during summer would also keep her from getting sunburned.
She folded the other set and put it in the wooden trunk, along with the new shoes. That freed up one storage slot.
The washbasin stand had three tiers. She draped her towel over the edge of the top tier, placed her toothbrush, toothpaste, cup, and soap on it, and set the enamel basin on the middle tier for washing her face.
The bottom tier held the wooden basin, for washing her feet and bathing, as well as for doing laundry.
She also placed her canteen on the desk. That was when she realized — she had no bowls, chopsticks, or drinking cup! Her only enamel mug was already being used as a toothbrush cup…
Looks like she’d have to make a trip to the county town tomorrow. There were too many things she was missing — and she still needed to buy a lock.
The door had a wooden bolt on the inside that could be slid shut, but there was no lock on the outside. When she left, all she could do was leave the door closed.
Su Yun had just lain down on the bed to rest when a knock came at the door — thump, thump, thump. She sighed, got up again, and opened it.
It was An Qin, here to call her to go collect their grain rations.
Su Yun joined the others and walked over to the brigade office next door.
Accountant Wang Lei issued them this month’s subsidy of eight yuan and 32 jin of grain rations.
However, since they’d all bought furniture, the eight yuan was handed right back, and Su Yun even had to chip in extra.
She’d bought a lot: a kang cabinet, a desk-and-chair set, a large wooden trunk, a washbasin stand, and a wooden basin — all together costing 15 yuan.
Not counting the forty yuan in her storage, she now had 13 yuan left.
Su Yun figured that probably wouldn’t be enough for tomorrow’s trip to the county town.
She looked at the two cloth bags in her hands — the grain ration contained 10 jin of fine grains and 22 jin of coarse grains.
The fine grains were wheat flour, not as white and fine as modern flour. It had a slight yellowish tinge, with occasional bits of bran visible.
The coarse grains were corn grits — locally called “baogu chazi” — crushed corn kernels, slightly smaller than rice grains.
The two cloth bags were temporarily lent to them by the brigade. When they collected their next month’s rations, they’d need to bring their own bags, and these two would have to be returned.
As they carried their grain back to the youth point, Tao Yining turned to Zhao Jiayan.
“Comrade Zhao, how are meals arranged at the youth point? Do we pool our grain together?”
“No need — just keep your own grain in your room. Let the cook know how much you’ll need the night before.”
“We’ve got some vegetables growing on the youth point’s private plot. There’s also a rotating schedule: the female educated youth cook and water the plot, while the male educated youth fetch water. We’ll sort that out once everyone’s here,” Zhao Jiayan explained patiently.
“What about firewood?” Li Jianguo asked.
“Firewood for cooking is separate. Each person contributes four baskets of firewood per month. Whatever’s left, you can save for winter to heat your own kang.”
“If you dig up wild vegetables or mushrooms while gathering firewood, you can add them to the communal kitchen for everyone. If you gather a lot of mushrooms, you can dry them and send them home or take them to the supply cooperative.”
“Comrade Zhao, you’re so thoughtful — explaining everything so clearly! No wonder you’re the head of the youth point!” Tao Yining looked up at Zhao Jiayan with adoring eyes, her gaze watery as she blinked a couple of times.
Zhao Jiayan was a little flustered by the look. “Not at all, not at all — this is just what I should be doing!”
And there it was!
The female lead had begun her flattery campaign!
Su Yun watched Tao Yining’s starry-eyed expression with astonishment. The female lead was truly a first-class flatterer — in the book, she’d used all kinds of modern-style praise to make the male lead feel on cloud nine, even to the point of abandoning his fiancée.
To be fair, the male lead had once secretly liked An Qin — how could he not? She was a stunning beauty, and they’d grown up in the same compound. It was only natural to develop feelings!
He’d even been the one to propose the engagement to his parents. The two families were close, and when his parents found out he was interested, they agreed without hesitation.
He’d been genuinely happy to learn An Qin was coming — Su Yun had noticed him sneaking glances at her several times along the way.
Unfortunately, An Qin was rather aloof with him, treating him like any ordinary neighbor, which bruised his fragile ego.
With a pretty, adoring female educated youth by his side, he’d wavered and weighed his options for a long time — and eventually chose Tao Yining, who seemed more dependent on him.
…
Everyone carried their grain back to their respective rooms. Su Yun set her grain bags on the corner of the desk against the wall.
She turned and bolted the door from the inside — finally, she could relax!
Everyone else was resting now. It would be a few hours before the other youth returned from the fields, so they could get some sleep after their exhausting day.
Su Yun was a bit hungry and decided to have a boxed meal. Conveniently, she didn’t have any bowls for dinner yet, and after eating, the lunch box could double as a bowl.
On the first day on the train, she’d checked in and gotten [Boxed Meal ×4] — the braised pork kind. Yesterday’s check-in had given her another [Boxed Meal ×4], though the dishes were random.
And this morning, before getting off the train, she’d checked in and gotten [Moutai ×2].
Su Yun took out the four random boxed meals from yesterday and opened each lid to take a look.
One was braised fish fillet over rice, two were stir-fried sour beans with pork, and one was the cucumber stir-fried with pork she’d had on the train.
She closed the lids and put them back. She still preferred the braised pork!
She didn’t have chopsticks, but luckily each boxed meal came with a ceramic spoon — otherwise, she’d have to eat with her hands!
The braised pork was glossy and beautiful. Each box came not only with rice and vegetables but also a fried egg.
Su Yun ate the egg first, took a sip of water from her canteen, and then began savoring the braised pork from this era.
It was incredible!
Tender, flavorful, and fatty but not greasy — even better than the braised pork she’d had in modern restaurants!
She didn’t know if it was because the pork quality was better back then, or if the train’s chef was particularly skilled.
It was so good that Su Yun seriously considered buying a train ticket right then and staying on it for a month, checking in every day to stock up for later.
The portion was generous, and Su Yun ate until she was completely full. She patted her round belly and stretched lazily.
The daily necessities set had included two rolls of toilet paper. Su Yun took out a small stack.
The toilet paper was pink, each sheet large — about 70 by 130 centimeters — and needed to be cut or torn to the desired size.
Back then, toilet paper was a women’s product, specifically used as sanitary pads inside menstrual belts, and rarely used for wiping anything else.
City dwellers usually used old newspapers for toilet purposes — at most, they’d crumple them in their hands to soften them up first.
In the countryside, most people just used leaves and twigs.
And for wiping their mouths, everyone used handkerchiefs.
These two big rolls would last her several years!
She pulled out a sheet, tore off a piece, wiped the oil from her lunch box, then rinsed it with water — clean enough.
She didn’t have scissors, so she tore the stack of paper into smaller pieces by hand. She put some in her cloth bag for daily use and stored the rest in the kang cabinet.
She covered the lunch box and set it on the table, then opened the window to let the food smell air out.
Then she lay down on the bed, ready to sleep for a solid two hours, planning to get up again once the other educated youth returned to the point in the evening.