A few more days passed, and the house was fully dried and ready for moving in.
However, Ning Xuan, Xu Jiajia, and the others planned to move in a couple of days later because Liu Jun and Huang Xiaomei were getting married.
They had already obtained their marriage certificate, but the couple hadn’t held the wedding banquet yet. At that time, people placed greater importance on the ceremonial aspect of marriage—only after the banquet was held was a marriage considered official.
So, Ning Xuan and the others decided to let Liu Jun move into the new house first after his wedding, and they would move in afterward. This was also to avoid stealing the spotlight from the bride and groom.
Liu Jun and Huang Xiaomei had been planning their wedding for a long time and had saved up money and ration coupons well in advance.
As the eldest children in their respective families, they couldn’t expect much help from home. They had written to inform their families about the wedding, but no one came. Still, their families managed to send a few items as gifts.
On the wedding day, neither Liu Jun nor Huang Xiaomei had a complete new set of clothes. They each had a new top made and wore their best pair of pants.
Huang Xiaomei didn’t have any makeup. She applied some face cream and used red paper to tint her lips, making them brighter and more vibrant.
She also rubbed red paper on her cheeks to add a rosy glow to her sun-tanned skin. Combined with the natural blush of excitement and shyness, she looked quite beautiful.
The wedding guests included the brigade leader, Zhou Aiguo—who had always been supportive of the Educated Youth Compound—and two Daniangs, all of whom brought gifts and stayed for the banquet. Also present were all the Educated Youth from the compound.
Other villagers came to join in the festivities as well. Though they didn’t bring gifts or stay for the meal, they could grab some sunflower seeds and peanuts to snack on.
The couple made an effort to make the day special. Liu Jun borrowed an oxcart from the brigade, picked up Huang Xiaomei from the Educated Youth Compound, and the two took a round through the brigade before arriving at their new home next door.
A double happiness character was pasted on both the main door and the room door.
The new home was sparsely furnished. Apart from moving their belongings from the Educated Youth Center, they had only added a small double-door wardrobe and a dining table. No other new furniture was bought.
As Educated Youth, both of them secretly hoped not to stay in the countryside forever. Huang Xiaomei initially thought the wardrobe was unnecessary and a waste, but Liu Jun insisted. He felt that since he couldn’t offer a proper bride price, the least he could do was provide a wardrobe.
Thanks to Liu Jun’s persistence, they added the small wardrobe. And it must be said—with the wardrobe in place, the feeling of a home began to emerge.
Zhou Jianguo presided over the wedding ceremony. The couple recited quotations in front of a portrait of the leader and pledged to become revolutionary partners.
Everyone applauded, and then the crowd began teasing Liu Jun, demanding to know when he and Huang Xiaomei had gotten together.
Of course, Liu Jun didn’t give a straightforward answer. He said that during their labor, they had developed mutual admiration for each other. As they got to know one another better, they decided to establish a revolutionary bond. With that, he brushed off the teasing.
After the lively banter died down and the sunflower seeds and peanuts were all finished, the onlookers, having seen the bride, groom, and the ceremony, gradually dispersed.
Those who were invited and had brought gifts stayed to enjoy the banquet.
The banquet was simple—only two tables in total. Each table had just two meat dishes: one was Braised Pork, made from pork Liu Jun had asked Lu Xun to buy, prepared generously and heartily; the other was scrambled eggs.
Then there were the vegetables produced from the Educated Youth's private plots. Liu Jun and Huang Xiaomei had initially wanted to pay the other Educated Youth for them, but everyone insisted it wasn't necessary, considering it their contribution to the couple's wedding.
With both meat and vegetable dishes, along with soup, there were six dishes in total. The staples were Erhe Rice and steamed corn buns. Though simple, it was quite impressive for the times.
Whether it was the Educated Youth or the brigade leader and others, their usual diets lacked oil and richness, so everyone found this meal particularly satisfying.
The Educated Youth pooled their money and ration coupons to buy wedding gifts: a fountain pen and notebook, a box of face cream, and two towels.
The brigade leader and others gave eggs laid by their own chickens. While these might not seem valuable by modern standards, they were quite respectable gifts at that time.
After the meal, Ning Xuan and the others voluntarily stayed behind to help wash dishes and clean up.
Once everything was done, the guests bid farewell to the newlyweds, leaving the couple to their private time.
Thus concluded a simple yet deeply moving wedding ceremony.
Ning Xuan felt that attending such a wedding was quite comfortable, far less exhausting than what she had experienced in modern times.
Indeed, Ning Xuan recalled how in the past, weddings weren't just tiring for the bride and groom—the guests were equally exhausted. They had to listen to the host's various speeches, wait for the newlyweds to complete all the rituals, and then wait for hotel staff to slowly serve the dishes.
In contrast, rural weddings had fewer procedures. Guests could basically start eating upon arrival. Without so many complicated formalities, everything felt much less draining.
Three days later, Liu Jun and Huang Xiaomei specifically returned to the Educated Youth Compound. Everyone gathered for a simple meal, just like their usual fare, to observe the traditional "returning home" ritual.
After Huang Xiaomei's homecoming visit, they completely moved all their belongings and food supplies.
Ning Xuan and the others then began moving to the newly built small compound.
Besides four rooms, the small compound had a smaller building serving as the kitchen. Ning Xuan and the others had already agreed in advance to cook meals together.
Since the toilet and water well in the Educated Youth Compound were located within its walls—though not too far away—it would be inconvenient to keep going back after moving out. Therefore, they built a separate pit latrine and shower room in their new compound, and dug a water well.
Though it was still a pit latrine, fewer people would be using it. They planned to cover the waste with plant ash after each use and clean it out regularly, which would still be better than sharing with many others.
For the shower room floor, Lu Xun and Zhou Zhipeng specifically collected many stones, embedding them into the ground and leveling them as much as possible, making it quite aesthetically pleasing.
Although the compound was small, the brigade was generous enough to allocate private plots based on the number of people.
Ning Xuan and the others had started planting vegetables in their plots even before moving in. Now the vegetables were beginning to sprout, and soon they would be able to eat their own homegrown greens without having to fetch them from the Educated Youth Compound.
Lu Xun suggested that the two rooms closer to the compound walls should be occupied by him and Zhou Zhipeng, while Ning Xuan and Xu Jiajia would take the two middle rooms.
Everyone agreed, and thus their room assignments were settled. From left to right, the rooms would be: Lu Xun, Ning Xuan, Xu Jiajia, and Zhou Zhipeng.
On moving day, they invited the brigade leader and the other Educated Youth for a housewarming feast.
Although Lu Xun and the others had the means to prepare a more lavish feast, they chose not to do so.
On one hand, they didn't want people comparing it to Liu Jun's wedding banquet from a few days prior. On the other hand, moving out to live separately was already drawing enough attention, so it was better to keep a low profile. Thus, the housewarming meal consisted of just one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one stir-fry combining meat and vegetables—still quite satisfying.
After the housewarming feast ended and the cleanup was done, Ning Xuan lay on the kang, which was now hers alone, rolling around comfortably.
Ah, it wasn't easy—finally, she had her own private space!
Since the walls were made of mud and prone to shedding debris, Ning Xuan and the others had prepared old newspapers in advance. They checked to ensure there was no inappropriate content before pasting them on the wall, though only the section behind the kang was covered.
To save firewood, the kang in their individual dormitory was built relatively small. Ning Xuan had also set up a mosquito net.
When they first arrived, the Zhiqing Dormitory used mugwort to repel mosquitoes, but she still got bitten from time to time. Sometimes, she would scratch herself until she bled in the middle of the night. It wasn't until she connected with the modern dimension that she managed to bring out the mosquito net, greatly improving her sleep quality.
In short, moving out and having a room to herself had significantly enhanced her comfort level.