The Victory Commune was not far from the Chaoyang Brigade; it only took half an hour by tractor to get there.
The tractor dropped them off at the entrance to the educated youth community and then drove away.
The person in charge of picking them up was the captain of the Chaoyang Brigade, who led them into the educated youth dormitory.
The educated youth in the dormitory came out one after another after hearing the noise.
The captain addressed a man dressed in gray clothes with a dark complexion:
"Liu Zhiqing, these are all new educated youths. You can arrange things for them!"
After saying that, he turned to everyone and said, "This is Comrade Liu Jianhua, the person in charge of the educated youth settlement. You should listen to Comrade Liu's arrangements and rest well today. You will have a day off tomorrow and start work the day after tomorrow. Remember to come to the brigade headquarters to collect your grain tomorrow."
After saying that, the captain left immediately. It was getting dark, and he had to go home for dinner.
"Hello everyone, my name is Liu Jianhua, and I am the person in charge of the educated youth settlement. I will take you to the dormitory to tidy up first. After dinner, we will have a meeting to get to know each other."
After saying that, Liu Jianhua introduced to an older female educated youth, "This is Wang Xiangnan, the educated youth in charge of you female educated youth! You should follow Wang Xiangnan back to the dormitory to pack up first."
"Wang Zhiqing, you should make arrangements for them."
After saying that, Liu Jianhua turned to the male educated youth and said, "Male comrades, come with me."
Lin Qing followed Wang Xiangnan to the girls' dormitory. As soon as she entered the dormitory, she saw a row of earthen beds against the wall on the right. The wall was made of mud. Lin Qing was very worried that if she accidentally bumped into the wall while sleeping, some soil might fall down.
There was a table against the wall on the left, one of its legs was broken! It was placed on a mud brick! Under the table were some washbasins, and inside the washbasins were towels, combs and other items belonging to the educated youth! Lin Qing also noticed that some of the basins had some soil in them.
The earthen bed can probably sleep eleven or twelve people. There are already nine people on it, and five more have come this time, so it's definitely not enough to keep them all occupied.
"How can we sleep here? It's so cramped... there's not enough room!"
"I'm short and pretty, a former educated youth," complained. This woman was named Xu Fengjiao, and she came from Shanghai! She spoke with a sweet, high-pitched Shanghai accent! Although she was complaining, she was somehow likable.
"Let's squeeze in for now, we'll ask the team leader tomorrow."
Wang Xiangnan was also very helpless. It was too late now, so he could only make do for the time being.
"The dorm room is only so big, it's already overflowing, why are they adding more people in..."
Several former educated youths reluctantly moved their mattresses to the middle, barely making room for them.
Lin Qing quickly placed the items at the end of the kang (heated brick bed) against the wall.
The kang (heated brick bed) here is heated by burning firewood in the middle, which makes it easier for the heat to spread to both sides.
Therefore, the head and foot of the kang (heated brick bed) are relatively cold, so no one chose them.
Seeing that Lin Qing had found a spot, Lu Xianghong quickly took the place next to Lin Qing before anyone else could react, leaving the remaining three to sleep on the kang (heated brick bed).
Lin Qing fetched a basin of water, wiped the straw mat on the kang (a heated brick bed) briefly, took out a piece of cloth and laid it on top, then put her own mattress, quilt, and pillow on it.
"You've arrived too late. We've already prepared dinner. So you'll have to fend for yourselves for dinner tonight! We can lend you some food if you need it, but you'll have to cook it yourselves."
Wang Xiangnan said embarrassedly.
"What do you mean? We've come all this way to the countryside, and now you won't even give us a meal?"
Already furious about the bed, Chen Zhaodi sat up from the kang and roared angrily.
"Why are you yelling? Whether you go to the countryside or not is none of our business. We don't owe you anything, so why should we feed you?"
The older educated youth whose spot had been taken was also unhappy!
"you……"
"I still have food here, so I won't trouble you."
Seeing that Wang Xiangnan's expression had also changed, Lin Qing quickly said, "I'm new here, it's really not appropriate to make things too awkward with them. Besides, they really have no obligation to feed us new educated youths!"
"I have food too, I eat it myself."
Lu Xianghong then added, "In my previous life, the new and old educated youth had a very unpleasant falling out because of this."
As a result, the older educated youth were unwilling to eat with them, and they spent a lot more money to buy their own food.
"Hmph, you're all so good at playing the good guy, putting on an act!"
Chen Zhaodi thought she was acting in everyone's best interests, and that everyone would support her for their own benefit! She never expected to be squeezed out before it even started!
Lin Qing glanced at Chen Zhaodi but didn't want to pay her any attention. She had been traveling for several days and was exhausted. She was too lazy to argue with Chen Zhaodi, especially since that woman looked like a troublemaker and she didn't want to get herself into trouble for no reason.
Lin Qing asked Wang Xiangnan for some hot water, made a teacup of malted milk powder, and then ate some biscuits.
Lin Qing really misses the food in her space! Unfortunately, she can't take it out right now! She has to think of a way to move it out.
"These are some cookies I brought from home, try them." Lin Qing noticed Lu Xianghong drinking water continuously and thought for a moment.
She probably had no more food, so she handed her biscuits to Lu Xianghong.
"Thank you..." Lu Xianghong said gratefully, her eyes a little red. This was the first time in her life that Lu Xianghong had received kindness from someone.
"You're welcome, please eat..."
Lin Qing didn't offer Lu Xianghong any of her malted milk powder, not because she was stingy, but because she didn't want to put too much pressure on her! Just like she didn't offer Lu Xianghong any of her food on the train! Because she was worried it would embarrass the other person.
"Let me have a taste too..."
As they were talking, a hand quickly reached in and grabbed a few cookies.
Lin Qing looked up and saw Chen Zhaodi smugly eating cookies with relish.
Lin Qing opened her mouth, then wrapped up the biscuit and placed it in Lu Xianghong's hand, saying:
"Eat up, these are all yours, there's not much left, don't give any to others."
As she spoke, Lin Qing glanced at Chen Zhaodi.
"mean……"
Chen Zhaodi saw Lin Qing glance at her and said nonchalantly.
After dinner, Liu Jianhua gathered everyone together for a short meeting, where everyone introduced themselves to each other.
There were 17 educated youth in the settlement before, eight male and nine female. The kang (heated brick bed) in both rooms were the same size, so there weren't enough rooms for the male educated youth to sleep in.
They agreed to ask the brigade leader how to resolve the issue when they collected their rations the next day.
Lin Qing quickly washed up and finished his daily routine before lying in bed to sleep. He had been exhausted for several days and thought he would fall asleep soon, but he just couldn't fall asleep no matter what he did.
She couldn't help but think of Gu Nanxun. Ever since she entered the village, Lin Qing had been absent-minded.
I was fine when I was busy, but now that I've calmed down, I can't help but think about Gu Nanxun!
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