Eleven educated youths were assigned to the island's first brigade: four women and seven men.
Perhaps because there were the most people to be assigned tasks, the leaders felt embarrassed and assigned fewer girls. The heavy lifting was mostly done by the men, especially on the islands where people went out to sea to fish; the women were mostly just mending the fishing nets.
The men were in one room, and the women in another.
Since there were more men, they chose the larger seaweed-thatched house. Brother Bao Ni had previously brought people to renovate it. Each room had a kang (heated brick bed). The men's house was a three-room seaweed-thatched house, divided into east and west rooms. The middle room was the main room with two stoves.
The woman's room was a two-room seaweed house. The larger room had a kang (a heated brick bed), and the smaller room had a stove. That was all.
Han Weidong and his group entered the house. The environment was acceptable; it was a newly built house, and apart from being dusty, it had no other problems. The house was spotless except for the kang (heated brick bed), but there were quite a few things that needed to be added.
Han Weidong, Li Gang, Zhou Chen, and Zhang Yuanchao stayed together in the east room. Dong Weiguo, Wang Jiefang, and Qian Shan stayed in the west room. Seeing that the others were not to be trifled with, the three of them didn't dare approach.
Li Xiaohong, Zhao Yueyue, Li Mingzhu, and Ding Fangfang went into another room, looked around, but found nothing. What should they do? They couldn't just lay their luggage on the earthen bed!
The group returned to the courtyard, looked at each other, and didn't know what to say.
"Um, let's get acquainted. My name is Li Gang, this is Han Weidong, Zhou Chen, and Zhang Yuanchao. The four of us are together, all from Beijing. Please introduce yourselves as well."
Despite his pointed face and short stature, Li Gang is eloquent and serves as their contact point with the outside world.
"Li Mingzhu, from the family compound of the Beijing Garment Factory."
"Ding Fangfang, from the family compound of the Beijing Food Factory."
"Zhao Yueyue, from the Shijiazhuang Cotton Mill Compound."
"Li Xiaohong, from the staff quarters of the Shijiazhuang Food Factory."
"Dong Weiguo, from Shanghai."
"Wang Jiefang, from Shanghai."
"Qianshan, from the Shijiazhuang Railway Compound."
This group of educated youth mostly came from Beijing, Shanghai, and Hebei Province, and those who went to Yunnan Province were also mostly from these places.
After everyone introduced themselves and got to know each other, they started discussing what to do next.
"Comrades, shouldn't we elect someone to take charge?"
Li Gang raised the question, and everyone looked at each other, unsure of who to choose.
"So, since Brother Han has always been our leader, how about we tentatively appoint him as the manager? He's also the strongest fighter."
No one has any objections, and even if they did, it wouldn't be easy to voice them, since the fighting strength has increased.
"Brother Han, say a few words."
Li Gang was like a master of ceremonies, running around the venue, reciting lines, and keeping the atmosphere lively. He was sweating profusely from all the work.
"From now on, mind your own business, don't cause trouble for others, and don't cause any problems."
Han Weidong finished speaking concisely.
“Zhang Yuanchao, you have life experience, so tell us what to do now. You are our strategist. Everyone, please give us your opinions. From now on, we will eat together and speak freely.”
“I’ve looked around, and we have absolutely nothing here. We need so many things. We need to find things to make a kang (heated brick bed), cabinets to store things, tables and benches for eating, and everything we need for the kitchen. We should go to the brigade headquarters now and ask the brigade leader where we can buy these things.”
"Personal needs are paid for by individuals, and shared items are split equally. Also, whether to eat together or separately is entirely voluntary."
Han Weidong took Zhang Yuanchao's advice and made it clear beforehand that they shouldn't be accused of monopolizing power later.
After Han Weidong finished speaking, the others also began to discuss it.
They were newcomers and didn't know anyone. From now on, the educated youth settlement would be their common home and a community of shared interests. Since they didn't know each other well, it was best to work together to avoid being bullied by outsiders.
Everyone else agreed to eat together. Several of the women could cook, and Qian Shan, one of the men, could also cook.
With clear division of labor, everything else is easy to solve. After all, in life, eating and drinking are the most important things.
After leaving a few people to watch the luggage, Han Weidong took Li Gang and the others to the brigade headquarters to ask someone about something.
"Brother Han, you know what, this seaweed house looks quite comfortable. It must have been there for quite a while. A house like this can't be built just anywhere; it must require a lot of craftsmanship."
Li Gang looked around and found that every seaweed-thatched house was pretty much the same.
“Young man, you have a good eye. The craft of making our seaweed houses has been passed down for hundreds of years.”
The sudden sound drew Li Gang and the others' attention, and they discovered an old man sitting by the door weaving baskets.
"Old man, I need to ask you something. How do I get to our team headquarters?"
"You must be new educated youth. What do you need to do at the team headquarters? Everyone's at work right now, there's no one there."
Li Gang and the others didn't know that this old man was Bao Ni's grandfather, the former brigade leader.
"We're new here and haven't brought much with us. We're wondering if there's a place in our team where we can exchange our things. Old man, what do you put on the kang (heated brick bed) here? Don't we need something to keep the dust out?"
“You’re an interesting young man. I’ll take you there. There are carpenters in the team who can make all the common furniture. Pick whatever you need.”
After putting down the basket, Grandma Bonnie led them to the furniture-making place in the brigade.
"Third brother, the new educated youth need some furniture. Can you introduce some to them and help them choose some practical items?"
"Brother, you're here. This is the new educated youth; he looks to be in good shape."
The old man who came out was Grandpa Lin's cousin, a carpenter. Most of the furniture used in the team was made by him and his apprentices. This also counted as work points; private business was no longer allowed, and everything belonged to the collective.
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