Chapter 97 No Leave Allowed
Starting from the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the educated youth in the educated youth compound began to leave the company one after another and return home to visit their families. After a few days, only Yun Qiao and the other new educated youth were left.
Yun Qiao and other new educated youth were not allowed to ask for leave to go home and visit their families.
The public office and the farm's educated youth office issued a notice early in the twelfth lunar month, clearly stipulating that educated youth who had gone to the countryside were not allowed to ask for leave to go home and visit their families in the year they were sent there, and all applications would be rejected!
The Youth League Office required that the new educated youth must stay in the Great Northern Wilderness to celebrate the revolutionary Spring Festival.
In accordance with the instructions from their superiors, all the new educated youth in the fifth company stayed in the company and celebrated the New Year there.
After the old educated youth left, the company did not assign any new work tasks to Yun Qiao and the others. It was like giving them a short Spring Festival holiday, allowing them to move freely. However, while giving them freedom, they also put a layer of shackles on them.
Because the company also required that all educated youth must not stay out overnight, regardless of whether they were male or female, they had to return to the dormitory before dark every day. They also arranged for people to check and take roll calls every day, and implemented a collective responsibility system. If one person was not responsible, all the educated youth would be criticized. This was to make them supervise each other and not cover up for others.
The day before the Little New Year, the new educated youth who stayed in the educated youth compound discussed going to the public New Year's fair together the next day to join in the fun. As soon as this suggestion was made, almost all the educated youth raised their hands to express their agreement and signed up enthusiastically.
So the next day, Yun Qiao and several other female educated youth got on the company's horse-drawn cart. Together with dozens of other male educated youth, they squeezed into three horse-drawn carts and headed to Gongyuan to attend the market.
The speed of a horse-drawn cart is not as fast as a bus, but it has the advantage of not taking a detour and not having to stop frequently to pick up and drop off passengers like a bus. Although it is also bumpy and shaky, the air you breathe through your nose is fresh air, not the unpleasant smell of gasoline in the car. So despite the bumps, Yun Qiao did not get carsick, but his butt was a little sore after he got to a place.
The New Year's Fair in Taipei was very lively. Even before the opening of the New Year, the main roads leading to Taipei were already congested with traffic.
The communicator Lu Xun, who was driving the carriage, looked at the long queue in front of him, which was so long that he couldn't see the end of it. He decisively pulled the reins of the horse and turned into a small road on the side.
We took a shortcut through the small path in the farmland and entered the road.
After successfully entering the park, the road ahead became even more crowded.
All the roads in the city have been turned into the market, and every road is crowded with people who come to the market to join in the fun, shoulder to shoulder, and a huge crowd of people.
The carriage could not enter, and even if it forced its way in, it would be blocked on the road and unable to move forward or backward.
Correspondent Lu Xun did not go home to visit his family this year. His father-in-law had been running the business for several years and had quite a few connections. Seeing this, he took his people to a private residence.
The owner of the house was a very easy-going young man, and Lu Xun had a good relationship with him. As soon as he mentioned it, the other party agreed to their request.
So, Yun Qiao and her companions' carriage stopped at someone else's yard.
After the meeting, the educated youth no longer gathered together. They agreed to meet in the yard at three o'clock in the afternoon and then dispersed in groups of three or four.
Yun Qiao went with Zheng Yujing and Wang Ru as usual. As for why Chen Fengxia, who lived with them, didn't come, it was because she was an old educated youth and there was no requirement to stay for the New Year, so she had returned to Shanghai to visit her family a few days ago.
The Gongyang New Year's market was bustling. After leaving the residential area, they first entered the chicken and fish markets. Farmers set up stalls on both sides, hawking their own roosters and chickens. The fish were frozen, large in size, similar to the ones Yun Qiao and his company had caught from Nanhu Lake on New Year's Day.
Yun Qiao and her friends didn't buy chicken or fish, so they didn't stop at the chicken market or the fish market, and just followed the flow of people.
After passing an intersection, Zheng Yujing saw from afar an old man selling candied haws standing by the roadside. He held high a straw-handled gourd pole with circles of bright red candied haws tied on it. The colors were bright as red lanterns and very eye-catching.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
