Mingzhu shuddered with lingering fear. Luckily, she had moved out early on; otherwise, if they had seen Lin Dongfang's behavior at home, who knows what they would have said.

Li Yan didn't understand either.

"Tell me, isn't it better to just live your own life? What does it matter to them what kind of life other people live? They're always eyeing Bill. If he eats a little better or dresses a little better than them, they act like they have a jealous disease."

"You said you'd use that time to go up the mountain and collect some firewood, earn a couple more work points, or tidy up the vegetable garden—wouldn't that be better than anything else?"

After getting married, Li Yan became much more composed than before, and her thinking became more comprehensive. You could even sense that she had softened considerably.

"Leaving them aside, what are your plans? When are you going to build the house? Have you chosen a location yet?"

Li Yan was a little embarrassed, but she quickly recovered.

"You know our situation. We've been here for so long, and I can hardly help with anything at home. He has some help, but it's getting less and less. We basically rely on our work points."

"As for money, the two of us definitely don't have enough."

Seeing Jian Dan and Mingzhu's hesitant expressions, Li Yan smiled.

"I know what you mean. If there are really difficulties, I won't be polite to you."

Previously, we planned to stay in the youth housing compound temporarily, save up some money, and then build a house. But now, we don't have such high requirements for our living conditions anymore. Being able to move out and live our own quiet lives is good enough for us.

It seems that this educated youth compound has quite a few troubles.

At this point, they couldn't offer any advice. They exchanged a glance and decided to ask for clarification first.

"So, what are your plans?"

Li Yan is open-minded.

"Moving out is easy, isn't it? As long as you have a place to live, that's fine."

Yesterday, we walked around the village twice. Two houses ahead of Uncle Liu's, that house was empty.

After a brief consideration of the house, I realized the location was quite good. It was in the middle of the village, surrounded by other houses, so the safety was quite high.

Moreover, it's clear that this has already been decided upon.

"If you've really made up your mind, go ask the village chief whether you're paying rent or something."

However, that house seems to have been uninhabited for quite some time; the walls have collapsed, and the roof is leaking. The rainy season is approaching, so it will definitely need major repairs, and this is an expense that can't be avoided.

“That’s nothing. It’s still more cost-effective than building a new house. If we work hard, we should be able to recover by the end of the year.”

The two exchanged a glance, seeing that they had a plan, and didn't say anything more.

When are you planning to move?

"The sooner the better,"

The speaker was Chen Jianguo. Although the anger from before had subsided, his face was also expressionless, though his speech was alright.

"I wish I could move out right now and get as far away from this mess as possible."

She was genuinely angry, and it probably wasn't necessarily because of that little thing—it wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a small amount either; it wouldn't make her rich or poor. However, Wang Hongmei's attitude was quite infuriating.

"Let's move out and have some peace and quiet. It'll be safer if my wife gets pregnant someday."

Jian Dan and Mingzhu almost instantly turned their attention to Li Yan, and then to her stomach.

"Are you pregnant?"

"You're pregnant too?"

It's normal for someone to get pregnant after being married for so long.

Li Yan scratched her head helplessly, "I don't think so?"

No, right?

I'm speechless.

"You're too carefree. If there's no sign of it, then there's no sign. But if there really are signs, you need to be more careful. Don't be so careless and go to work in the fields without a care in the world."

"Yes, you need to be extra careful in the first few months of pregnancy. Try not to move heavy things."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jianguo's expression visibly brightened.

"I know, I know, I'll keep an eye on her."

Li Yan's face instantly turned bright red. He simply clicked his tongue twice, glanced at Li Yan, then at Mingzhu.

"Look at all of you, one by one. I'm still a child. Is it appropriate for you to act like this in front of me?"

Chen Jianguo blushed first, while Mingzhu, having been teased so many times, had become thick-skinned.

"Yes, you are a child, and we cannot taint your pure heart."

"Ha ha!"

The group burst into laughter.

Finally, Jian Dan accompanied Chen Jianguo and Liu Weimin to find him. Both Chen Jianguo and Liu Weimin felt that Jian Dan had a close relationship with the village chief, so they felt more at ease with her by their side.

That house had indeed been empty for several years. Most of the villagers lived together as one large family. Even if a few families had separated, each family had its own homestead. This empty house was so dilapidated that it would cost money to buy it. It was an old house, and newlyweds wouldn't want it. No one had ever bought it.

Liu Weimin was naturally happy that someone was willing to pay to rent it out.

"Okay, I'll take you to see it. If you like it, I'll find someone to take care of it for you. I promise I won't charge you more than that."

Two houses away from Liu Sanye's, the house was quite dilapidated, but the yard was not small. The layout of rural houses is pretty much the same: a front yard, a back garden, several rooms, and a woodshed on the side.

The roof is open to the elements, the kang (heated brick bed) inside has collapsed, and a small part of the wall has also collapsed. Only the lower half is still standing strong. The only useful part is probably the foundation.

The front and back yards were overgrown with weeds up to thigh-high. Fortunately, there were neighbors on both sides, and the fences were readily available. They would connect the fences of the two houses at the back, tidy up the front, and install a gate. That would enclose the house.

Compared to the original state of the simple house, it had an advantage in terms of area. After all, in the countryside at that time, there wasn't much else, but there was plenty of land, and every household had a fairly large area.

Compared to that, the simple one is probably the smallest.

Liu Weimin really went all out to promote it.

"I'll find someone to clean up the house for you, fix the roof properly, build a kang (heated brick bed), and completely renovate the kitchen. See if there's anything else that's not right, and I'll have them clean it up for you in one go."

Look at this big garden, it's so large. This year, the persimmons and eggplants are a bit late. We should tidy it up and plant some cabbage, potatoes, radishes, late cucumbers, and late green beans. That'll all be in time, and we can harvest them in the fall. If it's just the two of you, you definitely won't be able to eat all the vegetables you grow this winter."

“If we tidy up the grass in the front yard, put up some walking sticks, and install a door, it will look neat and tidy.”

"These two families aren't exactly troublesome, so don't worry. With Xiao Jian with you, do you think your uncle would lie to you?"

The couple's desire to move out was so strong that after Liu Weimin said that, Li Yan followed his words and imagined it. Sure enough, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this place was really good.