"By the way, you kids, once you're settled in, come to the brigade headquarters to borrow some grain!" Gu Chengyi reminded Shen Mu Ning and the other three to come to the brigade headquarters to collect their grain before leaving.
The educated youth who came from the city generally didn't bring any food with them when they went to the countryside. From the beginning of the rural education campaign, there was a tradition of lending the educated youth two months' worth of rations. Once the educated youth had earned work points, they would return the borrowed food when the grain was distributed, or they could simply pay for it with money. Of course, if the borrowed food wasn't enough, they could exchange it with the village.
Shen Mu Ning and the others immediately responded, indicating that they understood. After Gu Chengyi left, Shen Mu Ning curiously looked at Zhu Yang. Zhu Yang had a square face, wore patched clothes, and wore a pair of cloth shoes covered in mud, looking like he had just come back from the fields.
As Shen Mu Ning observed Zhu Yang, she recalled the contents of the novel. In the novel, Zhu Yang was the person in charge of the educated youth settlement, often cleaning up after troublemakers or quarrels among the educated youth, and was considered fairly fair. But strangely, he never received a spot at the migrant workers' university until the college entrance examination was reinstated, and he only left after passing the exam. Whether he was truly like that in reality was unknown.
Zhu Yang ushered the group into the educated youth compound, explaining, "The former owner of this compound was a well-known wealthy family in the village. Our current educated youth settlement is using his compound."
Shen Mu Ning had also seen an introduction to the educated youth compound in the novel. The owner of this compound built it at the foot of the mountain because he liked peace and quiet. But he was afraid that wild animals would come down the mountain, so his family bought all the land around the compound that was used to grow vegetables and enclosed it in the compound.
Unfortunately, their family was cursed. The four of them were caught in a mudslide while out, and all four died instantly. It wasn't until the police station sent the captain to identify them that the villagers learned of their deaths.
After that, his yard became the village's public property. It wasn't that no one was envious; many wanted to live in this brand-new, spacious yard, and quite a few families even had dirty disputes over it.
So the brigade leader said that whoever could come up with 300 yuan could have the yard. But at that time, who could come up with such a large sum of money? So the yard was left unused.
Originally, this courtyard was the common property of the village. However, when the educated youth first came to the countryside, they would often have disputes while staying in the villagers' homes. After discussing it, the brigade leader and the secretary decided to make this place a settlement for the educated youth.
As Zhu Yang spoke, he led the group to inspect the environment of the educated youth settlement. The houses were all made of mud walls. In the main room, there was a long table and some long benches, which looked like the place to eat. There was a door on the right side of the main room, leading to the kitchen, which had a mud stove with two large iron pots on it, as well as a long cutting board and a cabinet for storing grain.
The dormitory consists of rooms on either side of the main building; boys are on the left when they enter, and girls are on the right.
Since it wasn't convenient for Zhu Yang to show everyone around the girls' dormitory, he led a few people to check out the boys' dormitory instead. The most eye-catching thing upon entering was a long kang (heated brick bed), covered with many bedding items. Shen Mu Ning counted; there were enough blankets for five people. Opposite the kang, against the wall, were several large trunks, all locked.
After seeing the dormitory, Shen Mu Ning and the others fell silent. They had anticipated the hardships of rural life, but they hadn't expected it to be this bad. Apart from a roughly 40-centimeter-wide gravel path in the frequently used areas, the rest of the courtyard was dirt, guaranteed to be a muddy mess after rain. The floor inside the house had been trampled down and turned a dark brown.
As for the kang (heated brick bed) in the room, Shen Mu Ning wasn't too surprised, mainly because she always knew that people in Northeast China slept on kangs. Winters in Northeast China are long and cold; snow can accumulate to knee-deep overnight, and if it snows for several days, people can't go out. Therefore, every household heats their kang in winter to ensure a warm sleeping environment. However, Shen Mu Ning hadn't expected so many people to sleep in one room!
Zhu Yang knew that people who had just arrived in the countryside were not very accepting of the conditions there, so he could only tell them the rest of the situation: Of course, if you don’t want to stay in the dormitory, you can also take a look at the two rows of newly built houses on both sides. They were built by the brigade later specifically for educated youth to rent out, and the rent is ten yuan per year.
Shen Muling, Lin Siqi, and Zhang Jiayang's eyes lit up after hearing this. That's a great idea! Who wants to live alone and squeeze in with others?
Only He Xiaolan hesitated. Although her parents both worked, she had three brothers. Her family was also patriarchal; with several sons, her parents didn't particularly value her as a daughter, so they only gave her 100 yuan when she went to the countryside. She would need to buy many things later, and her family might not send her money again. Therefore, she really didn't want to spend another ten yuan; where she lived didn't matter.
Seeing that Shen Mu Ning and Lin Si Qi also wanted to live alone, Zhang Jia Yang immediately asked, "Zhu Zhi Qing, how do we rent a house?"
Zhu Yang was also surprised to discover that all three of them intended to rent apartments and live alone. He had assumed that only Lin Siqi and Zhang Jiayang were wealthy, but he hadn't expected Shen Mu Ning to be such a low-key person.
Upon hearing his question, Zhu Yang immediately told him, "You need to go to the brigade headquarters to pay the money and get the key first, and also pick up your grain. Then you can furnish your rooms yourself."
Zhu Yang was so enthusiastic because he didn't want any more people to join the large communal sleeping area; fewer people meant more space. He just needed to tell them to stock up on firewood before winter, otherwise they wouldn't be able to heat the kang (heated brick bed).
Shen Mu Ning and the others knew that what he said made sense, so they put down their luggage and went to the brigade headquarters.
Shen Mu Ning and the others were not familiar with the route to the brigade. The little kids who had just arrived at the educated youth settlement were still outside. When they saw the educated youths about to leave, they all gathered around.
"Brothers and sisters, where are you going? I can show you the way!" A chubby-faced little boy tilted his head up and asked Chen Mu Ning and the others.
He was very clever. He knew that when the educated youth first came to the countryside, they usually brought delicious candies with them. He could get candies by helping them. So he waited here after the educated youth returned, and sure enough, they asked him for help.
The remaining three children didn't speak, but they all looked at Shen Mu Ning with expectant eyes. In the countryside, most families couldn't afford to buy candy for their children, mainly because candy coupons were hard to come by. So they all longed for candy.
Shen Mu Ning found it amusing, but still said seriously, "Do you know how to get to the brigade headquarters? If you lead us there, these candies are yours." With that, she took out a candy and placed it in her outstretched hand so that the children could see it.
The little boy, Gu Xiaohu, puffed out his chest and replied, "Are you going to find the brigade leader? He's my grandfather, I'll take you there right now."
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