Chapter 13

Northeast winters were bitterly cold, and the layout of countryside houses was nearly always the same—so people didn’t need to leave the house in winter.

The Captain didn’t go inside. Instead, he called out twice at the courtyard gate. From the room on the right, a Female Educated Youth stepped out. Her hair was neatly tucked behind her ears, and she wore very clean, tidy clothes.

“This is the person in charge of the Female Educated Youth here. Her name is Guo Lan.” the Captain gave a simple introduction, then left.

Guo Lan smiled at Chen Suihuan and the others, then said: “Welcome. My name is Guo Lan. At the moment, I’m the only one left at the Educated Youth Site. Everyone else has already gone up to the mountain for work.

I’ll take you to see where you’ll be staying. The Male Educated Youth live over there, and a room just became vacant. The seven of you can fit in there.”

The few Male Educated Youths, including Xu Tao, exchanged glances, nodded, and entered the vacant room on the male side.

“You four, come with me. There are currently eight of us Female Educated Youth, four people per room—it’s not too cramped.”

Chen Suihuan and the others just nodded silently. They didn’t say a word. It wasn’t that they didn’t see Guo Lan clearly—it was simply that they were too tired, too exhausted to even speak.

It was the first time the other three girls had seen a northeastern heated brick bed (kang), and they stood there a bit dumbfounded.

Taking advantage of their dazed state, Chen Suihuan quickly claimed the middle spot on the kang. She knew that once the kang was heated in winter, the head of the bed was the warmest, the foot the coldest, and the most comfortable place was right in the middle.

Seeing that Chen Suihuan had already started cleaning, Qin Fei and Gao Yue chose spots on either side of her and also began tidying up and laying out bedding.

Even Liu Lainan, exhausted to the point of no longer being difficult, started cleaning the head of the kang. The bedding she brought was thin and a bit worn out—luckily, she’d chosen the warmest spot. If she had taken the foot of the bed, she might’ve frozen to death during winter.

Guo Lan, having gone through all this herself, knew they must be tired and didn’t disturb them further. She returned to the room across the way.

Once their bedding was laid out, Chen Suihuan and the others lay down and immediately fell asleep.

When they woke up again, Chen Suihuan heard voices outside. As soon as she sat up, Qin Fei and Gao Yue, who were lying beside her, also opened their eyes.

The three of them didn’t rise quietly. Their movements woke Liu Lainan as well. Just as she frowned, they heard voices outside and she sat up too.

Outside, Guo Lan and a tall Female Educated Youth were making food. When they saw the four of them come out, both women smiled.

Guo Lan introduced: “This is Luo Ping. Today it’s our turn to cook. Right now, when the male and female Educated Youths go up the mountain for work, we all eat together.

There are two reasons: one is to save firewood, and the other is so we can rest better. Since we take turns cooking, it’s not too exhausting. Otherwise, after a tiring day of work, if we still had to cook, we wouldn’t be able to stand it.

But that’s only during work days. In winter, everyone cooks for themselves, because it’s too cold and every room needs a fire going—we have to keep the kang warm.

So, do you want to eat with us or separately?”

They had just arrived and hadn’t even received their food rations yet.

However, the Production Brigade would likely lend them some grain. Chen Suihuan wasn’t picky about food—she just wanted to eat and be full. So she didn’t plan on separating from the older Educated Youths. At worst, she could cook a little extra for herself in private.

Right now, everything was still unclear. It wasn’t the time to seek any special treatment. She just wanted to get through these two years steadily. If she could keep her head down, she would.

Seeing that Chen Suihuan had made her stance clear, Gao Yue and Qin Fei followed suit and agreed to eat with the older Educated Youths. Liu Lainan didn’t say anything either.

Smiling, Guo Lan added: “You just arrived, and your rations will probably be sent over from the Production Brigade soon. So for this meal, you’ll eat with us.”

The Male Educated Youths had agreed as well. They even pooled their money to buy half a jin of meat. Tonight’s meal was going to be a little better than usual—a welcome dinner for the newcomers.

When Qin Fei and Gao Yue heard this, they felt a bit embarrassed. They each went back into the room and brought out some candies and pastries, handing out a piece to everyone they saw.

Seeing that both of them had made a gesture, Chen Suihuan also brought out some pastries. The Male Educated Youths had woken up by then as well, and seeing the three girls’ actions, they followed suit.

Liu Lainan looked slightly awkward. She didn’t have anything she could share, so she went to help Guo Lan and Luo Ping with the cooking.

Seeing how quickly and skillfully she moved, it was clear she often cooked. Guo Lan and Luo Ping noticed and didn’t stand on ceremony—they let her help.

Once everyone had finished preparing the food and brought it out, all the Educated Youths had returned to the site. There were quite a few of them, just enough to split into two tables.

The Old Educated Youths, having worked all day on the mountain, were exhausted and hungry. When they saw the meat dishes—something they hadn’t had in a long time—they couldn’t wait to dig in.

With so many people at the table, eating meant scrambling. Chen Suihuan had barely taken two bites before the meat was all gone.

Watching the Old Educated Youths eat so heartily, Chen Suihuan exchanged a glance with Qin Fei and Gao Yue. The three of them all frowned slightly.

It was clear that eating meat here was a rare luxury. It seemed that at the Educated Youth Site, there wouldn’t be much good food to enjoy—just being able to fill their stomachs would already be something.

She figured they should look for a chance to move out later—it would be better.

From the looks of it, Qin Fei and Gao Yue both came from good families. If the three of them could live together in the future, their living conditions might be much better.

She decided to ask the two of them privately later, to see if they’d be willing to team up with her.

Dinner didn’t take long to finish—not even a drop of sauce was left on the plates.

After the meal, everyone helped clean up. Only then did they have time to formally introduce themselves.

There was someone in charge on the Male Educated Youths’ side as well. His name was Deng Xiaojun. He was the oldest among them and had been sent down the longest.

Their room housed six people, including Deng Xiaojun. The others were Dai Wu, Wen Yongrun, Chen Ye, and Wang Dali.

On the Female Educated Youths’ side, Guo Lan was in charge. They had already met Luo Ping earlier. The other two were He Chunyan and Yu Fang.

Chen Suihuan didn’t pay much attention to the male side. What she took note of was the Female Educated Youths—after all, those were the ones she’d be dealing with most of the time.

He Chunyan looked quite nice, with a gentle appearance. Yu Fang, on the other hand, was less attractive and carried a somewhat proud expression. Throughout the evening, she glanced at Qin Fei multiple times.

Among the newly arrived Educated Youths, Qin Fei was clearly the best dressed. It seemed Yu Fang might already have something on her mind.

As for the Male Educated Youths, Chen Ye and Dai Wu seemed to know each other. Judging by their muscular builds, Chen Suihuan had a strong feeling that the two of them had come from the military.

At that time, if a family had any political blemish, even those serving in the army would be forced to retire. These two probably ended up being sent down for that reason.

As for the other Male Educated Youths, there was nothing particularly off-putting about their behavior or speech. So far, the atmosphere at the Educated Youth Site still seemed relatively harmonious.

That night, everyone chatted a bit more. They were all from different parts of the country, and each shared something about their hometown. When it grew late, everyone returned to their rooms to sleep.