Chapter 11

As soon as Gu Cheng and Fang Hui drove off, Li Mingjie grabbed Xu Guochao’s hand enthusiastically and said, “Hello, Director Xu, I’m Li Mingjie. What a coincidence! On the way here from Jiangping, I happened to sit with your mother on the same vehicle. She mentioned you.”

Xu Guochao had a younger sister who was married in Jiangping. His mother had probably gone to visit her, so he casually replied, “My sister lives in Jiangping. She must’ve gone to see her.”

Li Mingjie said, “She’s a kind and gentle lady. Along the way, she kept saying that if I ever ran into any trouble, I should look for you. Director Xu, I might have to trouble you sometime in the future.”

That did sound like something his mother would say. Xu Guochao had told her many times not to strike up random conversations outside, but she never listened.

The old woman was just too soft-hearted. Every time she visited the farm and saw the educated youths, she’d tell him, “They’re all just kids, and they grew up in the city, never had to suffer. Coming all this way to work the land isn’t easy. Help them out when you can.”

He wasn’t so heartless. He helped where he could—as long as they didn’t try to play games with him.

He’d seen enough people to judge character in a glance. This Li Mingjie clearly seemed like the type who loved networking and playing tricks.

The girl, on the other hand, was quiet and didn’t look like the scheming type. But she was so thin and pale—clearly not cut out for labor.

If only everyone could be like Lian Yanmei, Xu Guochao thought. Lian Yanmei was the farm’s legendary “Iron Girl”—strong, capable, and able to work as hard as any man.

Xu Guochao pulled his hand back and didn’t respond to Li Mingjie’s words. Just then, a young man happened to walk by. He called out, “Zhao Sihai, these two are the new educated youths. This one’s Li Mingjie…” Then he realized he didn’t know the girl’s name.

It had been on the notice, but he hadn’t remembered it. So he asked, “What’s your name?”

“Ye Huan,” she replied.

Xu Guochao continued, “Li Mingjie, Ye Huan—get their paperwork sorted and take them to the zhiqing quarters. On the way, give them an overview of the farm.”

After giving the instructions, Xu Guochao went back inside.

Zhao Sihai said to the two of them, “Come with me.”

He led them into the office, asked for their letters of introduction, and registered them.

Ye Huan had already been assigned to the greenhouse. Li Mingjie was placed in Team Three.

Once the registration was complete, Zhao Sihai led them to the zhiqing quarters. Seeing that Ye Huan had a lot of luggage and was a girl, he bent down to help carry her bags—but she had already picked them up before he could.

And she didn’t seem to struggle at all.

Zhao Sihai’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. My goodness, this delicate-looking Comrade Ye is surprisingly strong!

She was almost on par with Lian Yanmei.

Even so, Zhao Sihai wasn’t about to let a girl carry all her luggage while he, a grown man, walked empty-handed.

He reached for one of the bags. “Comrade Ye, let me take one.”

On the way to the zhiqing quarters, Zhao Sihai gave them a general overview of the farm, more or less the same as what Fang Hui had said.

“If it’s not the busy season, we get Sundays off. If you want to go into town, you can take the farm’s vehicle—just wait by the gate at 9 a.m.”

Li Mingjie asked, “Is it a tractor?”

Zhao Sihai looked shocked. “You want to ride the tractor? That thing runs on diesel—do you have any idea how expensive that is?”

The tractor was the pride of the farm. They wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary.

Even the ox cart was only arranged after the educated youth arrived.

Before that, they all walked to town. But after the educated youth came, the farm leaders, thinking these city kids hadn’t suffered before, arranged an ox cart to make a weekly run to town.

And now someone had the nerve to ask for a tractor?

They hadn’t even done any work yet, and already they were thinking about comfort. Were they laborers or royalty?

Zhao Sihai scratched his head irritably, forcing himself to continue patiently, “There’s only one trip to town a week. If you need to go at other times, you’ll have to request leave and walk there yourself—there’s no other transportation. As for meals, the farm has a canteen, but it’s a bit far from the Zhiqing Compound. If you don’t want to eat there, you can cook your own meals. The compound  has a kitchen. Ask Lian Yanmei for details and follow her arrangements.”

He kept bringing up Lian Yanmei, which made Li Mingjie ask, “Who’s Lian Yanmei?”

“She’s the team leader at the Zhiqing Compound,” Zhao Sihai replied. “She’s in charge of everything there. But you probably won’t see her now—she’s at Ximapu today. It’s pretty far, so she usually doesn’t come back for lunch. She’ll return after the workday ends.”

Li Mingjie had assumed Lian Yanmei was one of the farm leaders, but learning she was just another educated youth surprised him. “Lian Yanmei is a woman?” he exclaimed.

Zhao Sihai grunted, turning to scrutinize Li Mingjie from head to toe. “What’s wrong with that?”

Sure, she was a woman, but she was strong and competent. A guy like Li Mingjie—just a bespectacled softie—she could do the work of two of him.

Ye Huan retorted, “Yao Yujuan is also a female comrade, and she dared to walk all the way here. You didn’t even have the courage to do that. Frankly, you’re no match for a female comrade.”

Ye Huan is deliberately provoking me, isn’t she?! Li Mingjie thought.

With Zhao Sihai present, Li Mingjie held back his irritation, but inside, he was indignant. Were there no male educated youth at the camp? Why would a woman be team leader?

It wasn’t that he looked down on women—it was just that, in his opinion, they weren’t smart enough for leadership. Put a woman in charge, and she’d probably lead the whole group into a ditch.

He was determined not to be led by a woman.

Traditionally, men led and women followed—how could it be the other way around?

Now that he was here, Lian Yanmei would have to step aside. Once he became team leader, his first order of business would be to properly discipline Ye Huan. She’d have to toe the line sooner or later.

***

The Zhiqing Compound was right next to the farm’s family housing area—a small yard with two rows of houses, all red brick with gray tiled roofs.

On the east side, near the wall, was a small room with an open door. Inside, there were glimpses of a stove and kitchenware—it looked like the kitchen.

A tung tree stood in the southeast corner, and there was a water pump beneath it.

Clotheslines were strung across the yard, with clothes and bedding drying on them.

The courtyard was quiet, and all the doors were closed.

Zhao Sihai explained, “Everyone’s at work. They’ll be back when the shift ends. Lian Yanmei knew you were coming today, so she should have left a door open for you. Just pick any unlocked room and settle in. You can rest for now, we’ll discuss the rest when Lian Yanmei gets back. Remember, ladies stay in the front row of rooms, and men in the back. Don’t mix it up!”

Zhao Sihai had other things to do, so after giving his instructions, he quickly left.

Li Mingjie frowned, surveying the dilapidated surroundings. “These rooms are falling apart!” he muttered to Ye Huan. “I thought we’d be staying in brick houses, but these are just mud-brick huts. How can anyone live like this?”

He had heard Hongxing Farm was relatively prosperous and assumed they’d at least provide brick housing.

Ye Huan retorted, “Didn’t you see those brick houses on the way here? If you’re so unhappy with this place, you’re welcome to stay there. Think it over.”

Li Mingjie nearly exploded with anger.

They had passed a row of actual brick houses on the way, but Zhao Sihai had mentioned those were pigsties—where the farm raised its pigs.

In these times, pigs were more valuable than people. To protect them from the elements, they got the best construction.

So Ye Huan was telling him to go live in the pigsty?!

Li Mingjie said nothing, picked up his bag, and walked toward the back row of houses.

No matter how much he disliked it, he couldn’t actually go live with the pigs.

…..

There were four rooms in the front row. Ye Huan checked each one and found only the middle room slightly ajar. She pushed the door open.

Inside, there was a long bunk bed against the back wall. Two tables stood across from it, each with mugs, bowls, and chopsticks.

A thermos and some miscellaneous items sat under the table.

It looked like the room housed four people. Two beds were already occupied, and the other two were empty—one in the far back corner, the other between the two occupied beds.

The room seemed to have leaked before—there was dampness, and the walls were speckled with patches of mold.

Ye Huan found the moldy wall too unpleasant, so she chose the middle bed and laid her bedding there.

She had spent nearly two full days and nights on the train, which had been loud and chaotic the entire time.

The noise she could tolerate, but the smell on the train was something else. Even though Li Mingjie had offered to watch her luggage so she could rest, and she had lain down, she hadn’t actually slept a wink.

Now, exhausted and drained, she crawled under the covers and fell asleep within seconds.

That was the upside of not being picky about where you slept—if you were tired enough, you could sleep anywhere.

Ye Huan was woken by a voice before she even opened her eyes. A shrill female voice rang out: “Hey! Who told you to sleep here?”

And then someone gave her a push.