"Comrade, are you here from the Red Star Commune to pick me up?"
A tall, thin young man came over and asked with a happy expression. There was a man and a woman with him. The man was aloof and the woman looked pitiful. They were both around eighteen or nineteen years old.
Lu Yuan pointed emphatically to the three brigades behind the Red Star Commune on the cardboard and replied loudly, "I am in charge of picking up educated youth from the Changhe, Liuhe, and Qingshan brigades."
"Huh? What about the other brigades?" The tall, thin male educated youth asked blankly.
Lu Yuan kindly reminded them, "They're waiting by the roadside outside. You'll see them if you go out and follow the main road."
The tall, thin male educated youth hurriedly thanked him, whispered a few words to the man and woman behind him, and the female educated youth followed him away, looking back every few steps, leaving only the aloof male educated youth behind.
Lu Yuan looked at him, and the other party spoke coldly, "Xiao Fan, Changhe Brigade."
Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow; it turned out to be his own brigade.
However, this person had a stern face, as if someone owed him hundreds of thousands of dollars, making him seem very difficult to get along with.
Out of politeness, he also introduced himself.
"Lu Yuan is also from the Changhe Brigade."
Xiao Fan's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. Was this person not from the commune? Or was he from Changhe Brigade and working at the commune?
She nodded slightly in response, then stood aside silently and waited.
Lu Yuan was too lazy to shout anymore, so he would occasionally move the sign in his hand to attract the attention of the people around him.
At the same time, he was secretly observing the guy surnamed Xiao next to him. The other man's features seemed somewhat familiar. Although he wasn't as handsome as him, just a little bit less so, he seemed to be a bit taller. Coupled with his handsome and aloof expression, he had a lot of masculine charm.
Looking at it this way, it seems she's almost catching up to me in terms of looks.
Anyway, he won't admit to being more handsome than me; at most, we're about the same.
Just as he was secretly comparing who was more handsome, wave after wave of educated youth surrounded him.
Some belong to these three brigades, and once confirmed, they waited here with a sigh of relief. Others, not belonging to these three brigades, could only continue searching with tearful faces.
When there were about 20 people, Lu Yuan frowned. Why hadn't his wife's cousin come out yet? Had she already left, or was she not among this group of educated youth sent to the countryside?
That shouldn't be the case; it refers to the end of this month.
It's the end of the month now.
The educated youth sent to the countryside couldn't come every day; there were only one or two batches a year. Her cousin coming here must be in this batch.
About ten minutes later, only a few people came out from inside. Lu Yuan began to take out the list and count the number of people.
There are only 20 people, 4 more are needed.
All four were educated youth from Changhe Brigade. Looking closely at the list, my wife's cousin's name was indeed there, but she was also absent.
Lu Yuan asked the other three educated youths from Changhe Brigade, "Did you meet any other educated youths who also came to Changhe Brigade on the train?"
The three shook their heads.
Just as he was about to ask something, more people came out of the station, four teenagers of sixteen or seventeen.
Lu Yuan quickly waved the cardboard to attract the attention of the other party.
The group looked rather grim, but upon seeing the words on the cardboard, they were all delighted and rushed over.
"We're heading to Changhe Brigade of Hongxing Commune."
Lu Yuan called out, "Lin Xiaofang..."
"It's me."
He called out the names of the first three people in one go, and finally called out, "Mo Lijuan?"
"I!"
One of the four, a petite and pretty girl with short, ear-length hair, replied crisply.
Lu Yuan glanced at her a couple more times. She didn't look like his wife at all. Regardless of whether they looked alike or not, she was his cousin. He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled kindly at her.
Little did anyone know that this action would lead Mo Lijuan to mistakenly believe that Lu Yuan had fallen in love with her at first sight. Otherwise, why would he ignore everyone else and stare at her while smiling at her?
She is very good-looking, but she is from the countryside after all. She doesn't want to suffer like her cousin when she marries into a rural family.
She slightly raised her chin and looked away.
Lu Yuan didn't mind; now that everyone was there, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He put the list back in his pocket and said loudly to everyone, "The car is right outside on the side of the road. Let's go over there. Everyone follow."
He then went to help Mo Lijuan with her luggage, saying, "Hello, I'm Lu Yuan. You must be tired from your journey. Let me take your luggage."
When Lu Yuan took the initiative to strike up a conversation, the other educated youth looked at him with puzzled expressions.
Mo Lijuan was taken aback. She recognized the name Lu Yuan. Wasn't he the countryman her cousin had married?
It turned out he was only being nice to her because of her cousin. Realizing this, she felt a little annoyed; she had thought it was because she was charming.
When he spoke again, his tone wasn't very friendly.
"Why didn't you come to the platform to meet us? I'm exhausted from all this luggage."
Her family said they had written to her long ago, and she thought her cousin would definitely arrange for her rural husband to pick her up at the station. She even asked a few educated youths she met on the train to wait with her. But after everyone left, no one came to pick them up.
It made her lose face in front of her friends.
Hearing these self-righteous words, Lu Yuan frowned and glanced at his cheap sister-in-law, suddenly feeling an urge to throw the luggage back at her.
This guy seems a bit clueless. I'm going to have to live in his house from now on. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.
However, as a grown man, he couldn't very well argue with a young girl at this moment, especially since his father-in-law had brought them some things in the luggage.
However, he then lost his pleasant expression and his previous enthusiasm in his speech.
He said calmly, "My task is to pick up educated youth from three brigades, so it's inconvenient for me to come to the platform."
After saying that, he didn't bother to continue talking to his cheap sister-in-law. Instead, he shouted back, "Don't fall behind!" and quickened his pace.
He quickened his pace and soon put a distance between himself and the people behind him. Some of the taller male educated youth could barely keep up, but the female educated youth struggled. They had to run while carrying their luggage, which was exhausting for them.
Mo Lijuan was extremely frustrated. What kind of person was this? His attitude changed so suddenly.
Although Lu Yuan helped her carry most of the luggage, she still had a bag slung across her shoulder and a large net bag in her hand, containing basins, jars, kettles and other similar items.
Hmph, when I see my cousin later, she'll definitely complain. How dare a country bumpkin give her such a hard time?
The car stopped not far away and soon arrived at the truck. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the truck.
They threw their luggage up and hurriedly climbed up.
If someone can't climb up, others will help pull them up.
After getting on the bus, everyone tacitly agreed to put some of their luggage to the side and then sit down, while the rest of their luggage was piled up in the empty space in the middle.
Lu Yuan placed Mo Lijuan's luggage next to the sewing machine, iron pot, and coal stove at the front. Everyone assumed that Lu Yuan had reserved the spot for Mo Lijuan and had automatically left the space empty.
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