Chapter 17 Being a Guest

"Sister, I asked for two hours' leave."

Lin Jianshe rushed over and said to Lin Shuyin, "Please wait so long. I will be gone soon."

Lin Jianshe scratched his head and said, "Sister, I'll take you to where I live."

Lin Jianshe lived in the Youth Educated Home, at the east end of the village.

"This environment is nice."

It has walls and a yard. Although it is a mud house, it is newly built and is quite clean inside and out.

"This house was built last year. Last year, the first batch of educated youth came here. There were no vacant houses in the village, so the village secretary built a house specifically for them," explained Sarin.

Lin Shuyin went in and took a look. There was a kitchen and a bathroom, and everything you could expect. She even saw a bottle of soy sauce on the kitchen stove. It showed that she was very meticulous in her eating.

The bedroom floor and kang are clean and spacious, and look like they can accommodate three or four people.

"Will you feel cold when you sleep tonight?"

Lin Jianshe shook his head, "It's not cold, sister. We have heated the kang to make it warm."

To be honest, after sleeping on the kang once, Lin Jianshe felt that the previous 19 years had been wasted, especially in winter. Although the winter in Sichuan Province is not as cold as that in Hohhot, it is still cold and gloomy.

When I got into bed at night, my feet felt cold, so I had to fill a glass bottle with water and put it in the bed.

But when you come to the north, as long as you heat the kang at night, the quilt will be warm until the next morning, and you will sleep very comfortably.

"How many of you are there?"

Lin Jianshe, "We are five boys and three girls. They all came last year. So far this year, I am the only one."

No wonder, there are so few people.

Moreover, the first batch of educated youth took better care of the living environment; they obviously treated it as their home.

But it’s difficult to handle because there are too many people at the back.

Lin Shuyin, "Did you buy all the food and drinks together? Do you eat together or separately?"

Lin Jianshe, "Yes, we bought it together and ate it together. It would be troublesome to eat it separately."

"Do you have a locker?"

Lin Jianshe: "Yes, I asked an uncle in the village to give me one."

Although the old educated youth were nice people, they still had to keep important things locked in their own lockers.

"Okay, this is for you."

Lin Shuyin took out half a pound of tiaozi cake, half a pound of White Rabbit milk candy, and the two meat buns from her bag.

Lin Jianshe's eyes sparkled. "Sister, are you buying all this for me?"

Lin Shuyin: "Yeah."

She had originally planned to give him two meat buns, but Sarin wanted to buy something delicious for her brother, so she also bought a pound of tiaozi cake, keeping half a pound for herself and giving the other half to Lin Jianshe.

As for the small half pound of milk candy, it was given to her by Sarin to thank her for finding the milk powder coupons.

Sarin bought a pound of White Rabbit milk candy and gave her half a pound. She then divided the half a pound into two parts, keeping one for herself and giving the other to Lin Jianshe.

People who sing can eat sweets, but should eat less, especially before singing.

Lin Jianshe, "Sister, I can't eat so much, you can take half."

Lin Shuyin waved her hand, "I have some here, you can keep it for yourself."

Lin Jianshe, "Then I'll lock it up and eat a little bit a day."

Lin Shuyin, "Your parents gave you money when you went to the countryside, right?"

"I got it. Oh, yes."

Lin Jianshe seemed to have thought of something, and quickly opened the cabinet and took out some money, "Sister, my parents gave you ten yuan, and I didn't have time to go to the city."

His sister is in the army and can only be visited on Saturdays and Sundays. He just arrived last week and was planning to visit this week, so his sister came over.

Lin Shuyin, "Well, if you have anything to do in the future, come to the army to find me. Do you know the address?"

Lin Jianshe, "I know, sister."

"Saren, is there anything else going on at home?" Lin Shuyin asked.

If everything is ok, let's go back.

Sarin, "There's nothing going on at home, but Shuyin, I asked my mom to stew mutton. Let's eat before we go."

"No, Sarin, I was just saying it casually if you really asked your aunt to stew it." Lin Shuyin was shocked.

Is this girl so honest? She just said it casually and jokingly.

Sarin, "It's already stewed. Let's eat first before leaving. We still have time. The mutton will be cooked soon."

Then he said, "Call your brother too, and let's go eat together."

Lin Shuyin: “I’m so sorry.”

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Let's go." Sarin called out, "Brother, lock up your things and go eat the mutton."

Sarin's Chinese is a little unstandard, with a Mongolian accent, but the Lin siblings love listening to him speak.

Lin Jianshe, in particular, felt a strange feeling when he heard his sister's colleague, this beautiful sister or rather a beautiful Mongolian girl, calling him brother.

It makes him a little...shy, and when he's shy his heart beats a little faster.

He said, "Hey, come right up, sister." He quickly locked up the delicious food his sister brought him and followed Lin Shuyin and Salen out.

Lin Shuyin: "Saren, you don't have a supply and marketing cooperative here."

Sarin, "No, our village is very close to the city. Villagers go to the city to buy whatever they want."

"What's wrong? Do you want to buy anything?"

Lin Shuyin shook her head, "No."

She just felt it was not nice to visit a friend's house empty-handed.

The Youth Farm seems to be quite big. Lin Shuyin muttered,

"It's a shame not to grow vegetables and raise chickens in such a big yard."

Sarin, "It's not spring yet, we can plant vegetables in April or May."

I don't know how long people in the south start farming, but in the north they generally start farming in late April or May.

Lin Shuyin said to Lin Jianshe, "Honestly, brother, you educated youth can discuss it and raise a nest of chickens. This way, you don't have to spend money to buy eggs and chicken meat when you want to eat them."

Lin Jianshe thought about it carefully and said, "Well, I discussed it with our captain."

The three of them chatted when they arrived at Saren's house. When Lin Shuyin came to Saren's house just now, she didn't go into the inner room. She was outside the yard, letting Saren go in to ask her father, and then came to the cowshed.

"Hello, uncle and aunt."

The brother and sister greeted each other politely.

Sanhe Village is a mixed community of Mongolians and Han people, not pure Mongolians, so Salin's parents can speak Chinese. "Hello," they said with a friendly smile.

"The mutton is almost ready. I've made some stuffed buns as the staple food. Is that okay?" Mother Saran asked her daughter in Mongolian.

Sarin, "Okay, Mom, have you chopped the stuffing by now?"

Sarin's mother, "How long will it take to chop the stuffing? Your friends are coming over, you should have told me in advance, we don't have anything to entertain them at home."

Sarin, "It's okay, she just loves to eat mutton."

Lin Shuyin listened and wanted to chat with them in Mongolian, but that would expose her identity, and her brother was here, so it would be difficult to explain.

"Where is Ao Dun?" Sarin asked her brother.

Mother Sarin, "He has gone to the brigade and will be back soon."

Brother Salen is the same age as elder sister Lin, and is twenty-three years old this year. Salen is one year older than Lin Shuyin, and is twenty years old this year. Her brother Aodun is sixteen this year.

I stopped going to school and stayed at home working in the fields with my parents.