The night passed quietly.
As soon as dawn began to break, the Yang family was already up and about.
Since the injury on Yang Tao’s head had not fully healed and there were plenty of family members available to work, Grandma Yang told her to rest for a few more days.
Because she had spent most of the previous night lost in thought and gone to bed very late, Yang Tao didn’t get up with the rest of the family.
After those going to work had left for the fields and those attending school had gone to class, leaving her alone at home, she went back to sleep for a while.
Without a clock, Yang Tao estimated it was around nine o’clock when she finally woke up.
There were two boiled sweet potatoes left in the pot, which had been saved for her breakfast.
After finishing them, she washed all the dishes and chopsticks in the house and then found some work for herself.
Although she wasn’t particularly hardworking, everyone else in the family was laboring away in the fields.
Since she was already feeling much better, she couldn’t very well spend every day lying in bed.
So she tidied up her parents’ room, her grandparents’ room, and the room she shared with her cousins.
Afterward, she gathered the clothes everyone had changed out of and took them to the pond by the entrance of the village to wash.
By the time she finished all that, it was nearly noon.
It was time to prepare lunch.
The family’s grain supply was locked away in Grandma Yang’s cabinet. Normally, Grandma Yang would return from work and cook, so Yang Tao only went to the family’s private vegetable plot and picked some vegetables in advance.
The rest would have to wait until Grandma Yang came home.
About half an hour later, family members gradually returned.
She noticed that neither her grandfather nor her father was among them.
Her eldest brother explained that they had gone with Educated Youth Chen to the team leader’s house to discuss a building site.
After finishing work, Yang Dazhu had headed toward the educated youth residence.
On the way, he met his father, and the two of them went together to the team leader’s house.
In fact, the team leader’s family and the Yang family were related.
The team leader, Yang Yougen, and Grandpa Yang were cousins within five generations, since their grandfathers had been brothers.
The educated youth residence was located at the edge of the village.
Fetching Educated Youth Chen took some time, so by the time they arrived at the team leader’s house, the family was preparing to eat lunch.
“Second Brother, Dazhu, you’re here. And Educated Youth Chen too. Come eat with us.”
Team Leader Yang Yougen warmly greeted them.
“Yougen, we’ve interrupted your meal. Food has already been prepared at home for us, and we’ll eat when we get back.”
“We mainly came to ask about something.”
“Educated Youth Chen and our Tao Ya are planning to get married. The educated youth residence doesn’t have enough room, so we’d like to ask whether the vacant land behind our house can be allocated to them for building a home.”
“Educated Youth Chen and Tao Ya are getting married?”
“That’s wonderful news.”
“Under normal circumstances, Educated Youth Chen’s household registration has already been transferred to our village, and since he’s marrying a local girl, approving a house site shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’ll discuss it with the accountant and the others this afternoon. It should be fine.”
“Team Leader,” Educated Youth Chen spoke up, “I’d also like to ask whether you could help me obtain some blue bricks. I want to build a brick-and-tile house.”
The moment he finished speaking, not only was the team leader surprised, but Grandpa Yang and Yang Tao’s father were as well.
They hadn’t expected him to build a blue-brick house.
After all, among the village’s twenty or thirty households, only four or five families owned blue-brick homes.
The rest, like the Yang family, lived in houses built from homemade mud bricks.
While mud-brick houses weren’t as sturdy or attractive, they were far cheaper.
“There are bricks available,” Yang Yougen replied, “but you may have to wait.”
“A brick kiln recently opened in neighboring Linquan Town, but they prioritize residents of their own town.”
“I can write you a letter of introduction. You can take it there and ask when the time comes.”
After obtaining the introduction letter, the group headed back.
Grandpa Yang and Yang Tao’s father invited Educated Youth Chen to eat at their home, but he declined.
He explained that lunch had already been prepared for him at the educated youth residence.
Seeing this, neither of them insisted.
The three men walked together for part of the journey home, discussing plans for the new house along the way.
When they reached a fork in the road, they parted ways and continued toward their respective destinations.