The tractor was being driven by a young man in his early thirties.
He only nodded at them and didn’t intend to say anything.
The tractor rumbled along the road into the village. Yun Ting observed the scenery on the way.
This era was truly poor—but compared to the apocalypse, it was heaven.
By the time they returned to the village, it was around eight in the evening. The village was quiet. Everyone had worked all day, eaten, and was preparing to rest. Since this wasn’t the first time sent-down youths had arrived, no one paid them much attention.
At this time, villagers still held prejudices against sent-down youths. Their impression was that the newcomers were weak—unable to lift or carry anything, often falling ill while doing farm work. In short, they couldn’t do anything right, yet they still expected to share the village’s food. Back then, grain was life.
“Come on, I’ll take you to the sent-down youth dorm…” The team leader’s voice was loud and firm. Though he was slightly displeased that most of the new youths were girls, he was still friendly.
The sent-down youth dorm consisted of three connected mud-brick houses, enclosed by a slanted bamboo fence.
Inside, a dim yellow light glowed. It seemed that the leader had told the locals about the new arrivals, so they were waiting for them.
“Zhang Wei, Li Hongxia, come out here!” the team leader called loudly into the house.
“Coming…”
A man and a woman came out. It was too dark to see their faces clearly.
“These are the new sent-down youths. Arrange them accordingly. Any other matters can be addressed tomorrow.”
The team leader turned to leave but suddenly remembered something and stopped. “The new youths, you’ll have tomorrow off. You start work the day after. Make sure you get everything ready—don’t be asking for leave during work without a good reason. Requests without a proper reason will be denied.”
“Understood…”
“Welcome. I’m Zhang Wei, head of this dorm. Left side is for male youths, right side for female youths. Male comrades, follow me. Female comrades, follow Li Hongxia.”
“Hello, I’m Li Hongxia,” the girl said.
Inside the room was a large kang bed. Including Li Hongxia and the new girls from today, there were ten girls in total. The bed was extremely cramped, and it was summer—the heat made everyone’s faces look uncomfortable.
“I know it’s tight now, but it’s late. We’ll make do tonight. Tomorrow the team leader will arrange something better,” Li Hongxia explained.
The girls nodded.
“By the way, you haven’t eaten yet, right? The kitchen has some food set aside for you. It’s next to the male dorm. There’s a water jar in the courtyard if you need to wash up a bit.”
“We know. Thank you, Sister Hongxia,” Yun Ting said with a smile.
The others thanked her as well.
Except for Yin Jiao, the young lady sitting there, who looked the room over with disdain.
Li Hongxia’s normally cold expression softened slightly. She could tell Yin Jiao was dissatisfied, but there was nothing she could do—as long as she didn’t cause trouble, it was fine.
“What kind of trashy place is this? Only one kang for ten people?” Yin Jiao complained.
“Don’t like it? Then leave. Don’t shout and disturb us,” a girl lying on the bed suddenly sat up and retorted.
Yun Ting guessed this was Wang Lijuan.
She remembered that Yin Jiao had immediately clashed with her when she arrived at the dorm.
“Whether I stay or not is none of your business! Is this your home?”
“Enough, stop arguing. We still have to work tomorrow. If you don’t want to stay, find somewhere else,” Li Hongxia said, clearly annoyed.
Yun Ting exchanged a glance with Yang Qingqing, both silently judging Yin Jiao’s brainless behavior.
Causing trouble with the senior youths right after arrival was extremely unwise. Besides, they had been told from the start to just make do for one night—if they didn’t want to stay, they could ask the team leader tomorrow. But of course, Yin Jiao had to make things difficult.
Yun Ting placed her luggage down first, using the dark blue cloth her elder sister had given her to roughly lay out a sleeping space. She’d make do for the night.
Yang Qingqing and Lin Xue also found spots to settle in.
Since someone had kindly left food for them, it would be rude to ignore it. The girls went to the kitchen to eat, as did Lu Jiayan and the others. The pot contained corn porridge so watery that it reflected like a mirror. Everyone slurped up a bowl each.
After quickly washing up, they returned to rest.
The crowd made the dorm cramped and uncomfortable, especially in the summer heat. Some people ground their teeth or snored. Yun Ting felt it was torture. She resolved to ask the team leader tomorrow about moving somewhere else—she simply could not handle sleeping in such crowded conditions.
Even though she had endured harsh environments during the apocalypse, this was unbearable. She fell asleep using her consciousness to tend her space garden, only succumbing when she was utterly exhausted.
Yun Ting felt herself just drifting off when the sounds of everyone waking for work stirred her. She didn’t intend to get up, forcing herself to stay in bed as her eyes ached from fatigue.
Around eight o’clock, she finally opened her eyes groggily.
Seeing that the others hadn’t risen yet either, she assumed they hadn’t slept well.
She reviewed today’s tasks in her mind. First, she needed to ask the team leader if there were other places to stay. She couldn’t stand being crammed in here.
She quietly got out of bed, tiptoed into the courtyard to wash up, and found it empty—senior youths had already gone to work.
Just as she finished washing, Yang Qingqing came out as well.
Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, Yun Ting couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yang Qingqing, your eyes…” she pointed them out playfully.
“I know. I barely slept last night,” Yang Qingqing admitted.
“I’m planning to ask the team leader about other housing. Want to come with me?” Yun Ting invited. She had her own motives—though she didn’t want to get too involved with the male and female leads, it was better for the sent-down youths to stick together.
For now, at least Yang Qingqing was agreeable—nothing complicated, similar values, good potential friend.
She had read plenty of period novels. Sent-down youths were often treated with suspicion in the countryside. Female youths especially were targets of men without wives or local scoundrels. Even with her martial skills and space ability, accidents could happen.
It was wiser to stick together, stay low-profile, and quietly build her fortune. Once the college entrance exams resumed, she could go to Beijing to buy a few courtyard houses and live comfortably.
“Sure, let’s go together. I’ll ask Wang Xue if she wants to come too,” Yun Ting said.
Except for Yin Jiao, everyone was up. After asking Wang Xue, she agreed to join them. The three of them ate a simple snack of cakes and biscuits before heading out.
Yun Ting politely asked Li Zhaodi if she wanted to come. Li Zhaodi shook her head, declining, and Yun Ting didn’t push.
“So, where exactly are we going to see the team leader? His house?”
“It’s work hours now—he shouldn’t be home,” Yang Qingqing replied.
“Oh, right. Yesterday he said we’d collect rations from the team office today. We can ask about housing at the same time.”
None of them knew the way to the team office, but they saw a few children playing ahead.
“Hey, kids, can you tell us how to get to the team office?”
A little boy immediately stood up, looking at them.
“You must be the new sent-down youths from yesterday! I’ll take you to the team office!”