Chapter 9: The house was built with money pooled together by the former educated youth.
As Li Lanjun walked in, she bumped into Du Ruoxia and Luo Xiaojuan. Du Ruoxia nimbly dodged, but Luo Xiaojuan took the hit, thinking that it would be better to endure it for now.
However, she also bumped into He Meiling, who was not one to take offense. Li Lanjun's hard bump immediately angered the young lady.
He grabbed Li Lanjun's hair. Li Lanjun was caught off guard and had her hair pulled by He Meiling. After all, she had been working in the countryside for several months and was much stronger than He Meiling. She then retaliated by hitting He Meiling.
Du Ruoxia and her group, along with Liu Guihong and her friends who came in later, rushed to break up the fight. In the chaos, Du Ruoxia was scratched by Li Lanjun's finger, which infuriated Du Ruoxia, who then kicked her in return.
Thankfully, there were enough people to separate them smoothly. Before everyone could even catch their breath, someone said, "I would never live with someone as rude as you, hmph!"
He Meiling threw a sentence at the old educated youth and walked out.
Seeing the old educated youth's faces turn extremely pale, Du Ruoxia rubbed her forehead. He Meiling had offended too many people, offending all the female educated youth in one fell swoop.
Du Ruoxia and Tian Xueying both took out a few candies from their pockets at the same time, but Tian Xueying's were White Rabbit milk candies, which were a little more expensive than Du Ruoxia's fruit candies.
After exchanging a few polite words with Liu Guihong, I stuffed the candy into her hand. I couldn't afford to offend the educated youth in charge, as I would need their guidance when I started working.
"Sisters, please share these candies and take good care of us in the future!" Du Ruoxia said to the female educated youth. Tian Xueying also gave candies to the female educated youth, two for each of them, making five in total including Du Ruoxia's.
These days, opportunities to eat candy are rare. People are so hungry that they don't have the spare money to buy candy. Everyone's attitude towards Du Ruoxia and Tian Xueying has improved a lot.
Even Li Lanjun, who had just been fighting, accepted the candy, and her expression softened considerably.
Liu Guihong smiled and said to Du Ruoxia and the others, "It's not that we're being mean, but the conditions we lived in before we came here were even worse. This house was built with money pooled together by the former educated youth. Luckily, the three female educated youth from before married locals, so there were empty spaces. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to live here."
"Besides, we finally managed to get some room, and now a few more people have come. Everyone's a little upset!" Liu Guihong added after a pause.
“That’s right, if it weren’t for the fact that we could squeeze in, you would have wasted money building houses. Instead of thanking us, you hit me. You have such a bad temper. In the future…” Li Lanjun said angrily, but before she could finish, she was pulled back by the female educated youth next to her.
Du Ruoxia and Tian Xueying originally didn't want to pay any attention to Li Lanjun, as she didn't seem like a good person. However, Li Lanjun's idea of building a house really caught their attention.
Du Ruoxia didn't want to live with so many people.
Tian Xueying prefers to read quietly. With so many people living here making so much noise, how can she concentrate on her studies? It would be better for her to live separately.
Both of them were thinking about how to build a house so they could each have their own room. He smiled at the group of female educated youth and went outside.
The two boys also found a house. As male educated youth, they didn't have any complicated issues and put their luggage away.
Chen Zongliang was appointed as the squad leader among the newly arrived educated youth by the brigade leader. He walked quickly to the girls' dormitory and asked Tian Xueying, who was closest to him, "Comrade Tian, what happened?"
Before Tian Xueying could answer, He Meiling said with a wronged expression, "Those old educated youths don't want us to move in, and they even bumped into us."
Tian Xueying didn't even want to give her a disapproving look, and simply blocked He Meiling's view by turning to the side.
"Captain Jiang, do I have anywhere else to stay besides here?" Du Ruoxia asked the captain.
Upholding his duty as the squad leader, Chen Zongliang also asked, "Yes, Captain, the female educated youth's accommodations are indeed crowded."
Jiang Dezhu had just gone in with the male educated youth and learned the whole story from Liu Guihong. He glanced at the sky, having worked in the fields all day and then rushed off to bring the educated youth back. He didn't want to get involved in this matter at all.
However, considering the offer of a pack of cigarettes, Jiang Dezhu said, "If you don't stay here, you can only stay with the villagers, or you can build your own house."
"Captain, do you see if there's any house we can rent for a few days so we can settle down?" Du Ruoxia said again.
"Comrade Du, do you really want to move out? It's not safe for a few girls to live outside, and it's a waste of money." The captain looked at everyone, saying that even if they had money, it wasn't a good idea to spend it like that.
He Meiling was spoiled from a young age, so she was definitely eager to move out and spend some money.
Tian Xueying desperately wanted a quiet learning environment, so she decisively spent money to solve the problem.
Du Ruoxia had several hundred yuan in her pocket, so she was quite well-off and had no habit of depriving herself.
There was another girl named Wang Sufeng, who also couldn't stand being squeezed together with the older educated youth.
Only Luo Xiaojuan felt that the educated youth compound was a place she could make do with, but since several new educated youths had already left, she was afraid that she, as a new educated youth, would be bullied if she stayed in the old educated youths' nest, so she decided to leave with them as well.
When the male educated youth Xiang Xinming heard that he could move out, he also raised his hand to join in the fun. Although boys are not particular about details, who wouldn't want to live in a spacious and comfortable place?
Seeing this, Chen Zongliang also expressed concern that it would be unsafe for the female educated youth to live there, and applied to go with them.
Seeing this, Jiang Dezhu realized that he wouldn't be able to get a proper rest today. Luckily, an old man in the village had passed away, leaving no children. Although the house was a bit simple, it would be enough for a few nights.
A group of people carrying their luggage walked into a house with three rooms. Someone had died in the main room. Although it was a bit bigger, the girl didn't want to stay there, so she gave it to the two boys.
Everyone was tired after a long day of travel, and there was no time to prepare food. They didn't have any tools or ingredients, so they just ate the dry food they had brought from home.
He Meiling and Tian Xueying shared a dormitory, while Du Ruoxia, Luo Xiaojuan, and Wang Sufen shared a room.
The next day, Jiang Dezhu gave the newly arrived educated youth a day off. Du Ruoxia originally planned to sleep in, but since everyone else had gotten up early, she felt embarrassed to continue sleeping.
I still have to live alone; I don't like this kind of communal living.
"We don't have to work today, and it's still early. Let's hurry up and go find the team leader to discuss the housing issue!" Chen Zongliang saw that everyone was up and thought it would be better to get things done as soon as possible.
Otherwise, everyone will go out soon, and we'll have to go to work tomorrow, so the house construction will have to be postponed again.
When the group arrived at the team leader's house, they had just finished breakfast. They arrived at the exact time; if they arrived too early, they would be eating breakfast, which would be very awkward, as the team leader would think they were there to freeload!
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