Chapter 14 Settlement

The group didn't arrive at the Ningshan Commune Guesthouse until 10 pm. The young official looked at them wearily and said, "Rest in the guesthouse first. Go to the Youth Educated Office of the commune at 8 am tomorrow. You will know which brigade you will go to tomorrow. Just follow the people from the brigade when the time comes."

After saying that, he and the uncle left. The old man had to wait for them to take their luggage before he could leave.

There weren't that many rooms in the guesthouse, so in the end three people had to share one.

Yu Wanqing and Zhang Hongqi lived together, and Guo Hongying seemed to be a tail that could not be shaken off, and insisted on squeezing in. Zhang Hongqi saw that she was aggrieved, so he asked for Yu Wanqing's consent before letting her in.

She whispered, "I would rather live with Guo Hongying than with Gu Xiaoru."

That's a troublemaker.

Yu Wanqing didn't say anything, it was just one night.

As long as Guo Hongying behaves well, doesn't make any noise, and acts as a background figure, everything can be discussed.

What she didn't know was that from then on, whenever she was around, Guo Hongying wouldn't dare to act willfully or make trouble. Her mouth was really like it was locked, and she didn't dare to say anything nonsense. She was very well behaved.

Guo Hongying was really afraid of Yu Wanqing, but she also felt that she was very powerful and wanted to get close to her. Grandpa reminded her that after going to the countryside, she should make friends with people who have clear eyes and are powerful. If she follows what they do, she will definitely be right.

But what does it mean to have a clear and upright look? She doesn't understand.

She only knew that Yu Wanqing was very good at fighting, and Zhang Hongqi was tall and looked tough, and was also very good. She felt that Hongqi and Yu Wanqing were the kind of people her grandfather had described.

Now she really regretted offending Yu Wanqing by her nonsense on the train, so she had to stick to him shamelessly. No matter what, all the complicated emotions made her even more frightened. She didn't dare to make a noise, so the three of them spent the night in peace.

The next day, when I went to the Youth League Office to wait for assignment, Zhang Hongqi whispered, "It would be great if we could be assigned to the same brigade."

Yu Wanqing: “I hope so.”

Zhang Hongqi is a nice person. She protects her son and knows her limits. Yu Wanqing still likes her very much.

This time, the thirty-six educated youth were divided into five teams.

Yu Wanqing, Ou Jianguo, Guo Hongying, Zhang Hongqi, Gu Xiaoru, Chu Ming and Li Guodong were assigned to the five-star team.

The one who came to pick people up from the Five-Star Brigade was their captain, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties, about 1.7 meters tall, very thin, very dark, and looked difficult to get along with.

He said in Cantonese: "Those assigned to the Five-Star Brigade should follow me."

After he finished speaking, he didn't care whether these people understood him or not, and walked out of the Youth League Office on his own.

Yu Wanqing took two steps and found that Ou Jianguo and the others were still standing there in a daze. She said, "Let's go. The one just now is our captain."

There was a bullock cart waiting outside the Youth League Office. They put their luggage on it and followed the team leader.

Not far from the Youth Office was the supply and marketing cooperative. The team leader stopped and looked at them: "I'll give you 30 minutes. Buy your stuff and go back to the team. You have to go to work tomorrow, so there's no time for you to buy stuff."

Seeing that they looked confused, Yu Wanqing could only act as a translator.

The captain was a little surprised and looked at Yu Wanqing: "You can speak Cantonese?"

Yu Wanqing nodded: "A little bit."

The captain smiled and said, "It's good to know a little bit. I'm just afraid that those who don't understand won't know how to communicate." Then he sighed and said, "If you northern kids come to our south, we won't be able to speak the language and communication will be difficult."

After saying this, he squatted on the ground and smoked a pipe.

Yu Wanqing didn't need to buy anything, so she squatted down and chatted with the captain: "Uncle Captain, how many educated youth are there in the Five-Star Brigade?"

"Originally there were seven male educated youth and three female educated youth. With you, there are seventeen in total."

Yu Wanqing asked again: "Do you all live in the educated youth camp?"

The team leader shook his head: "There are two male educated youth who don't live in the educated youth site."

"There are five male educated youth and three female educated youth living in the educated youth center. It will be very crowded with you guys. We should build a few more rooms now while it is not so busy. Otherwise, you will not be able to live there."

The person from the Youth Educated Office just said that more youth educated in China will come in the future.

After hearing this, the captain was about to curse.

At present, the educated youth in their brigade have no problems with their character and do not cause trouble. They just work slowly, like snails, which makes him very angry.

Yu Wanqing didn't want to live with others. She thought for a while and asked, "Uncle Captain, is there any vacant house in the village? I can rent it. I'm not used to living with others."

The captain took a look at Yu Wanqing. This girl was so pretty. He didn't know what her parents were thinking to let her come to the countryside.

"No, you can pay for a house next to the educated youth site. If you return to the city, the house will belong to the brigade." He asked casually, "Looking at your appearance, I know you are a spoiled child at home. How could they bear to let you go to the countryside?"

Yu Wanqing smiled and said, "I graduated from high school last year and couldn't find a job. Someone just happened to be promoting the idea of ​​going to the countryside, so I came."

After chatting with the captain for a while, everyone came out one after another after buying things. The captain pointed out the direction of the post office to everyone and told them to hurry there if they needed to send a telegram to report that they were safe.

Only a few educated youth went to send telegrams, and the rest decided to settle down before writing letters. Yu Wanqing sent a telegram to her father.

It has arrived. Don't worry. Get settled and write the letter.

Ningshan Commune is five kilometers away from Wuxing Brigade, and it takes more than an hour to walk there.

It was already past ten o'clock when they arrived at the Five-Star Brigade Youth League's site.

The educated youth station of the Five-Star Brigade was located at the foot of the mountain. There were five houses side by side. The middle one was the kitchen and dining room, the two on the left were for male educated youth, and the two on the right were for female educated youth.

The team leader pointed to a room on the right and said, "That room is empty now. You four female educated youth can live there first."

"The three male educated youth will live in the two rooms on the left. There are empty beds. You can handle it yourselves." As soon as the words fell, a man was seen hurrying back.

The man was tall and strong, with a square face and big eyes. He smiled and said to the captain, "Captain, I'm late."

After he finished speaking, he unlocked the doors of the two rooms. He looked at Ou Jianguo and the other two and said, "There are empty beds in every room. You can choose where to stay."

The team leader said to a few people: "His name is Lu Guohua, one of the first batch of educated youth, and also the person in charge of the educated youth site."

"If you have any problem, go to him."

After that, he looked at Yu Wanqing and said, "Yu Zhiqing, settle down first, come to my house in the evening and tell me about your plan to build a house."

Zhang Hongqi looked at Yu Wanqing and asked, "You want to build a house alone?"

Yu Wanqing hummed and said, "There will be more educated youth coming in the future."

In one sentence, he said everything that should and shouldn't be said.

Zhang Hongqi looked at the captain and said, "Captain, I also want to build a house and move out."

Guo Hongying also said: "I want to build a house and move out, too."

"Pay the money yourself, and the brigade will grant you land. When you return to the city, the house will belong to the brigade." The brigade leader explained everything to them clearly. He would not stop anyone who wanted to build a house.

The youth educated camp was located at the foot of a mountain, and there was dry land all around, so the harvest from growing crops was not good. It was such a large area, so they could build houses as they pleased.

Gu Xiaoru didn't expect that all three of them would move out. She also wanted to move out, but she didn't have much money and didn't dare to spend it recklessly.

She looked at Chuan Ming carefully and felt relieved when she found that he didn't say he was moving out.

The team leader said, "Someone will bring the resettlement rations for the new educated youth later. It will include 20 kilograms of sweet potatoes, 50 kilograms of coarse grains, and 10 kilograms of beans. You will need these rations until your summer rations."

"If you don't bring bamboo or straw mats, let Lu Guohua take you to Uncle Chen's house to change them."

The captain left after giving his instructions.

The room that Yu Wanqing and her friends were going to live in was rectangular, with three simple wooden beds of 1.2 meters each on the left and right sides. Six educated youth were going to live in this room.

It was already 11 o'clock in the morning when Yu Wanqing and her friends came back with the cold mat and made the beds. Their food was also delivered, and because they had to eat together for the time being, Yu Wanqing took out some sweet potatoes and coarse grains and gave them to Lu Guohua.

Seeing this, Zhang Hongqi and Guo Hongying followed her.

At about twelve o'clock, people from the educated youth point came back one after another.

Lu Guohua has already prepared the food.

The staple food is sweet potato coarse grain porridge. In addition to these, there are two large enamel plates on the table filled with sweet potato leaves and beans respectively.

This is everyone’s food for lunch today.