Chapter 342 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s 4
“We know that you city kids can’t do farm work, but we didn’t expect you to have the habit of stealing chickens and dogs. Picking some fruit and vegetables is fine, no one is short of that. If you ask, I’ll give you some. But once you stole and ate the laying hens of an old man in the village. When they came to our door, you still denied it. Since then, no one wants to talk to you anymore.”
“We’re different from them; at least we definitely wouldn’t steal someone’s chickens.”
"Haha, your words are nice to say but useless. We'll see what you do in the future."
Grandpa Xu stopped beside a courtyard: "This courtyard is also intended to house you educated youth. There are three rooms that can accommodate four people, and it also has a courtyard. The village has already renovated it."
"Do you want to stay here or in the educated youth compound? Of course, you can also pay to stay in a villager's home. If you stay here, you will have to pay a 10 yuan repair fee, because the beams and mud bricks of the houses here were borrowed from other people when they were built."
After discussing it for a while, Jiang Yue and the others decided that they should definitely stay in this small courtyard because it's less crowded and quieter: "Uncle Xu, we plan to stay here. Who should we give the money to?"
"Give these to the brigade leader, because these things were bought in the name of the brigade. Are you sure you want to stay here? If you are, I will take you to the brigade leader. You know, the previous educated youth wanted to stay here, but the brigade leader wouldn't let them."
"Sure."
"Alright, then I'll take you to the brigade."
Upon arriving at the brigade headquarters, they found the busy brigade leader. Grandpa Xu explained his purpose to the leader, who looked at him with some surprise. He hadn't known Grandpa Xu was so kind. Grandpa Xu, feeling uneasy under the leader's gaze, didn't understand until he offered the leader a cigarette. The leader glared at him fiercely before turning to Jiang Yue and the other three:
"Are you sure you want to stay here? Old Xu told you it would cost 10 yuan, right? If he takes your money, don't make a scene and go to the commune or the educated youth office to complain!"
"No way, we checked the situation before deciding to stay here. Look, we've already prepared the money."
“That’s more like it. We’ll try to improve your living conditions as educated youth, but that doesn’t mean we have to do it. And don’t think 10 yuan is a lot. It’s just the cost of materials. We didn’t even charge for the labor involved in repairing the houses. The villagers helped us all for free.”
Yes, yes, yes.
"It's good that you're sensible. Just pay the money, and you can move in after you've paid."
"Oh, right, you've come at the perfect time. Take the grain back with you. It was lent to you by the brigade, and it will be deducted from your work points at the end of the year."
"Of course, you can buy it yourself if you have the money."
The brigade's grain was not something that could be borrowed in any quantity. Male educated youth received 30 jin (15 catties) per month, while female educated youth received slightly less, 25 jin (12.5 catties) per month. After completing the formalities with the storekeeper and accountant, the brigade did not allow them to take the grain all at once, but rather to take it month by month.
After putting the grain back in their lodgings, the group hired Xiao Hu to watch over it with candy. The four of them went to the educated youth settlement to move their luggage. When they arrived, the old educated youths were nowhere to be found. There was no one at the settlement, which was perfect, as they didn't have to argue with them. After moving their luggage into the courtyard, Grandpa Xu also brought his cabinets and other furniture.
They also gave them two small buckets for water. While the three of them were cleaning, Jiang Yue took the buckets and filled them with water. After filling the buckets, she wiped the dust off the house. With many hands making light work, they quickly cleaned the house and yard.
Grandpa Xu then brought over the cabinets and other items they had bought. After putting the items away, Grandpa Xu looked around and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, you've tidied this up nicely. I hope you can keep it up in the future."
“You’ve gotten a great deal living in this courtyard. When the courtyard was first built, one family in the village wanted to pay more to move to a different house, but the village head refused.”
Grandpa Xu stayed for a while and then left. Jiang Yue and the others started to assign rooms. The three rooms were arranged like this: the middle one served as the living room because there was a stove there, and the two rooms on the left and right were occupied by Jiang Yue and Yao Ling, and Wang Liang and Zhang Wei, respectively. After busily putting away their luggage, it was already getting dark.
Fortunately, they had all brought some dry food with them, otherwise they wouldn't even have an iron pot at home and wouldn't be able to cook. After finishing their dry food, they counted what they were missing in the house and made a list to ask Grandpa Xu where to buy things the next day. The four of them met up and looked at their receipts. They were still missing quite a lot of things. Fortunately, they had enough industrial tickets to buy an iron pot, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to cook.
It's impossible to rely on the village. They only provided one pot to the educated youth settlement. Unless Jiang Yue and the other three go there to cook, they will definitely have to buy a pot. Wang Liang lit a cigarette and said, "I see that everyone in the village is pickling vegetables now. Does any of you know how to do it?"
Of the four, only Jiang Yue raised her hand; the others didn't know the skill: "Okay, it's good that you know it. Tomorrow we'll go to the village and see if we can find someone to buy some cabbage, otherwise we won't have any vegetables to eat in winter. Luckily, we don't need tickets to buy a jar."
"We also need to ask where to get firewood tomorrow. This was delivered by Grandpa Xu today, and we won't have any to burn tomorrow. We'll freeze to death in this weather without firewood."
After discussing things for a while, they went back to sleep. The next morning, the four newly arrived educated youths did not go to work cutting down trees. Wang Liang and Zhang Wei went to buy water jars and firewood, while Jiang Yue and Yao Ling went to the villagers' homes to buy vegetables. With their sweet talk and the help of candy, they bought a lot of cabbage and round cabbage, as well as a lot of shepherd's purse.
When they got home, Wang Liang had already returned. Zhang Wei went with the villagers to the county town to buy iron pots and large vats. Wang Liang bought a lot of firewood. Normally, they wouldn't need to buy firewood, but since they didn't live with the old educated youth, they couldn't use other people's firewood. They had to find their own way. It was too late to collect firewood now, so they could only buy some from each household to get through the next few days.
After processing the vegetables, the three of them had nothing to do, so they decided to go to the nearby mountains to collect firewood. Since they were newcomers and didn't know where to collect firewood, Huatangkuai hired Xiaohu and a few of his friends. The three of them worked hard all day and collected enough firewood for two days.
After returning home, Xiao Hu looked at the firewood in their yard and comforted them, "Don't worry, you'll be going to cut down trees with the team tomorrow. If you work hard, you'll definitely have enough to burn this winter. Everyone started collecting firewood in the spring, so you don't need to envy other people's abundance of firewood."
After processing the collected firewood, Zhang Wei returned in an oxcart. The cart had been hired, and the owner wouldn't deliver the goods to their door. After unloading the supplies, the four of them started carrying things home. They asked Grandpa Xu to help load the pots. Although Jiang Yue knew how, she didn't offer to help without a suitable reason, since Grandpa Xu had promised to help them.
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