Bai Guoguo and his group rode a tractor and arrived at the large yard at the foot of the mountain.
Maybe it's because it's work time, there's no one in the yard.
After jumping out of the car, Bai Guoguo looked around outside the yard. The yard of this duty point was quite large. The gate made of thick wooden boards was very sturdy, and the wall was also built very high.
"This used to be the villa of a county landlord. They lived here when they came to the village to collect rent. Later, it was taken over by the government during the land reform. A few years ago, it became a resettlement site for educated youth. The yard is large and the walls are high, so you don't have to worry about wild animals coming from the mountains when you live here."
He Gang jumped out of the tractor cab and saw Bai Guoguo looking at the yard curiously, so he patiently explained to him.
In fact, there was one thing he didn't say. When the county was in turmoil, the landlord's family came here to hide, but they were massacred by the bandits in the mountains. There were more than 30 people in the family, and no one was left.
So, when Murakami established a production team, someone suggested that they work here, but most people were unwilling to come.
This place remained empty until many years later when it was converted into a training center for educated youth. Fortunately, most of the new generation of educated youth were materialists and did not believe in that.
That's why the educated youth settled down here with peace of mind. Of course, it's also possible that some people believed it in their hearts but just couldn't express it.
The members of the Red Flag Production Team and the old educated youth generally did not tell the new educated youth about these things, for fear of scaring them or causing trouble.
"This door is closed. How are we going to get in?" Bai Guoguo asked He Gang, pointing at the closed door in front of them.
"Before I went to pick you up, I found Zhao Zhiqing, the person in charge of the educated youth site, and got the key. I'll open the door for you right away!"
He Hongjun, who followed behind, was holding a key strung with red wool in his hand, swinging it around in circles. Before he finished speaking, he had unlocked the gate.
In those days, people in rural areas usually did not lock their doors during the day. It was only because the courtyard of this educated youth site was a short distance away from the village that the door had to be locked.
As soon as the door was opened, Bai Guoguo, Li Dongyang, Yang Xiaoyong and Wang Qiuyu saw the true appearance of the courtyard.
The yard is indeed very big, with two entrances in total. The patio of the first entrance alone is as big as half a basketball court. However, some houses have been built in the yard, which has destroyed the style of the yard, making it look like it has been patched up.
There are three main rooms on the front. The middle room seems to be used as a public space, and the rooms on both sides of the room are divided into two single rooms each.
There is a large kitchen at the rightmost corner of the main house. The kitchen door is open and you can see a patio inside.
There is a hanging flower door next to the corridor on the far left of the main house, which seems to be the door leading to the second courtyard.
There are three single rooms on each side of the main house. The single rooms separated from the side rooms appear to be newly built.
These later-built buildings destroyed the original quaint atmosphere of the courtyard.
"There used to be quite a lot of educated youth in our brigade, more than 20 of us, and all the rooms in the courtyard were full. Later, some returned to the city, and some started families, so the number of people in the educated youth camp became smaller and smaller. The front room was occupied by male educated youth, and the backyard was occupied by female educated youth."
He Gang's voice suddenly rang out in the yard.
It turned out that when Bai Guoguo was concentrating on observing the yard, He Gang carried down Bai Guoguo's big pot of things, and He Hongjun also carried Bai Guoguo's two big packages into the yard.
"Comrade Li Dongyang and Comrade Yang Xiaoyong live in the front yard. If you want to share a room, you can live in the side rooms of the main house. If you want a single room, you need to pay one yuan in rent to the team every month until the cost of building the house is recovered. Then we will stop charging rent. Female comrades, please follow us to the backyard. There are also empty rooms there."
After greeting Bai Guoguo, the two men took the things and went to the backyard. Bai Guoguo had no time to be polite. The two men strode into the backyard, and Bai Guoguo could only hurriedly follow them.
Wang Qiuyu had no choice but to pick up her luggage and move into the backyard with difficulty. She didn't dare to order the male comrade around anymore, for fear of being slapped in the face.
Yang Xiaoyong and Li Dongyang were curious about what the backyard looked like, so they put their luggage in front of the side room door and followed into the backyard.
The backyard is much larger than the front yard. In addition to the six single rooms in the back house that were renovated last year, there is also a small pavilion in the yard with a well underneath and a toilet in the northwest corner of the courtyard wall.
The area in the middle of the backyard that used to be a small garden has now been leveled and turned into a vegetable patch. Maybe because it's still March and the ground in the Northeast hasn't completely thawed yet, there's nothing in the vegetable patch.
There were two racks made of bamboo poles in the corner, with some clothes drying on them.
The courtyard wall used to be the backyard, and there were several houses that were about to collapse, giving the backyard a desolate feel.
"The houses near the back wall, which are about to collapse, were where the first few generations of female educated youth lived. Now the new educated youth all live in brick and tile houses. There are still four empty houses in the backyard. If you want to share, you can. If you want a single room, just like in the front yard, you pay one yuan a month."
As He Gang spoke, he placed Bai Guoguo's things in front of an empty room on the easternmost side.
This room is built on the side and has one more small window than the room in the middle, so the lighting is better, and it is quieter to live on the side.
"Thank you, Brother He. I want to live alone, so I'll stay in this room. Do I give you the money?"
Bai Guoguo is so smart. She immediately understood He Gang’s hint and said that she would live in this room.
Wang Qiuyu rolled her eyes behind him. She finally understood that Captain He must have fallen for the vixen named Bai, and all the good things were done to her.
But she has learned her lesson now. She knows that these men will not give in to her, so she just keeps her mouth shut and says less.
Li Dongyang and Yang Xiaoyong, who came in later, both had well-off families and they also said they wanted to live in a single room. The remaining Wang Qiuyu had no choice but to follow suit and say he wanted to live in a single room too.
But even if she wanted to live with others, she had no chance, because He Hongjun said that the two female educated youth who went to work all lived in single rooms and no one lived with others.
The rooms were divided like this. Li Dongyang and Yang Xiaoyong lived in the front yard, and there were two empty single rooms in the right wing.
Bai Guoguo lived in the small single room at the easternmost end, Wang Qiuyu lived in the room next to her, and the two original female educated youth lived in the two rooms at the westernmost end.
Bai Guoguo was very satisfied with this arrangement, because the way from the front yard was from west to east, which meant that she lived at the innermost part.
In this way, not only does her room have a small window compared to the middle room, but others don't have to pass by her door when returning to their rooms, so her privacy is better protected.
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