Inside the brigade headquarters, Li Changhe, the accountant wearing glasses, was fiddling with a large abacus, seemingly calculating something.

"Uncle Li, he's still busy!"

Upon hearing the sound, Li Changhe looked up and glanced at it.

"Who do we have here? It's you, kid!"

Accountant Li closed the ledger in front of her and came out from behind the desk.

"These must be the newly arrived educated youth in the brigade! Did you explain the rules to them on the way here?"

Guo Dongxu nodded.

"Don't worry, Uncle Li, I've explained everything to them. They know about the food rations and work points!"

After listening, Li Changhe turned his attention to the new educated youth.

"Xiao Guo is a veteran educated youth in the team, and he is very clear about some policies and requirements."

Since he has already told you, I won't waste my time repeating it.

"I'll take you directly to the warehouse in a bit. You just need to decide how much food you want to borrow, and whether you want to buy it with money or use work points as collateral!"

The six men nodded in agreement, and within a few minutes they arrived at the warehouse behind the threshing ground.

Two large padlocks hung on the warehouse door. Li Changhe pulled a rope from his neck, and below the rope were two keys.

With a clanging and banging sound, the warehouse door of the Progressive Brigade was finally opened.

Good heavens, I thought there would be a lot of grain in the warehouse, but in reality, there was only a tiny bit.

In the warehouse of more than 200 square meters, the contents only occupied a small corner; the rice and flour that one might imagine were nowhere to be found.

Besides corn, the only other food here is potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The six newly arrived educated youth looked at each other, seemingly at a loss, except for Jiang Xile, of course.

Jiang Xile was already mentally prepared for this situation.

Besides, there are still plenty of supplies in the space, enough for her to live on here.

So she didn't care what was in the warehouse or what wasn't.

The reason I have the same expression as everyone else is simply to avoid looking too different.

"I know you might not be used to it when you first arrive here, but after living here for a while, you'll understand that sometimes corn and potatoes are more suitable for you than rice and wheat flour!"

Li Changhe's words were full of profound meaning, but unfortunately, apart from Jiang Xile, no one else could fully understand them.

At Guo Dongxu's suggestion, Duan Chengyu and the others took their share of food rations one after another.

Apart from Liu Hongtao and Jiang Xile, the other four chose to use work points to pay off their debts.

When I left the brigade headquarters, it was already getting dark. In the distance, I could see wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys above the educated youth settlement.

Guo Dongxu had already explained the matter of sharing meals with Jiang Xile and the others in detail on the way.

The educated youth settlement only had one kitchen and one large pot, so none of the six people had any objections to eating from the same pot.

Moreover, since they eat together, they don't need to worry about growing their own vegetables, since the vegetable garden in the backyard is grown by the old educated youth together.

If they were to cook separately, everything in the vegetable garden would be irrelevant to them. After much consideration, it was more economical to share the meal.

Although Jiang Xile had set up a small stove in her room, she didn't plan to cook there anytime soon, so she cooked with everyone else.

As for whether the food is good or not, Jiang Xile is not worried, after all, she can cook for herself.

When the group returned to the educated youth settlement, dinner was almost ready. Duan Chengyu and the others conscientiously handed over their share of food, but Guo Dongxu refused.

"You don't need to pay for today's meal; it's a custom in our educated youth settlement."

The first meal for the new educated youth upon their arrival is always treated by us veteran educated youth; it's always been this way, and you should do the same whenever new educated youth come in the future!

"In that case, we accept this sentiment. We hope that we can get along well and help each other in the future!"

Duan Chengyu, who always has a lot to say, never forgets to show off. Of course, this personality also has its advantages, namely, that he can easily integrate into new environments.

Before long, Duan Chengyu and Mu Tianye had become familiar with most of the people at the educated youth settlement.

Jiang Xile didn't care too much about those things. Although the cabinets and other things hadn't been delivered yet, the house was almost tidied up, so she moved all the packages that were in the yard into the house.

Many people saw what Jiang Xile was doing, and some kind-hearted people came to help, but she politely declined them all.

Asking others for help with just two packages not only incurs an unnecessary favor but is also an insult to her as the queen of the apocalypse.

Jiang Xile's code of conduct is to do things herself whenever possible and never bother others.

"Dinner's ready!"

As a clear shout came from the kitchen, everyone in the yard hurriedly grabbed their lunchboxes and chopsticks and ran to the kitchen to gather.

The kitchen is located between the boys' dormitory on the east side and the girls' dormitory on the south side; it is a spacious room.

Two iron pots were connected on a large stove, and some thin firewood was piled up next to the stove, presumably for starting a fire.

Next to the woodpile were two water vats, one large and one small. The large vat was about one meter in diameter and about one and a half meters high.

The small water tank is only about one meter high and about 60 or 70 centimeters wide. It is generally used for cooking and preparing vegetables.

After all, the height of the large water tank is a bit too much for women.

At that time, regardless of gender, people were generally not very tall. There were several girls in the educated youth settlement who were about 1.55 meters tall.

Even among the boys, there are several who are less than 1.7 meters tall. Of course, it's not that there aren't any tall ones, but there are relatively fewer of them.

In the kitchen, everyone lined up. A system of rationing was in place, where each person had a fixed amount of food to contribute and eat.

It's not like you can eat whatever you want just because you've paid your share of grain. If that were the case, wouldn't things be chaotic? After all, everyone has a different appetite, and if income doesn't cover expenditure, things will get out of control.

Therefore, implementing a system of serving food in individual portions is the best approach. After so much practice over a long period, everyone knows exactly how many cornbreads and pancakes can be made from one pound of cornmeal.

To welcome the new educated youth, we made a little more dinner tonight, and because we took into account their appetites, there was a slight surplus.

The main dish for dinner was naturally cornbread, but unlike lunch, as usual, each person only received one cornbread for dinner.

The vegetables were even simpler; they were all cabbages and radishes grown in their backyard garden. This year there was plenty of rain, so they were growing quite well.

Jiang Xile took the bland cabbage and radish stew, along with the golden cornbread, and treated it as a diet meal.

Eating a little bit of this occasionally is fine, after all, it's considered a proper meal. In the apocalypse, you couldn't even get this kind of food if you wanted to!

Although she still prefers to eat meat!