"Have those new educated youth moved into that room?"

"Of course! Do you even need to think about it?"

"Then Kan Lei's plan has probably failed."

Jiang Yiyan felt a little smug. The thought of Kan Lei getting his comeuppance made her genuinely happy.

That man is so hypocritical and chauvinistic. He talks about male equality but does things that women find offensive.

He claimed to be the most senior educated youth, liked to make decisions unilaterally, and even interfered with the work of female educated youth.

"I reckon he'll start arguing with that woman again when she gets back."

"Serves him right! He tries to curry favor by dragging us into it to elevate himself; we've spoiled him!"

The three were about to say something when they saw Gu Zuozuo come in from outside, and they all looked at her in surprise.

Who is this?

Gu Zuozuo paused slightly and looked at the three female educated youths.

His skin was somewhat dark and rough, perhaps from working in the fields. His clothes were faded from washing, and even the edges of his knees were frayed.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

The sweet and gentle female voice brought the three dazed female educated youths back to their senses, and they immediately felt embarrassed.

"You must be a new female educated youth? My name is Li Fanghua, I'm from Xi'an Province, and I came here in 1967."

“My name is Jiang Yiyan. I’m from Jiangsu Province. I also came here in 1967. I was in the same batch of educated youth as Sister Hua.”

"I...I am Zhu...Zhu Xiaoxiao, hello."

Jiang Yiyan rolled her eyes at Zhu Xiaoxiao's stammering self-introduction, but still spoke up for her.

"She doesn't stutter, she just gets nervous when she sees good-looking people."

Upon hearing this, Gu Zuozuo smiled, her crescent-shaped eyes curving upwards, a smile so sweet it made one feel lightheaded.

"It's okay, my name is Gu Zuozuo, I'm from Haicheng, hello."

The four of them looked at each other in silence, unsure of what to say, and the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

"Um, I'm sorry about last night. We didn't mean to target you new educated youth. We just didn't want that hypocrite Kan Lei to get away with it."

Gu Zuozuo smiled knowingly, rolled up her sleeves, and went to help them with their work.

"Could you tell me about this place?"

Li Fanghua secretly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she didn't mind, and she felt truly relieved.

"Our place here? Actually, it's not that complicated. There are fourteen educated youth in total, half men and half women. I heard that the team leader fought for it. Everyone else is fine, but you need to be careful with a few people."

As she spoke, Li Fanghua looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before quietly telling Gu Zuozuo about the educated youth settlement.

There were fourteen people in the educated youth settlement, from all over the country. At first, things were fine. Everyone was looking out for each other and encouraging each other. But as they stayed in the countryside for a long time and saw no hope of returning to the city, things gradually started to get heated.

"Actually, things are alright here among the female educated youth. Although everyone has their own little thoughts, with Sister Hua around, nothing serious will happen. The male educated youth are the ones who are most likely to cause trouble."

Gu Zuozuo was genuinely surprised this time. It's said that places with many women are always rife with conflict and strife, and they can come up with something new every day.

But what really surprised her was how many things the male educated youth had to do.

"Don't you believe me? Those men have all sorts of ulterior motives! Especially last year, a male educated youth married a girl from the village and went straight to the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University. These men are even more restless now. Everyone has their own ulterior motives. The room you are living in now is the wedding room that Kan Lei prepared for himself. His wife is the posthumous child of a martyr in the village. She has powerful backers, and he also wants to go to university."

Otherwise, why would they show no mercy at the educated youth settlement, practically openly plotting against them?

Gu Zuozuo listened silently to their gossip, and only when she heard this part did she turn to look at the three female educated youths whose appearances and ages were completely mismatched.

"Didn't you ever think about marrying someone from the village so you could go to university?"

The three remained silent for a while before Jiang Yiyan snorted, her tone full of sarcasm.

"Why marry them? Is it because they're old, or because they've barely eaten and can't even take a bath once a year?"

They're not crazy. Marrying into this family would mean they'd never be able to stand up for themselves or get ahead in life. They're not blind to the kind of lives the women in the village lead.

The only ones who could see through the male educated youth's schemes were the simple-minded girls in the village. They all thought that by getting a city residency permit, they could become city dwellers.