Chapter 13: New Educated Youth, Old Educated Youth

At this time, there was no farm work in the village. Everyone was busy preparing for winter, so there weren’t many people around.

When the cart reached the village entrance, it came to a stop. Liu Laosan impatiently drove the educated youths off the cart, along with their luggage.

Ming Dai carried her bundle and looked at the village where she would be spending the next five years.

The village was large, with most houses made of mud bricks. The buildings weren’t packed closely together, and the yards, fenced with wooden barriers, were spacious. Some chimneys were already releasing wisps of smoke.

It was mealtime.

The brigade leader was much more satisfied with this now-obedient group of newcomers. As expected, they needed to be put in their place first.

Taking a few puffs from his pipe, he tapped the ash off against his shoe and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the educated youth quarters.”

The educated youth quarters wasn’t inside the village but located just outside, near the main road, with a mountain behind it.

It wasn’t an ideal location. Normally, no one would choose to build a house there, but when the educated youths were assigned to the village, this was the spot chosen for their housing.

At this moment, smoke was rising from the chimney—someone was clearly already cooking.

The building was also made of mud bricks, but it had more rooms than the average household and a larger yard.

The door was knocked on.

Someone inside responded and opened it. The moment they saw the brigade leader and the unfamiliar faces behind him, they immediately understood—new educated youths had arrived.

However, they didn’t look pleased.

Sweeping her eyes over the group, she quickly noticed there were four female educated youths and frowned.

But since the brigade leader was present, she quickly adjusted her expression and welcomed him inside.

“Comrade Song, are Fang Mingyang and Chen Erhong here?”

Song Lanlan quickly nodded. “Yes, yes, they’re in the kitchen keeping warm. I’ll go call them.”

After saying that, she quickly walked across the yard and ran into the smoking house. Moments later, a man and a woman followed her out in a hurry.

“Brigade Leader, you’re here!”

The male educated youth looked to be around thirty years old—dark-skinned and thin. The female educated youth was in a similar state, her face covered in frostbite scars. She was dressed in thin clothing, shivering as she spoke to the brigade leader.

The brigade leader touched his tobacco pipe and spoke with a grin, “Comrades Fang and Chen, the new educated youths have arrived. I’ll leave them to you. You’re the older brother and sister here, so take good care of them.”

The two quickly nodded, saying a few polite words to the brigade leader as they escorted him out.

Ming Dai observed the scene. It seemed that educated youths were not particularly welcomed here.

Fang Rou lowered her gaze in disgust.

If it weren’t for Luo Cheng, she would never have come to this place.

In the beginning, Liujiawan Village had been quite friendly toward the educated youths. After all, they were children from the city.

But the first batch of educated youths had caused trouble. A male educated youth had secretly gotten a village girl pregnant and refused to take responsibility, while a female educated youth had been dissatisfied with the work assigned to her and reported the brigade leader for accepting bribes. In the end, both were sent to a labor camp for re-education, thoroughly ruining the reputation of the educated youths.

After that, life became difficult for them. They had protested before, but the more they resisted, the harsher their workload became, and their situation only worsened. In the end, they had no choice but to keep their heads down and endure.

However, there was one exception.

But no one at the educated youth quarters wanted this exception around—because that person was just as much an exception to them as to everyone else.

Once the brigade leader was sent off, Fang Mingyang and Chen Erhong’s expressions darkened.

Looking at the eight newcomers, who still seemed confused, Fang Mingyang sighed and said, “Let’s go inside first—it’s too cold out here.”

After saying that, Fang Mingyang took the lead and walked ahead, while Chen Erhong, still shivering, followed closely behind.

The remaining people exchanged glances before trailing after them.

As soon as they stepped into the kitchen, the warmth of the fire enveloped them, making them feel alive again.

With such a large group pouring in, the people inside quickly stood up.

This was the first meeting between the new and old educated youths.

There were too many people to sit down, so Fang Mingyang remained standing as he spoke.

“First, on behalf of the old educated youths of Liujiawan, I welcome this fresh batch of recruits. Let’s give them a round of applause.”

The old educated youths were willing to give Fang Mingyang some face, and their applause was fairly enthusiastic.

Fang Mingyang smiled and continued, “I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Fang Mingyang. I was among the first batch of educated youths sent to Liujiawan. I’ve been rooted here for eight years now. Currently, I am the person in charge of the educated youth quarters and the team leader for the male educated youths. If you have any problems, you can come to me. Let’s work together and improve together!”

The new educated youths joined in the applause.

Ming Dai, however, found herself admiring him. To have stayed in the educated youth quarters for eight years, he was likely already around thirty. Since he hadn’t settled down in the countryside, he was probably still hoping to return to the city.

Satisfied with everyone’s attitude, Fang Mingyang gave a small nod before continuing, “Right now, there are eleven old educated youths living here—eight men and three women.

Some other educated youths have married and moved out, so they’re not here. I’ll introduce them to you later.

For now, let’s have the old educated youths introduce themselves first, then the new ones.”

With that, he signaled to Chen Erhong to start.

Chen Erhong cleared her throat and said, “My name is Chen Erhong. I’m the team leader for the female educated youths. If any of the female comrades have issues, you can come to me.”

Her words were brief, indicating that she wasn’t someone who liked to meddle in affairs.

Then, the rest of the old educated youths introduced themselves.

Most of them kept it short as well. They were generally quiet, expressionless, and appeared numb to everything around them.

The three female educated youths were easy to recognize. Aside from Chen Erhong, the one who had opened the door earlier was Song Lanlan. Her eyes kept darting between the new male educated youths before finally settling on Qi Zhijun, her gaze filled with a determined ambition.

The other woman, Zhou Guiping, was busy cooking. Ming Dai remembered her vividly—not because of anything she said, but because a louse had fallen from her headscarf when she adjusted it.

Ming Dai’s internal alarm bells rang immediately. She absolutely did not want to share a room with her!

As for the male educated youths, aside from Fang Mingyang, there were seven others—all of them bachelors.

Their names were Bai Yang, Liu Hongbing, Qu Gang, Zhang Xiang, Hou Wei, Zhou Weiguo, and Kan Jie.

Bai Yang and Zhang Xiang appeared more scholarly and delicate. Liu Hongbing was particularly enthusiastic, often shouting revolutionary slogans, likely due to having a relative in the Revolutionary Committee.

Qu Gang and Zhou Weiguo seemed honest and good-natured, making them the most welcoming toward the newcomers.

Hou Wei, on the other hand, behaved just like Song Lanlan. His gaze swept across the new female educated youths before settling on Fang Rou, to whom he then showed particular attentiveness.

Lastly, Kan Jie was the most distant and indifferent. He didn’t seem to mingle much with the others. However, his clothing was in the best condition, and he had the fairest complexion among them.

Once the old educated youths had finished their introductions, it was the newcomers’ turn.

Following the old group’s lead, they kept their introductions brief. The ones who spoke the most were Zhang Xiaojun and Liu Yan.

Zhang Xiaojun engaged in a lengthy conversation with Fang Mingyang, while Liu Yan took the opportunity to highlight that she, Fang Rou, and Qi Zhijun all came from Beijing’s East District. In doing so, she also subtly belittled Ming Dai, who was from the West District.

Ming Dai still had that same wooden expression, as if the person being talked about was not her.

Overall, the meeting went fairly well.

The old educated youths had already finished cooking. Fang Mingyang glanced at the stove and said, “Originally, since it’s your first day here, we should have treated you to a meal. But things here are different from the city. All our food rations are earned through work points. As educated youths, our status in the team isn’t very high, and we don’t earn many work points, so we only have enough food for ourselves. That’s why we can’t host you.”

He continued, “But don’t worry, your food rations are at the brigade headquarters. After you pick your beds, you can go there to collect them. We’ve just finished eating, so you can use the stove.”

After speaking, he scratched his head and added sincerely, “This time, you can use our firewood and water for free. We’re all educated youths—we should look out for each other.”

In reality, what he was implying was that they shouldn’t use their firewood and water in the future.

The other old educated youths clearly shared the same sentiment.

Ming Dai didn’t care about this right now. What mattered to her was that she didn’t have to eat Zhou Guiping’s cooking. She let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Food that had been tampered with—she really couldn’t stomach it.

As for the bed, she absolutely would not share a room with Zhou Guiping!

Fang Rou had the same thought.

She didn’t even bother looking at the beds and went straight to the brigade headquarters with Qi Zhijun.

Liu Yan wanted to follow, but she was also thinking about securing a good bed. She hesitated, gritted her teeth, and stayed behind.

There was plenty of time in the future—there was no need to rush.