Chapter 6: The Youth Points Have Single Rooms

“What’s going on? What’s going on? Is that ox cart for you to sit on?”  

Zhang Jun looked at the two girls ignoring him, then directly sat on the ox cart, quickly calling out, “This ox cart is the treasure of our team. If you wear it out, even if you sell both of you, you won’t be able to afford it. Get off and follow the ox cart.”  

Liu Lan and Zhang Qinghua, hearing this, unwillingly got off and walked behind the ox cart, going slowly.  

Li Lin watched these two with no sense of awareness and secretly rolled her eyes.  

But after walking a few steps behind the ox cart, she didn’t want to walk anymore. However, not walking was not an option.  

She had no choice but to pull Hu Yingying’s hand, quicken her pace to walk beside the ox cart, and asked Zhang Jun, “Team Leader, how far is our Majiacun Team from the commune?”  

“If you walk, it’s about two hours; if you ride the ox cart, it’ll only take about an hour,” Zhang Jun, feeling a bit more favorable toward the girl who wasn’t afraid of him, started chatting with her. “Don’t look at our team like it’s a place where no birds would poop. Our team has a lot of land, and as long as you’re willing to work, you’ll never go hungry.”  

“That’s great!”  

Li Lin nodded in agreement, then started asking about the youth points. “Team Leader, where will we stay when we get to the team? Also, are there other educated youths there besides us?”  

Zhang Jun looked at Li Lin and thought to himself, *This girl is already asking about the situation before even getting there. She’s clever.*  

But no matter how clever she was, once she came to their team, she still had to follow their rules.  

He then said, “Besides you, there are eight other educated youths in the team.”  

After saying that, he noticed Li Lin’s change in expression and a smile flashed in his eyes. He continued, “But we’ve arranged a special place for you to stay. There’s a free big dormitory, and there are also single rooms you can rent. It’s up to you to choose.”  

This idea had come from Fang, one of the earlier educated youths. When they first arrived, there were too many people, and they couldn’t fit into the big dormitory. They had their eyes set on the old brick and tile house of a former landlord.  

But that house wasn’t for just anyone to live in.  

So Fang decided to rent it out, charging one yuan a month, and the payment had to be made annually.  

This suddenly opened up a money-making opportunity for Zhang Jun.  

After some calculations with the accountant, they decided that the rent would be one yuan a month, or ten yuan for the whole year.  

Fang immediately paid for three years, making Zhang Jun extremely happy.  

Later, two other female educated youths rented rooms, though they paid monthly. Even with the monthly payments, Zhang Jun was thrilled because this was extra income for the commune.  

Li Lin, unaware of Zhang Jun’s motivations, was shocked upon hearing about the single rooms that required payment. She swallowed, then smiled with excitement.  

After all, she had her space ability, so staying in a single room would save her a lot of trouble and allow her to stay away from Liu Lan.  

“Lin Lin, I want to stay in a single room. What about you?” Hu Yingying, who had already prepared herself to share a room with others, was now overjoyed. Even if it required payment, she was willing.  

“Definitely staying,” Li Lin nodded firmly.  

Upon hearing the two girls, Zhang Jun finally smiled. This meant that his team was going to make some extra income.  

Two girls paying two yuan a month, or twenty yuan annually—that would buy a lot of seeds and farming tools for the team!  

The three behind them watched the front trio laughing and talking and exchanged confused glances. They had no idea what they were talking about that made the team leader so happy.  

Despite the confusion from the other three, they didn’t dwell on it, choosing to continue trudging along behind the ox cart.

Li Lin, however, took the time to observe the surroundings as they walked.  

There wasn’t much to see—just vast stretches of land, and since it was summer, everything was a bright, lush green.  

The ground beneath them was rough, a black dirt road full of holes and bumps. If one wasn’t paying attention, it would be easy to twist an ankle.  

After more than two hours, Zhang Jun finally spoke up, bringing everyone’s spirits back up with his words:  

“That intersection up ahead leads to the team. Let’s pick up the pace, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can rest.”  

Li Lin looked at her watch and saw that it was already close to six o’clock. No wonder her stomach had been growling!  

She glanced down and, with a deep breath, followed behind the ox cart as they entered the team.  

At the village entrance, several small children wearing only jackets and no pants were playing in the dirt. When they saw the newcomers, they glanced over but quickly went back to their games.  

“We’re here.” Zhang Jun halted the ox cart by a fenced-in area. Ahead of them, there was a row of mud houses, and behind them, a row of brick houses. He called out to the yard.  

The women working in the kitchen, who had finished early for the day, heard the call and came out.  

“Is Comrade Zhao here? Great, I’m bringing the new educated youths in.” Zhang Jun led the group inside while explaining, “The mud houses in front are the dorms. One for the male youths, one for the female youths. There’s also a storage room and a kitchen.”  

“Team leader, I see there are more houses in the back. Can we live there?” Liu Lan, looking at the mud houses with a hint of disdain, turned her gaze toward the brick houses behind, clearly more interested.  

“You can.” Zhang Jun’s response was quick, but before Liu Lan could smile in satisfaction, he added, “It’s one yuan a month, or ten yuan for a year’s rent. They are single rooms, you can go take a look.”  

Liu Lan’s face darkened at the mention of the cost.  

Her resettlement fee was fifty yuan, but she had only kept twenty-five for herself. If she rented a single room, she would have to buy cooking utensils too, making it an unwise choice. Better not rent.  

Then, thinking of how Li Lin would definitely rent a single room, Liu Lan became uncomfortable. She looked at Li Lin and said, “Li Lin, since we both came from the same residential building, how about we rent a room together? That way we can look out for each other.”  

Zhang Jun, hearing this, raised an eyebrow, surprised. He hadn’t expected that the two girls would be so close.  

But if they were together, why hadn’t they walked together earlier? Why had Li Lin been with the other girl instead?  

“Bullshit. I can see you want to live with Lin Lin just to make sure you’re not left out,” Hu Yingying immediately snapped, cutting Liu Lan off. “You secretly signed Lin Lin up to go to the countryside without her knowing, and now you want to live with her? Don’t think we’re stupid!”  

Zhang Jun, who had frowned at Hu Yingying’s harsh words, finally relaxed. Upon hearing her accusations, his eyes narrowed, and he shot Liu Lan a cold look.  

Liu Lan, intimidated by the team leader’s gaze, shuddered and quickly lowered her head, hoping to diminish her presence.  

“Enough. Go take a look at the rooms. I have some other matters to attend to,” Zhang Jun urged, wanting them to finish up quickly so he could head to the fields.  

“We’re going, we’re going.”