After stumbling and scrambling off the cart, Miao Qing hoisted her bundle and looked at the place where her new life was about to begin—feeling a flicker of excitement.
The bright moon hung high, casting silver light, so everything was clearly visible even without lamplight.
The educated youth settlement wasn’t inside the village, but on a slope just outside it. In front lay a small path leading to the village; behind stretched the rolling loess highlands; to the left was an endless forest; and to the right, tier upon tier of terraced fields.
The stone courtyard wall was no taller than a person, and the wooden gate looked like it might fall apart at any moment. But the yard itself was large and flat, with a neat row of five cave dwellings—already a step up from the rundown three-cave courtyards they’d passed through in the village.
A very thin, dark-skinned male educated youth of average height, with a simple and honest face, smiled and hurried out to greet them.
“Captain Liang, you’re here. These must be the new educated youth. The two caves on the west side are all cleaned up and ready for move-in.”
Liang Futian gave a satisfied nod and quickly laid down the rules.
“Fan Xiaojun, you’re the team leader now. I’m handing them over to you. Take good care of them and don’t cause me any more trouble. Tomorrow, have them come to the brigade headquarters to collect their assignment allowance and grain rations. Get them settled in quickly—they’ll start work the day after tomorrow.”
With that, he turned and left without another word.
Fan Xiaojun smiled and saw him off all the way to the fork in the road. But the moment he turned back to face the new arrivals, his smile vanished.
Watching this, and recalling the reactions of the captain and the cart driver along the way, Miao Qing quickly got the picture.
It seemed not only the villagers found them unwelcome—the older educated youth weren’t exactly thrilled about their arrival either.
Logically, that shouldn’t be the case. Wasn’t this their first meeting? Couldn’t they at least keep up appearances?
Fan Xiaojun didn’t want to be this way either, but their situation was already tough enough—he simply couldn’t muster a warm face for the newcomers.
Actually, at the very beginning, the villagers had been quite friendly toward the educated youth. The village children loved running over to play with them and ask about life in the city.
But some of the educated youth had been utterly thoughtless. Either they complained that the work assigned to them was too dirty or too tiring and ran off to the commune to report the brigade cadres, or they ate at the villagers’ homes and seduced their young daughters—getting one girl pregnant and refusing to take responsibility, nearly getting beaten to a pulp by her parents.
Not long ago, a female educated youth with a questionable family background had tried to return to the city by climbing into the bed of a poor-peasant representative. She was caught red-handed by the representative’s wife, causing an enormous scandal.
The uproar reached the commune leadership, who packed them all off to a re-education farm. They also made Qingfeng Brigade a cautionary example, criticizing them by name at a meeting and stripping the brigade of its eligibility for advanced honors for the next three years.
How could the brigade captain not be furious? How could he not take it out on them?
They’d begged and pleaded and raised a fuss, but nothing could change the villagers’ perception of them. All they could do now was keep their heads down.
And these new arrivals—clearly not cut out for labor—were bound to stir up even more trouble. Just thinking about it was exhausting.
But since they were already here, Fan Xiaojun had no choice but to usher them inside.
The group, none of whom had ever lived in a cave dwelling before, was terrified by the primitive living conditions of the Northwest.
Chang Rufan pointed at the dirt trickling down from the cave ceiling, her voice trembling with fear,
“Can people really live in a place like this? Isn’t it going to collapse?”
But Wei Ran acted as if she were walking into her own home. She picked up the small broom lying on the edge of the kang, swept away the fallen dirt, and smiled,
“Of course people can live here. Our ancestors have lived in cave dwellings for generations. They’re warm in winter and cool in summer—very comfortable. You can rest easy.”
Chen Xiujuan, an older educated youth sent by Fan Xiaojun to help out, glanced at Wei Ran in surprise but asked nothing.
At its peak, the settlement had housed seven female educated youth. Now only she and Liu Yu remained.
The past two years had taught Chen Xiujuan one hard lesson: minding your own business was the only way to stay safe.
Miao Qing silently placed her bundle at the far end of the kang. The room was lit by a kerosene lamp, but its light was dimmer than the moonlight outside. The kang, tucked in the deepest part of the cave, was especially dark—perfect for sneaking things unnoticed. She liked that.
She didn’t need good material conditions—just a quiet, undisturbed place. She believed that as long as she kept cultivating, she would grow stronger.
But until she was strong enough, she had to lie low.
Fan Xiaojun didn’t care what the new arrivals thought. Once the sleeping arrangements were settled, he moved on to the formalities.
“Consider this first meal a welcome from us older educated youth. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be cooking for yourselves. There’s only one large iron pot in the settlement—you can use it after we’re done.
According to the placement policy, each of you will receive a thirty-yuan assignment allowance and half a year’s grain rations. The rations will be distributed monthly—twenty pounds of coarse grains and one pound of fine grains per person per month. You’ll need to go to the brigade headquarters tomorrow to sign and collect them.
After six months, your rations will depend on work points. If you don’t earn enough, you’ll go hungry.
Winter comes early here. It can snow as early as October, so you need to prepare your winter supplies as soon as possible. That means not just cotton-padded clothes and quilts, but also firewood—you’ll need a lot to heat the kang through the winter. I suggest you stock up as much as you can…”
He went on and on, then briefly introduced the old and new educated youth to each other.
There were six old-timers: four men and two women—Fan Xiaojun, Li Weiguo, Zhao Dahai, Yan An, Chen Xiujuan, and Liu Yu.
The five newcomers were two men and three women—Zhang Jingshan, Wang Changzhu, Chang Rufan, Wei Ran, and Miao Qing.
The welcome meal was brought to the table: a large basin of some kind of mush made from who-knows-what. Greens mixed with yellows, along with brownish vegetable leaves and red grains—it reminded Miao Qing of the pig slop she’d seen in short videos.
Chang Rufan pinched her nose in disgust.
“What the hell is this? Is this even fit for people to eat?”
“Of course it is! Look at all this pumpkin and wild greens—so nutritious! Thank you, Team Leader, and everyone, for preparing this welcome meal for us.”
Wei Ran took the exact opposite approach. She picked up her spoon and ladled herself a big bowl.
Even Zhang Jingshan couldn’t help but admire her inwardly. No wonder she’s lived here before—she really knows how to adapt. Compared to her, I’m still too delicate.
But Wei Ran was all talk. In reality, she was no longer used to such coarse food. She took a big gulp, barely chewed, and forced it down her throat—the rough sorghum scraped painfully, bringing tears to her eyes.
Miao Qing, however, wasn’t about to be that hard on herself. Besides, her stomach couldn’t handle such rough fare.
Sitting on the smallest stool at the edge, she picked out the pumpkin pieces and ate them. When no one was watching, she slipped the leftover broth and bits into her space. She had bowls in there—she could always sneak it to the production brigade’s pigs later. No waste.
But to the older educated youth, this thick mush was a rare treat. Except during peak farming seasons, they’d never dare eat it this thick at night, let alone add pumpkin. Most days, they’d just boil some wild greens into a thin soup to fill their bellies and go straight to bed.
The new arrivals watched in shock as the old-timers ate without lifting their heads—even rinsing the bottom of the basin with hot water and sharing the dregs.
Because of that meal, Miao Qing began to feel a bit of unease about the life ahead.
Going to the countryside wasn’t as simple as she’d imagined. Life here was genuinely hard.