Gu Qiu quickly spoke up, "Me too! Just like Educated Youth Shen, I'll buy meat for an extra meal once my house is built."
Wen Yixun, Ji Bai, and Wang Nan also quickly chimed in, stating they would buy meat.
After discussing the house, Shen Zhao asked again, "Team Leader, do you have any empty rooms at your place? I'd like to rent one for a few days until my new house is built."
He Jianping heard this and frowned, looking towards Green Mountain outside the door.
After thinking for a long time, he said, "I don't have any extra rooms at my house, but I can clear out my eldest daughter's room. She can sleep with her mother temporarily, and my son and I can squeeze together. As for the rent..."
"One yuan a day," Shen Zhao stated calmly.
She wouldn't give him the initiative, so she proposed a high price she could accept herself.
That house would take at least half a month to build, which would be over ten yuan, equivalent to half a month's wages for a city worker.
"Deal," the Team Leader immediately agreed.
This village was too remote and too poor.
As the Team Leader, he couldn't resist this income.
"Then come home with me later, and I'll show you around."
Shen Zhao nodded.
Gu Qiu and the others discussed it and finally decided to return to the Educated Youth Point to stay for the time being, making do.
They weren't like Shen Zhao; they didn't have her formidable combat power. Staying in the home of an unfamiliar villager was much more dangerous than staying at the Educated Youth Point.
Since they were all at the Production Brigade, He Jianping called the finance officer and had their grain rations distributed.
"After you finish this grain, you can come to the Production Brigade to get an advance, or you can find your own way."
"Alright, you can all go back now."
Gu Qiu and the others left with their grain.
Shen Zhao, however, followed the Team Leader home.
His house was in the center of the village, also without a courtyard wall. In front of the house was a large flat area used for drying grain.
The foundation was made of stones, the walls of yellow mud mixed with straw, and the doors and windows were wooden. The black tiles looked quite beautiful against the misty Green Mountain, exuding a rustic charm of life.
Everyone had gone to work at this time, so no one was home.
He Jianping led her into the house and pointed to the innermost room on the west side, saying, "You can rest here for a while. When my daughter finishes work, I'll have her tidy up the room for you."
Shen Zhao nodded.
The room wasn't large, only about ten square meters, and quite dim. Besides a single bed and a box, there were only some miscellaneous sundries.
It was, however, kept quite clean.
It was barely habitable.
After giving his instructions, He Jianping left in a hurry, leaving Shen Zhao alone.
She put down her two large bags and then strolled out, looking at the village surrounded by mountains on three sides, sighing in her heart.
A light rain had started to fall from the sky, making the distant mountains hazy. The people working on the hillside, wearing bamboo hats, looked like ants, diligently doing their jobs.
This village had no electricity, making it even dimmer at this moment.
Shen Zhao closed the door and walked along the path towards the village, seeing a few children carrying bamboo baskets.
She quickly went up to them and took out a handful of fruit candy.
"Kids, do any of you know who in the village does carpentry?"
The children exchanged glances. One of them, a boy about seven or eight years old who looked very much like the Team Leader,
spoke up, "I haven't seen you before. Are you a new Educated Youth?"
"Yes, so, do you know? I'll treat you to candy."
He Xiaoshan looked at the candy, his eyes showing longing. "Okay, I'll take you."
"Thank you," Shen Zhao said, distributing a piece of candy to each child.
In those days, children might not get to eat candy even once a year. They cherished the candy they received, putting it in their mouths, licking the wrappers clean before storing them in their bamboo hats.
He Xiaoshan, with candy in his mouth, handed his bamboo basket to a companion behind him. "You guys take this back for me."
After saying that, he led Shen Zhao into the village.
As they walked, Shen Zhao subtly tried to gather information.
She soon learned the general situation of the village. It wasn't large, with only a few dozen households, and they lived quite spread out.
Unlike some villages where everyone lived close together, and you could reach a neighbor's house in a few steps.
Here, the closest distance between any two households was at least a hundred meters, so from a distance, it looked like houses scattered here and there.
Most people in this village were surnamed Tan and He.
He Jianping was the Team Leader, and the Village Party Secretary was surnamed Tan.
Although these two surnames were in the same village, their territories were clearly divided: the right side belonged to the Tans, and the left side to the Hes. The two surnames appeared friendly on the surface and intermarried.
However, there were still some petty conflicts behind the scenes.
But this was all her analysis.
Children didn't understand these things.
He just knew that the adults at home didn't like them playing with children surnamed Tan.
He Xiaoshan led Shen Zhao uphill for a while, arriving outside a house on the right side.
The buildings on the Tan family's side were noticeably more clustered, with some even having stilt houses.
In front of this family's house, many logs and bamboo were piled up.
In the middle was an open room, filled with wood shavings and already planed wooden planks.
"Third Uncle! Are you home?" He Xiaoshan called out from the doorway.
A man with white hair came out, his face stern.
"What is it?"
This man looked older than the Team Leader, around fifty years old.
He wore a dark blue shirt with patches and a black apron around his waist. His hands were dark and cracked, with thick calluses.
Clearly, they were hands used for hard work.
He Xiaoshan shrunk his neck, clearly a little afraid of him, and pointed at Shen Zhao, "This Educated Youth sister is looking for you."
Tan Youqun then looked at Shen Zhao.
He had noticed this young lady as soon as she came out. Her eyes were large, and she looked frail, but she had an aura that made her impossible to ignore wherever she went.
However, these Educated Youths were always different.
After staying in the village for a while, this difference would disappear, and they would become no different from the villagers.
"You're looking for me?"
Shen Zhao nodded, "I want to have some furniture made."
"Then come with me."
She was led into the open room.
Tan Youqun pulled over a long stool for her, sat on another side, and took out some leaf tobacco from his pocket to roll.
"What kind of furniture do you want, and what size?"
Shen Zhao frowned at this, "I'm building a house, about thirty square meters. Please make me a single bed, an Eight Immortals Table with matching stools, and a low cabinet to place by the window."
"And also matching windows and a door. Calculate the total cost."
"Hold on," Tan Youqun said, holding the cigarette and taking a deep puff, tilting his head back for a while before saying, "For all of this, give me twenty yuan."
Shen Zhao paid a 5 yuan deposit without a word. "For the windows and doors, you'll need to come and measure once the house is built."
"I know, don't worry, there won't be any problems."
Having received his assurance, she quickly stood up, ready to leave.
The smell of the locally grown leaf tobacco was too strong; she almost threw up just now.
And... and he would take a puff of smoke, spit, and then directly spit on the ground.
Shen Zhao felt like the soles of her feet were dirty.
She hurried out of the room as if escaping, and just as she breathed in the fresh air,
she saw Gu Qiu following a child towards her.
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