Chapter 33: Moving Out of the Educated Youth Compound

That night, everyone waited for more than three hours before the tractor driver and his men finally came with their vehicle to find them.

Then it took more than an hour by car to get to the town, where we spent some more time meeting with the commune leaders.

After all, the commune leaders should have known that the robbery happened in the middle of the night.

By the time the educated youth were sent to the village, it was almost dawn.

Jiang Feiyan and Wu Qi were assigned to Guishi Village, while the other three—Zhou Linghui, Li Xiaoqing, and Xiao Feng—were assigned to Guiyan Village, which was next door.

We followed the village chief to where the educated youth lived, and the other educated youth had just gotten up.

"Village chief, you're here so early." Wang Gao, the person in charge of the educated youth compound, stepped forward to greet them.

The village chief introduced them to him: "These two are newly arrived educated youth, named Jiang Feiyan and Wu Qi."

I'll bring over their rations later; they're a loan from the brigade, and we'll deduct it when we distribute the grain at the end of the year.

Could you help arrange their accommodation, show them around the area, and explain the work procedures?

"Okay, I understand." Wang Gao nodded.

After the village chief left, Wang Gao introduced himself and then led the two to put their luggage down.

"We slept on a large communal bed. The male educated youth slept in the west room, and the female educated youth slept in the east room. We ate in the main room in the middle."

There was a small kitchen nearby, with a stove and iron pots readily available. However, since there were many of us educated youth and our tastes were different, we took turns cooking together.

"Since you're new here, you can eat with me first. We can decide later whether you want to eat separately."

"Okay, thank you, Comrade Wang Gao," Jiang Feiyan said to Wu Qi.

Next, Wang Gao explained the work process and led the two of them to greet the other workers in turn.

Everyone was busy washing up or making breakfast, so there was no time for idle chatter. They just nodded and smiled at each other and that was it.

In the educated youth compound, apart from Jiang Feiyan and Wu Qi who were newcomers, there were already more than 10 educated youth living there.

There were 7 female educated youths and 9 male educated youths among them. The educated youth compound was very lively early in the morning.

However, Jiang Feiyan had no time to worry about any of that. All she wanted to do was collapse into bed and sleep. She was so tired after not sleeping all night.

After receiving the rations from the village chief, she spread out her blankets, washed her face and feet, and then climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

Today is my first day here, so I don't have to work.

Jiang Feiyan slept until noon.

She originally wanted to sleep a little longer, but the arguing in the yard outside was so loud that she had no choice but to get up.

Jiang Feiyan rubbed her eyes and left the room.

Then I saw a feisty female educated youth standing at the kitchen doorway, hands on her hips, complaining:

"Wu Xia, why don't you wash the pan after cooking? Don't you know the spiciness inside is suffocating!"

In the courtyard, Wu Xia curled her lip, looking completely unconcerned, and said:

"Oh dear, you can just wash the dishes while you're cooking, why are you being so petty!"

The feisty female educated youth got angry: "What do you mean by being petty? How many times has this happened? You always say the same thing. Aren't you tired of it?"

"I've never seen anyone as lazy as you! If you keep this up, next time we'll cook the dishes first!"

"Who's lazy?" Wu Xia immediately objected upon hearing this, stepping forward to shout:

"And you're talking about me? You guys never tidy up that vegetable patch in the backyard!"

"Xiaoli and I prepared all those vegetables, and you guys seemed to enjoy them. Now you're calling us lazy?"

Another female educated youth rushed out of the kitchen and retorted, "Who said we didn't do it? When we were fertilizing before, you all hid far away. I remember it very clearly!"

Someone on Wu Xia's side immediately chimed in, "Hey... what do you mean by that? We all did the work..."

Next, the two sides went back and forth, exchanging insults.

The scene suddenly erupted into chaos and utter confusion.

Jiang Feiyan glanced around.

None of the male educated youth went over to mediate the fight; they all went about their own business, clearly used to this kind of scene.

Wu Qi also got up and, upon seeing Jiang Feiyan, gave her a helpless look.

Oh my god, he hates women arguing the most, it's such a headache.

Jiang Feiyan couldn't help but shake her head.

Three women make a drama, but a group of women together is simply a disaster.

If she were in such an environment, sharing a room with someone every day, she definitely couldn't stand it.

Besides, she has her own storage space but still wants to eat alone, so living separately is inevitable.

However, the educated youth compound is only so big, and there are no extra empty rooms.

She had arranged to go to the town's supply and marketing cooperative to buy things in the afternoon with Sister Linghui, so she would ask the village chief when she got back.

---

In the afternoon, Jiang Feiyan and Zhou Linghui went to town together.

The two bought some daily necessities and some food, then hitched a ride on a village oxcart back home.

On the way, Jiang Feiyan reminded Zhou Linghui:

"If Xiao Feng hadn't acted impulsively last night, we wouldn't have been in such danger."

I think he has a rather unpredictable personality and is quite selfish; you should be careful.

“He probably meant well for us, so he…” Zhou Linghui tried to explain, but then she got stuck.

For some reason, she also felt that Xiao Feng was not very rational.

If it weren't for Feiyan and that man who suddenly appeared last night, the consequences could have been much more serious.

"Why did you stop talking?" Jiang Feiyan snorted. "These ruthless bandits clearly only want money. They'll fight to the death for things that could be solved with money."

If he were alone, it would be fine, but he has all of us behind him, and he completely disregards us.

"Sigh..." Zhou Linghui sighed, not knowing what to say.

"To be honest, I felt uncomfortable with him from the first glance," Jiang Feiyan continued.

"While I can't stop you from pursuing your happiness, I hope you can open your eyes and reconsider him carefully."

"Okay, I understand," Zhou Linghui replied in a muffled voice.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Feiyan didn't say anything more.

Some things can only be understood by oneself, and besides, one's romantic mindset cannot be changed so quickly; it takes time.

......

Back in the village.

After putting away the things she bought, Jiang Feiyan took half a bag of chicken cakes to the village chief's house.

The village chief's wife's eyes lit up when she saw what she was carrying, and she greeted her with a smile as she entered the courtyard.

The village chief was somewhat surprised when he heard her purpose for coming: "You want to move out? Why? Don't you like living in the educated youth compound?"

This girl seems to have arrived very early this morning. She seems like a nice person. Could she have had a conflict with someone else?

"It's like this..." Jiang Feiyan first recounted the argument about cooking at noon in the educated youth compound, then blinked and lied:

"I've had this problem since I was a child: whenever someone is arguing loudly, I get a terrible headache."

I had been to the hospital in the city for several checkups before, but they couldn't find anything wrong.

That's why I want to move out and find a quieter place to live.

That way I won't get a headache, otherwise it would be a real shame if it interfered with my work later.

The village chief and his wife exchanged a glance: ...

Both of them wore expressions that were hard to describe.

There are countless trivial matters in the countryside, and arguments happen every day; how can you avoid them?

As expected, city girls are indeed pampered; they even have this kind of problem...