Zhao Wensong and Fang Zhiyuan are already here and have received the grain.

The accountant had the three of them sign the papers and gave each of them ten catties of wheat, thirty catties of sorghum flour, and twenty catties of cornmeal: "Eat these for now. After the autumn harvest, you can exchange your work points for grain. There will be more food to eat then, and it won't be as monotonous as it is now."

Despite weighing only 60 pounds, Luo Jingyan was worried that Luo Changtian wouldn't be able to carry it. In reality, he really couldn't.

Jiang Manyue is also a weakling. Luo Jingyan is fine, but the other two are too unhelpful, and she can't carry all their food back together.

Both of them needed to get some exercise, so they decided to have Luo Changtian and Jiang Manyue deliver the grain first. Luo Jingyan would look at the remaining grain, and after the two returned, Luo Jingyan would carry her own grain, while Luo Changtian and Jiang Manyue would carry their remaining grain. The three of them would then return to the educated youth settlement together.

They rested at the educated youth settlement for a while before Lin Shanshan and Du Yinan returned.

As soon as Du Yinan returned, she complained, "What kind of place is this? We have to walk to get to the village, and we have to carry our own food back. It's so tiring."

Neither Luo Jingyan nor Jiang Manyue responded to her. Lin Shanshan said, "Yi Nan, you'll get used to it. We have to adapt slowly."

Before long, four former educated youths returned, each carrying something in their hands, as if they had just finished shopping.

The leader greeted Luo Jingyan and the others: "I heard from the brigade leader that a new batch of educated youth will be arriving today. You must be the ones."

Jiang Manyue nodded. "There are four of us female educated youths, and three male educated youths in the boys' dormitory."

"Oh, let me introduce myself first. My name is Shen Ruyi, I am twenty-three years old, and I have been here for six years. I am considered one of the earlier female educated youths to arrive at our educated youth settlement. Since you are new here, there must be a lot of things you don't know. If you have any questions in the future, you can ask us veteran educated youths."

Shen Ruyi has short, ear-length hair and a dignified appearance, giving off a composed and steady vibe. Luo Jingyan has a good impression of her.

The round-faced girl next to Shen Ruyi had crescent-shaped eyes when she smiled, and two thick, long braids hanging down her chest. Luo Jingyan glanced at them and saw that the ends of her hair reached below her waist.

"Hello, my name is Sun Tiantian. I am eighteen years old, but I have been here for four years. When I first came, my braids were only shoulder-length, but now they reach my waist."

Sun Tiantian, as her name suggests, is indeed a sweet and adorable girl.

She would be even cuter if her skin hadn't been tanned.

She spoke with great pride about her braids, lifting them up and saying, "Look, aren't my braids very long?"

Jiang Manyue envied her braids: "I want to grow braids this long in the future."

Sun Tiantian then expressed her confusion: "Long braids are a bit difficult to manage. When I came here, my mother said that I could go back to the city after two years. At first, I just wanted to see how long my braids would grow from when I came here to when I returned to the city. But I haven't been able to go back to the city, and I can't bear to cut my braids." Cutting off her braids was like cutting off her hope.

“Your mom is definitely lying to you. She’s afraid you won’t want to come,” Du Yinan said bluntly.

Her words struck a chord with Sun Tiantian; she now knew that those were just empty words to comfort her.

She was the eldest child in her family, with two younger sisters and a younger brother. Back then, the family didn't have enough food, so they arranged for her to go to the countryside. Perhaps her mother was afraid that she wouldn't want to, or that she would be heartbroken, so she made empty promises to her.

Later, her family often wrote to her, asking if she was doing well there and offering words of comfort, telling her not to be sad.

During the Chinese New Year, her mother said the travel expenses were too expensive and wouldn't let her go back, but she would send her some things.

She never harbored any resentment towards her mother from beginning to end.

Now that she wants to go back to the city, there's no special way to do so, so she's given up on the idea.

She smiled indifferently: "My mom is just looking out for me. She wants me to have food to eat. I think it's alright here, at least I can earn a living through my own labor. If I didn't have a job in the city, I would just have to wait to go hungry."

The female educated youth behind Sun Tiantian had a rather pointed face and shrewd eyes.

She greeted Luo Jingyan and the others very warmly.

"Hello, my name is Song Yinglan, I am twenty years old, and I have been here for two years."

From the moment she entered the door, she began to sized up the four new educated youths. She noticed that three of them were dressed quite well, suggesting that their families were probably not poor.

But the best dressed was Du Yinan, with a brand-new Lenin suit, new trousers, and new leather shoes, clearly showing that her family was well-off.

I need to build a good relationship with her first thing in the future.

The last old educated youth had a somewhat indifferent expression and said nonchalantly, "My name is Liu Huifang. I won't say anything else. I'm a little tired and I'm going to rest first."

She put her things in a wooden box against the wall, took off her shoes, climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), lay down, closed her eyes, and remained silent.

Sun Tiantian and Shen Ruyi exchanged a glance, then looked at Liu Huifang at the same time. The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment before Shen Ruyi broke the silence.

"There are only five of us old educated youth left in the girls' dormitory. Oh, and there's Ning Peipei. She, she must have gone up the mountain and hasn't come back yet. The other old educated youth have either gone back to the city or gotten married and left. We've all introduced ourselves, so you can introduce yourselves too."

According to the location of the beds, Luo Jingyan was the first to introduce them, followed by Jiang Manyue, Lin Shanshan, and Du Yinan.

Du Yinan saw that the faces of the four old educated youths were all dark and rough, and she immediately became afraid again.

Will her face turn like that in the future?

After a while, a petite girl with braided hair, but who looked very capable, returned, carrying a bulging cloth bag in her hand.

Shen Ruyi asked her, "You went up the mountain again?"

"Oh, I'm lucky, I found some chestnuts, I'll mail them home tomorrow."

Song Yinglan was about to ask her for some chestnuts, but after hearing what she said next, she had no choice but to give up.

Shen Ruyi said, "Peipei, these four are new educated youths. Why don't you get to know them?"

Ning Peipei gave a proper self-introduction to the new educated youth.

"Hello, my name is Ning Peipei, I am eighteen years old, and I have been here for a year. From now on, we will be comrades-in-arms, so please take good care of me."

"No way! We're the ones asking for your help," Luo Jingyan said.

Ning Peipei laughed heartily: "Haha, we'll all live together, work together, and take care of each other from now on."

Since she wasn't there earlier, the four new educated youths reintroduced themselves to her.

After getting to know each other, Shen Ruyi said, "I'll go see if all the male educated youth over there have arrived. If they have, we male and female educated youth can have a small meeting together, get to know each other, and then make arrangements for your future lives."