Chapter 35

Room Assignment in the Educated Youth Compound

Tie Lanyan ignored her and went into the house with her luggage.

The earthen house in the educated youth compound was left behind by a widowed old man in the village.

It looked very dilapidated from the outside, but it was quite spacious inside, with several rooms.

The other educated youths hadn’t finished work yet.

Tie Lanyan didn’t want to enter the room rashly, so she temporarily put her net bag and luggage in the hall and went for a walk.

After looking around, she found that the environment was quite good.

The earthen house was backed by mountains, and there was a small river in front, it was convenient for fetching water and collecting wild herbs.

The woman from the street office was quite good at choosing a place, it was beautiful with mountains and water, they wouldn’t starve no matter what.

After a while, a man from the village came over to speak.

“You’re the educated youths who just arrived today, right? The team leader asked me to tell you to go to the village warehouse to get grain.”

Tie Lanyan knew about this.

She had read many period novels, and she had figured out the process of going down to the countryside.

On the first day, they would rest and borrow grain from the team.

This grain wasn’t free, they would deduct it with work points or exchange it for money when they distributed the grain at the end of the year.

But generally, the villages couldn’t afford to give out that much grain, they only had so much, they had to hand over a portion to the commune, and they also had to distribute grain to the villagers, everyone didn’t have enough to eat.

So when Tie Lanyan and the others went to the warehouse, they only received 150 pounds of grain.

Of which 100 pounds was brown rice, and the other 50 pounds were made up of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, filling two large sacks.

He Ailing couldn’t carry such heavy sacks, so she had to ask Zhang San and Li Si for help.

“Can you help me? My arms are about to break, I can’t carry it at all.”

He Ailing put on a pitiful look.

Zhang San and Li Si were about to soften their hearts, but then they remembered the joke Tie Lanyan had made earlier.

“No, no, you should ask someone else for help!”

They didn’t want to be used as tools again.

Women’s hearts are like the bottom of the sea, they were scared!

Zhang San and Li Si each carried two sacks and quickly ran away.

He Ailing stomped her foot in anger.

“What kind of people are they, so stingy, they’re not at all considerate of women!”

Tie Lanyan laughed and added fuel to the fire.

“You have the capital to be considered, with that shoe-shaped face of yours.”

He Ailing glared at her: “Tie Lanyan, you’re enough! I haven’t done anything to you!”

“I was just joking, you love to joke, don’t you.”

With that, Tie Lanyan easily picked up the two sacks and walked away.

He Ailing was both angry and anxious.

There was no way out.

Finally, she ran out and begged a man in the village for help. He agreed.

A few people returned to the educated youth compound, where an older male comrade was standing in the courtyard.

His name was Hu Hao. He was one of the first educated youths to come to Guihua Village and was also the head of the educated youth compound.

The village chief had asked him to return first to brief the new educated youths on the current situation of the compound.

“There are currently 10 old educated youths in the compound. Two days ago, a group of 6 new educated youths came from the south. Adding the 4 of you from Beijing, there are a total of 20 educated youths.”

He Ailing exclaimed in surprise, “So many people? Will there be enough room?”

Hu Hao nodded, “There are a total of 5 rooms, 3 for male educated youths and 2 for female educated youths. We can squeeze in.”

He Ailing looked gloomy, “I can’t sleep well sharing a room with others. I’m not used to it.”

He Ailing came from Beijing and had a sense of superiority.

But she forgot that her family was just an ordinary worker family in Beijing, even a bit poor.

She had a lot of siblings, and she was the third child. She had always shared a room with her two older sisters. It was only after they got married that she had a room to herself.

Originally, she had passed the exam for a temporary nurse position, but her parents, who favored sons over daughters, gave the job to her younger brother and made her go to the countryside in his place.

So, all the way here, He Ailing had been holding back her anger.

Zhang San and Li Si, the two male comrades, were tall and strong, and she dared not provoke them. Naturally, she turned her attention to Tie Lanyan.

“You have to get used to it. We’re here to build a new countryside, not to enjoy ourselves.”

Hu Hao’s tone was gentle, but his words were sharp.

He Ailing’s face flushed with shame.

Tie Lanyan quickly said, “Comrade Hu Hao, don’t worry, I’ll follow the organization’s arrangements. Whatever you say, I’ll do!”

When you’re away from home, it’s better to be sweet-tongued. It makes things easier.

Hu Hao looked at Tie Lanyan approvingly, “Well, it’s good that you have this kind of awareness.”

Zhang San and Li Si quickly expressed their agreement.

He Ailing glared at Tie Lanyan again in anger.

Tie Lanyan gave her a cold glance, and she quickly turned away, intimidated.

Next, Hu Hao assigned rooms to everyone.

“There’s a room in the male educated youth quarters where 2 old educated youths are staying. Zhang San and Li Si can move in there.”

“As for the female educated youths, there are already 3 female educated youths in each of the 2 rooms. Tie Lanyan, you and He Ailing can each stay in one.”

He Ailing immediately walked to the room closer to the main gate, “I choose this one!”

This room was next to the courtyard, making it convenient to go to the kitchen or the toilet.

Hu Hao said, “Why don’t you stay in the back room? The back room is occupied by the female educated youths who just arrived two days ago. You’re all new here, so it’ll be more lively if you stay together.”

He Ailing insisted, “No, I’ll stay in this one.”

Did he think she was stupid? What “more lively” with the newcomers? It was clearly a way to trick her.

New educated youths were not as sensible as the old ones. They were loud and boisterous, and didn’t know how to do anything.

She didn’t want to stay with them.

If she stayed with the old educated youths, she might be able to build a good relationship with them and get some help.

This Tie Lanyan was quite good at winning people over.

With just one sentence, she had Hu Hao speaking on her behalf.

Humph, what a brown-noser!

Seeing He Ailing’s insistence, Hu Hao didn’t know what to say.

He turned to Tie Lanyan, “Then you stay in the back room. It might… it might be a bit noisy.”

It wasn’t just noisy, it was a deafening racket. They fought every night.

This batch had only been here for two days, and he had already called the village chief over twice to mediate. He was really getting overwhelmed.

Of this group of educated youths who arrived today, apart from He Ailing who was a bit prickly, the other three seemed normal.

Especially Tie Lanyan. The young girl was quiet and gentle, and looked very obedient.

Tie Lanyan smiled and replied, “It’s okay, I’ll follow your arrangements. I can stay anywhere.”

She had just arrived in the countryside, so she would first familiarize herself with the environment and lay low for a while.

When the time was right, she would move out and live alone.

Hearing this, Hu Hao felt a lot more relieved.

Look, what a good girl she was. She was much better than the previous few who were jumping around.

(Tie Lanyan nodded: Yes, yes, I’m a good girl, I just eat melons and don’t cause trouble.)