"I was feeling unwell for the past two days, so I didn't come. Now that I've recovered, I hurried here." Su Tao took the clothes handed to him by Aunt Liang with a smile. Aunt Liang's dressmaking skills are quite good. The stitches are fine and the lines are neat. The final pattern of the finished garment is basically the same as the drawing.

"Please check if there is any problem with the contract. Is there anything that needs to be supplemented or modified?" After seeing the effect of the finished garment, Su Tao took out the contract agreement and handed it to Aunt Liang.

"No problem, no need to change it." Aunt Liang asked someone to take a look at the backyard and found no problem, so she readily agreed to sign the contract.

Su Tao had originally written only one copy, fearing it might be amended. Now, after confirming it was correct, he wrote another on the spot, making two copies. They both signed and stamped their fingerprints, and each kept a copy.

"It's a pleasure working with you!" Su Tao took out five drawings he'd made yesterday and gave them to Aunt Liang. "These drawings are labeled with colors, fabrics, and some details to pay attention to."

After Aunt Liang took it, she smiled happily and looked at the drawing tightly as if it were a treasure. When she came to her senses, she found Su Tao was about to leave with his bag.

"Can you sit for a while? Look at me, I didn't even offer to pour you a glass of water." Aunt Liang felt a little apologetic for her negligence.

Su Tao waved his hand nonchalantly, and walked towards the door, "No, I have something to do later, so I'll come again at the end of the month." The contract stipulated that the settlement would be made at the end of each month, and Su Tao had to rush back to the village in the afternoon, so he didn't dare to stay any longer.

"Okay, go ahead and do your thing. Next time Aunt Liang invites you to dinner, ask Hu Xiao to come along." Aunt Liang quickly put away the drawings in her hand, sent Su Tao out, and did not return to the house until Su Tao disappeared.

It was already noon when Su Tao finished his errands. He hadn't eaten anything this morning, and his stomach was rumbling. He walked into the town's state-owned restaurant and ordered a bowl of vegetable noodle soup for 15 cents. It came with some stir-fried vegetables and some fried tofu, but no meat. It tasted quite good.

After finishing his noodles, Su Tao mounted his eight-legged horse and returned to the village.

When I returned to the resettlement site for the educated youth, I found that all the educated youth had returned early today, and they were gathered in groups of three or two, whispering about something.

As soon as Hu Xiao saw Su Tao, she quickly waved, motioning her over. "Where have you been? Why are you here just now? The village head and the Party secretary just came over and announced that they would meet in the small square at the entrance of the village tomorrow morning to finalize the dormitory allocation for the educated youth."

"How do you arrange it?" Su Tao thought to himself that the village chief and the branch secretary were quite efficient. He had just heard Hu Xiao talk about it a few days ago, and now they have worked out the rules and will allocate dormitories tomorrow.

"It is said that all the villagers participated at that time. Villagers who believed they had the housing conditions could propose to accept educated youth and had the right to choose the educated youth they wanted to accept." Hu Xiao explained to Su Tao.

"Then we can only let the villagers pick and choose?" Su Tao felt that they were being picked and chosen by the villagers like goods.

"If the selected educated youth do not want to move in, they can refuse. If the educated youth have villagers they are familiar with, the two sides can negotiate in advance and move in," Hu Xiao further explained.

When Su Tao heard that he could negotiate and choose on his own, he already had an idea in his mind, and the lavish blue brick and tile house appeared in his mind.

She remembered that there were still several empty rooms in that house, and wondered if He Chuan would offer to let her stay there...