Chapter 4 Chase Shop
Once everyone had arrived, Zhou Jianguo told them to go back, and Zhou Aiguo started driving the oxcart.
The vehicle only contained luggage, and even Zhou Jianguo had to walk, so although the other educated youth were unhappy, they still had to walk.
However, almost all the educated youth had eaten something, so although they were tired, they could still manage to walk.
After walking for more than 40 minutes, Xu Jiajia and Ning Xuan both started to look unwell. Ning Xuan was already malnourished and hadn't been eating properly lately, so walking for so long was starting to take its toll on her body.
Xu Jiajia is physically weak because she was born prematurely and her family has always pampered her.
Logically speaking, given how much her family dotes on her and how capable they are, they shouldn't have let her go to the countryside. But unfortunately, some family members aren't of one mind.
After Xu Jiajia's sister-in-law married into the family, she was initially very good to Xu Jiajia. However, as time went on, she found that her husband always put his sister-in-law first and prioritized her in everything, which she could no longer tolerate.
When Xu Jiajia was about to graduate from high school, before her family had a chance to arrange a job for her, her sister-in-law secretly signed her up to go to the countryside.
After the incident came to light, Xu Jiajia's brother beat up his sister-in-law and then demanded a divorce.
The Xu family regretted it. They were afraid that Xu Jiajia wouldn't be able to endure hardship, so they were picky when looking for her a job. They thought this one was too hard, that one was too tiring, and that one had too complicated a relationship with her colleagues, fearing that Xu Jiajia wouldn't be able to handle it. As a result, in the process of being picky, they bypassed their eldest daughter-in-law and ruined the situation.
However, since the application had already been submitted, no matter how capable they were, they couldn't change the fact that Xu Jiajia was going to the countryside. But they still did their best to transfer her to a better place before she went. There was a friend of Xu's brother working in the commune there, so they could take care of her if anything happened.
They decided that once Xu Jiajia had been in the countryside for a full year, they would find her a job and bring her back to the city.
Seeing that the two women looked really bad, and thinking that they weren't far from the brigade, Zhou Jianguo let them get on the oxcart.
Because there were other educated youths following behind, Zhou Aiguo deliberately drove the oxcart slowly so that the distance between the oxcart and the educated youths was not too far.
Ning Xuan and Xu Jiajia were not the type to endure hardship without effort; after expressing their gratitude, they climbed into the car.
After getting on the bus, Ning Xuan felt a sudden darkness in her vision. She quickly closed her eyes to calm down, and it took a while for her to feel better.
Only then did she have the mood to appreciate the scenery along the way.
Looking at the crops by the roadside, Zhou Jianguo said to the educated youth, "It's good that you came at this time. It's not the busiest time yet, so you have some time to adjust to the work."
"And it's not cold now. Do any of you have children whose husbands are coming? They might feel very cold then. Luckily, you have time to adjust gradually if you come now," Zhou Aiguo chimed in.
Ning Xuan nodded involuntarily. That was so true. If it were cold weather right away, she would really thank him.
Zhou Jianguo and Zhou Aiguo then took the opportunity to inform the group of educated youth about the work they had been busy with in the fields recently, so that they could be mentally prepared.
Chatting while traveling makes time pass much faster.
Of course, Zhou Aiguo and Zhou Jianguo did most of the talking. The educated youth had difficulty even walking, so they just nodded or responded with "uh-huh".
After another half hour, they finally arrived at the village entrance. The oxcart continued into the village and stopped at a courtyard surrounded by earthen walls.
"This is the educated youth settlement. Let's move our things in first. It's still work time. I'll go and call the educated youth team leader back."
Ning Xuan looked at the educated youth settlement in front of her and thought it was alright. It wasn't too dilapidated. Although it was a mud-brick house, half of it was made of mud bricks, so it looked much better than a completely mud-brick house.
Moreover, there are several rooms here, and Ning Xuan hopes to have a room to herself. If that's not possible, she hopes to have as few people as possible to share a room with. The fewer the better.
It's only 1973 now. If she can pass the first batch of college entrance exams and return to the city, she will have to live here for at least four years. She still hopes to live in a slightly more comfortable place.
Zhou Jianguo stayed there with them while they waited for the educated youth team leader. A few minutes later, Zhou Aiguo returned with a young man and a young woman.
Zhou Aiguo spoke first, saying, "This is the team leader of your educated youth settlement. To make management easier, we have male and female team leaders."
The young man looked to be in his early twenties. "Hello, I'm Liu Jun."
Then the girl next to her, who was also in her early twenties, said, "I'm Huang Xiaomei."
Then Liu Jun told the male educated youth to go with him, while the female educated youth went with Huang Xiaomei.
The houses at the educated youth settlement consisted of four large shared rooms with earthen beds.
Each bed can sleep a maximum of 6 people; any more than that, and in winter, you won't even be able to turn over in your quilt.
When the policy of sending young people to the countryside was first introduced a few years ago, many enthusiastic young people took the initiative to go to the countryside, and the brigade members treated the young people with great respect.
However, it was later discovered that the educated youth were not good at lifting heavy objects, and since they had to share their food rations, many team members were not happy about it.
However, some people returned to the city by finding jobs or retiring due to illness, while others moved out of the educated youth settlement because they married local people.
Before Ning Xuan and the others arrived, there were 12 people at the educated youth settlement, 8 men and 4 women.
Now Ning Xuan and her group of 3 men and 2 women have arrived, so there are still enough rooms available.
The girls' dormitory was originally a two-person room, but now Ning Xuan and Xu Jiajia each chose a room, so there are three people in one room.
Since she didn't see anyone else, Ning Xuan thought Huang Xiaomei was a nice person, so she chose to share a room with her. Xu Jiajia was a bit slower, so she chose another room.
However, Ning Xuan found that the spot she was supposed to sleep in was quite clean. Huang Xiaomei smiled and said:
“This place used to be where another educated youth slept. It wasn’t cold in the summer, so we each slept at one end, leaving the middle empty. But these past few days, we heard that new educated youth were coming, so she moved to the middle. You can sleep at this end.”
Ning Xuan understood immediately. Her position was at the end of the kang (heated brick bed), and in winter, when it was cold, the kang wasn't as warm as other places.
However, Ning Xuan didn't mind. On the contrary, she felt that it was quite nice to be close to the wall on the side, instead of having people on both sides.
After putting their things away, before they even had time to clean up, Ning Xuan and the other educated youth came out of the courtyard again, where the brigade leader was still waiting.
Zhou Jianguo didn't waste any words. "There's one more thing. You'll come with me to the brigade to collect your subsidized food rations. This is only for the first year. Next year, you'll have to earn work points to get your food rations."
Each educated youth received 40 jin of grain per month, which seems like enough, but it actually included coarse grains like sweet potatoes that were weighed by weight. So without additional subsidies, everyone was barely able to survive.
It's early July now, and the brigade has still calculated the amount for the whole month. Each person received 240 jin of grain, and the brigade accountant was also present to weigh it.
Then Zhou Jianguo and Zhou Aiguo were quite enthusiastic in helping to push the two-wheeled cart and transported them back to the educated youth settlement in two separate trips.
The educated youth settlement now has a unified cooking system, so the grains are stored together, but each person's grains are marked.
At the beginning of each month, everyone takes out the same weight of grain and puts it together. Then, the person who cooks each day takes from this batch of grain, and everyone gets the same amount of staple food for each meal.
Then, if someone wants to increase the amount, they should say so in advance and take out the corresponding amount of grain. The people who cook every day should keep track of this.
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