After everyone had received their rations, Gu Huai'an told Captain Qian about buying a house. Captain Qian then took the three of them to see two houses in the team. One of them belonged to Qian Liang. After Nie Xiulan was punished, Qian Liang was also arrested and would not be back for many years. In order to get retirement money from Qian Liang, Qian Liang's family sold his house, and the money from the sale was used as retirement money for his parents.
Another place is Qian Chenggong's house. After Qian Chenggong was arrested, his wife immediately divorced him and ran away with their four children. Donghua chose to keep her grandparents' house and instead sell Qian Chenggong's house.
She was only ten years old and had no ulterior motives. She didn't understand anything about revenge or anything like that. She just listened to Wenxi and wanted to exchange some money so she could enroll in school. Otherwise, she wouldn't understand anything and would have no future.
Gu Huai'an ultimately chose Qian Chenggong's house because it had many rooms, was fully furnished, and had cookware in the kitchen, so they wouldn't have to go through the trouble of buying things themselves.
It's just that this place is fifty yuan more expensive than Qian Liang's house, costing one hundred and fifty yuan, but Gu Huai'an is very happy to solve the problem with money.
So, with Captain Qian as a witness, Gu Huai'an handed over 150 yuan to Captain Qian, and Captain Qian handed over the house certificate to Gu Huai'an.
Captain Qian said to Donghua, "Donghua, it's not safe for you to carry so much money by yourself. How about Grandpa Qian keeps it for you and gives you five yuan a month? Also, whenever you need money, just come to Grandpa Qian, okay?"
By the time Donghua runs out of 150 yuan, she will be twelve or thirteen years old. She should be able to protect herself by then, right?
Donghua knew that it wouldn't be easy for a little girl like her to keep the money safe, so she agreed to Captain Qian's suggestion. Captain Qian gave Donghua five yuan, and the rest of the money was taken to the accountant to make a separate ledger, so that the child's money wouldn't be mishandled.
Gu Huai'an and the other two took the grain directly, and then went back to the educated youth settlement to bring over their unopened luggage.
Afterwards, Xia Minglei took three female comrades, Tian Xiaoke, Tang Xiaoyun, and Wang Caiyun, to the carpenter's house to buy the furniture they needed. Now everyone in the team knows that he and Tian Xiaoke are a couple, and naturally no one says anything when they are seen together.
The carpenter's furniture collection wasn't complete, so they bought what the carpenter had first, and waited for the carpenter to make the rest of the furniture for them.
After buying the furniture, they went back to the educated youth settlement to pack it up.
Despite having mentally prepared herself, Tang Xiaoyun still couldn't bear to see how rudimentary the accommodations were, even worse than the public toilets in city schools.
There aren't even any bunk beds. So many people are sleeping on a large communal bed, head to head, face to face. Isn't that disgusting?
She wouldn't mind being face-to-face with Xia Minglei at all; in fact, she would long for it. But now, she really couldn't bring herself to be face-to-face with the women around her.
Tang Xiaoyun looked up at Tian Xiaoke with a mournful expression. Tian Xiaoke was making her bed at the foot of the dormitory, seemingly determined to live in this large dormitory. Despite her reluctance, Tang Xiaoyun could only pack her bedding. She didn't want to live outside alone, as that would prevent her from keeping an eye on Tian Xiaoke and Xia Minglei.
She didn't want to give Tian Xiaoke and Xia Minglei a chance to be alone, and she certainly wouldn't give them the chance to get married. Xia Minglei was hers, and Xia Minglei's wife could only be her.
In fact, Tian Xiaoke couldn't accept the living conditions in the countryside either. After all, she had always lived alone in such a big courtyard, which was incredibly comfortable. However, she was also afraid that someone would seduce Xia Minglei, so she wanted to stay by Xia Minglei's side and protect him.
Moreover, she and Xia Minglei had been together many times, practically like husband and wife, except they didn't have a marriage certificate. She was determined to make Xia Minglei take responsibility for her and not let him go to another woman, after all, she had trained this man herself.
Of the six new educated youths, three lived outside, so now only three female educated youths remained: Tian Xiaoke, Tang Xiaoyun, and Wang Caiyun. Seeing that it was almost time, Xia Minglei knocked on the door of the girls' dormitory and called out, "Xiaoke, do you want to eat with us old educated youths, or do you want to build your own kitchen and cook your own meals?"
"Brother Minglei, I'll eat with you all," Tian Xiaoke replied happily.
“Then come out here, let’s redistribute the tasks, try to be fair and make sure no one is taken advantage of,” Xia Minglei said.
Tian Xiaoke, Tang Xiaoyun, and Wang Caiyun came out of the girls' dormitory and went to the canteen. They sat together and discussed fetching water, collecting firewood, and cooking.
Not seeing Tian Shengnan and Song Lan, Tian Xiaoke asked curiously, "Brother Minglei, why don't we see the other Comrade Tian?"
“The three of them eat together and built their own small kitchen. If you don’t want to eat with everyone, you can also build your own small kitchen so the three of you girls can eat together,” Xia Minglei said.
Upon hearing this, Tian Xiaoke immediately shook her head, then said with a shy expression, "Brother Minglei, we are now engaged, so naturally I want to eat with Brother Minglei."
Song Lan, Zhou Bai, and Tian Shengnan ate together and built a small kitchen. Lu Xiaoyun married Liang Zhaodi and no longer lived in the educated youth settlement. Li Jianguo, Gu Huai'an, and Lu Mingxiu, who just arrived today, also lived outside. So, currently, there are six male educated youth eating together: Xia Minglei, Wu Guoqiang, Li Wei, Jiang Mo, Cheng Yu, and Gu Xiangbei. Adding Tian Xiaoke, Tang Xiaoyun, and Wang Caiyun, that makes nine people eating together.
After some discussion, three more men who knew how to cook were selected. From now on, one man and one woman would cook together every day. The three extra men would be responsible for fetching water and gathering firewood. Others could also gather firewood and pick wild vegetables to supplement their meals when they had free time.
Seeing that no one objected, Xia Minglei made the decision that the nine of them would live together from now on.
Tian Xiaoke and Xia Minglei are engaged, so naturally they cook together, as do Tang Xiaoyun and Wu Guoqiang, and Wang Caiyun and Li Wei.
Although Tang Xiaoyun really wanted to cook with Xia Minglei, she couldn't do it openly because Xia Minglei had a fiancée, so for now she could only follow Xia Minglei's orders.
Wenxi had already gone straight to the communal dining hall after seeing the new educated youth. Everyone cleaned together, fetched water from the river bend to wash the tables and chairs, and prepared the stove so that the communal dining hall could be used directly the next day.
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