In the past, the brigade leader wouldn't have been in such a predicament. If there wasn't enough room at the educated youth settlement, they could have arranged for the educated youth to share meals with the villagers.
However, over the years, there have been constant frictions, big and small, between the villagers and the educated youth, especially the young educated youth who had just arrived in the countryside. They would complain that the villagers' food was bad, that the village was unhygienic, or that the villagers' children were noisy.
After all these uproars, it's really difficult to arrange for educated youth to eat with villagers now. This time, I guess I'll have to arrange for them to stay at my own home. But how am I going to explain this to my wife?
Of course, there were some families willing to share with educated youth, but most of these families had old bachelors who couldn't find wives. He knew perfectly well what these people's motives were for sharing with educated youth, so he dared not arrange for female educated youth to go to such families, as that would be harming the young girls.
The brigade leader was also worried. Year after year, more educated youth came and fewer left. He had thought about building two more houses in the educated youth settlement, but the resettlement allowance for the educated youth was only so much each year. After deducting their food rations for the first two months when they didn't earn work points, there was basically not much left. It was definitely not enough to build houses.
Building houses for educated youth cannot use village funds. If he dared to use village funds to build houses for educated youth, those women in the village would scratch him to death.
The brigade leader was trying to arrange for the educated youth to eat with the villagers, but the educated youth themselves didn't want to eat with the villagers.
The policy of sending educated youth to the countryside had been in place for some years, and they had all heard about the cases of individual villagers harming female educated youth. Therefore, naturally, no one wanted to go to a villager's house to eat.
So as soon as Liu Shumei finished speaking, Yang Xiaohong interrupted, "Captain, I want to stay at the educated youth settlement. I'm thin and don't take up much space."
After saying that, Yang Xiaohong ignored everyone else, picked up her luggage and went into the house, placing it on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
As soon as Yang Xiaohong finished speaking, Zhong Lingling took Wang Wenqi's arm and said, "Captain, Wenqi and I are boyfriend and girlfriend. Wherever he is, I will be. So I want to stay at the educated youth settlement too."
On one hand, Zhong Lingling genuinely didn't want to team up with the villagers, and on the other hand, she was asserting her dominance. She noticed that several female educated youths were staring directly at Wen Qi as soon as she entered the door, so it was the right decision for her to come to the countryside with them. Otherwise, without her watching over him, Wen Qi might have been seduced by some vixen.
Wang Wenqi, whose arm was being held by Zhong Lingling, was a little embarrassed, but he did not object. After all, Lingling had gone to the countryside for his sake, and for that reason alone, he could not let down the girl in front of him. He would treat this girl well for the rest of his life.
Looking at the conditions for the female educated youth, Wang Wenqi was also worried. His younger sister had been assigned to another brigade. Before they separated, he had promised his sister that he would find a way to transfer her to his brigade, but now, looking at the situation, it seemed that this would be difficult.
Just as everyone was still marveling at Zhong Lingling's seemingly bold statement, Yang Wanqiu also spoke up hesitantly: "Captain, I also want to live in the educated youth settlement."
Although Yang Wanqiu said this to the brigade leader, she looked at Chen Shuning with an embarrassed expression.
"I'm so sorry, Shuning. You know I've always been timid, and I'm really not comfortable staying at strangers' houses. I'm sorry."
Yang Wanqiu's meaning was clear: she wanted Chen Shuning, Wang Chunni, and Xu Laidi to eat at the villagers' homes.
Chen Shuning never intended to compete with them for those precious beds in the educated youth settlement, but it had to be something she wanted herself, not something she was forced out of her by Yang Wanqiu, that scheming woman.
So he ignored Yang Wanqiu and instead looked at the brigade leader with a pitiful expression: "Uncle Captain, although I don't want to eat at the villagers' homes, I don't want to make things difficult for you as soon as we new educated youth arrive. Since the three of them don't want to eat at the villagers' homes, it's not that I can't go. But Uncle Captain, could you please help me find a family without children to eat at?"
At this point, Chen Shuning looked as if he was afraid of upsetting the captain. Before the captain could speak, he hurriedly explained, "Uncle Captain, it's not that I'm making things difficult for you. It's just that I injured my head a while ago and it left me with some aftereffects. I'm afraid of noise. If it's noisy, I can't sleep well, and if I can't sleep well, I get headaches."
As she spoke, she quickly untied the ponytail at the back of her head, parted her hair to reveal the wound inside, which, although no longer painful, still had a large scab, for the brigade leader and Liu Shumei to see.
It's just idle chatter, anyone can do that. I still have a wound, but it's much more convincing than your few weak and feeble words.
To be honest, the wound that could cost the original owner her life was quite frightening. The brigade leader and the male educated youth in the room seemed okay, but the female educated youth were timid. Seeing such a large scab on her head, they all showed expressions of heartache.
Liu Shumei took Chen Shuning's hand and comforted him, saying, "Your injury doesn't look fully healed yet. Why don't you stay at the educated youth settlement? It'll be easier for us to take care of you. It's not that the villagers' homes are bad, but all the aunties and grandmas in the village have a ton of work to do at home and outside. They don't have time to take care of you. Besides, it's not easy to find a family in the village without children."
As if confirming her statement, Liu Shumei looked at the brigade leader and asked, "Uncle Captain, don't you think that makes sense?"
Liu Shumei was a veteran educated youth who had lived in the countryside for six years. Several waves of female educated youth had come and gone from the educated youth settlement. She had gone from a naive young girl to an old maid in her twenties who was still unmarried. She had seen all kinds of people and could tell what kind of person Yang Wanqiu was at a glance.
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