Chapter 14: The Madman Who Hits People – Zhou Sinian

Very soon, Ming Dai understood why the others hadn’t come over.

The educated youth quarters had several rooms, but only two of them currently had heated brick beds. The larger room was for the male educated youths, while the smaller one housed the females.

The reason was simple—there was a shortage of firewood.

In this region, it was impossible to get through winter without heating the bed!

Starting from spring, every household would begin stockpiling firewood.

Generally, women and children were responsible for gathering firewood, while the men focused on earning work points.

Since the educated youths had to go to work every day, they had very little time to collect firewood. As a result, they often didn’t have enough to last the entire winter. To cope with this, they chose to live together—it was the only option they had.

Ming Dai’s face immediately fell. She didn’t want to get lice!

Especially since Zhou Guiping’s bed was right in the middle. She hadn’t even stepped inside yet, but her whole body already felt itchy.

The male educated youths weren’t happy either. Their room was indeed bigger, but it was already occupied by six people. The remaining space could barely fit two more, and squeezing in three would be too cramped—let alone four.

Zhang Xiaojun and Liu Daye were visibly displeased and asked if there was any other place to stay.

Meanwhile, Cai Mingcheng had already placed his bedding at the end of the heated bed. He came from a bad family background, and before leaving home, his family had warned him to stay out of trouble and follow instructions.

“Captain, we’re not trying to make trouble,” Zhang Xiaojun said. “But our room is way too cramped. If we squeeze in, it’s definitely going to affect your sleeping space. So, is there anywhere else we can stay?”

Zhang Xiaojun grinned and asked with a cheerful tone while pulling out a handful of peanuts, handing one to everyone present.

Ming Dai also took one, but it was shriveled.

Heh.

Fang Mingyang held the peanut between his fingers, his eyes flickering slightly.

Zhang Xiaojun was right—they didn’t want anyone else moving in either. There simply wasn’t enough space.

“There is a place, though. Technically, it belongs to our educated youth quarters,” Fang Mingyang finally said.

Zhang Xiaojun and Liu Daye were overjoyed, and Ming Dai perked up her ears as well.

“Ah, but forget it,” Fang Mingyang hesitated. “That place is a bit… special.”

Liu Daye’s expression darkened. “Captain, you’re not trying to stop us from going there, are you?!”

Fang Mingyang’s face turned cold. “Fine, I’ll take you to see it.”

With that, he took the lead and walked out.

Liu Daye and Zhang Xiaojun hoisted their bags and followed behind, with Ming Dai trailing after them.

Liu Yan hesitated for a moment before also picking up her sack and heading over. The only ones left behind were Qin Fangfang, who stared at their departing figures with her mouth slightly open but said nothing in the end, and Cai Mingcheng, who, like her, chose to stay.

As Song Lanlan munched on her peanut, she watched the group heading toward the backyard and let out a mocking laugh.

“You made the right choice,” she smirked. “Just wait. By tomorrow, they’ll be crying to come back and will have to live with us after all!”

Qin Fangfang didn’t understand and looked utterly confused.

Unfortunately, no one answered her. The old educated youths had already gone into the kitchen to eat.

Qin Fangfang put her things away and, upon seeing Cai Mingcheng, the two of them headed to the brigade headquarters to collect their food rations.

They had no choice—hunger was unbearable!

Meanwhile, Fang Mingyang led the four others to the backyard.

The backyard was spacious, with a shadow wall made of bricks and tiles. Compared to the mudbrick houses in the front yard, it looked completely out of place.

After walking around the shadow wall, a small door appeared before them. It wasn’t locked.

Fang Mingyang cautiously peeked inside. After making sure there was no movement, he finally dared to push the door open and step in.

Ming Dai: Something’s off!

Once inside, they realized that this was a rare sight—a large house built with blue bricks and tiled roofing.

The two rooms facing the courtyard were connected, with a main hall at the far end. Outside, there was also a large kitchen and a bathroom. In one corner stood a storage room cluttered with miscellaneous items.

However, the house had clearly aged. Many areas were damaged, with large holes in the walls.

Zhang Xiaojun asked excitedly, “Is this also part of the educated youth quarters?!”

Fang Mingyang hesitated before nodding vaguely. “Sort of. The person living here is also an educated youth… but he has some mental issues and often causes trouble, so they let him stay here alone.”

Mental issues?

Often causes trouble?

Ming Dai thought back to the story’s plot and quickly realized who Fang Mingyang was talking about.

He was just another minor character—Zhou Sinian.

Ming Dai looked at Fang Mingyang, who wore a righteous expression, and sneered inwardly. He wasn’t a good person either.

The book didn’t describe Zhou Sinian much. He had come from the battlefield, supposedly only twenty years old, but had gone mad due to trauma. For some unknown reason, he had been sent to the countryside under the Hongqi Commune’s relocation program.

Before arriving in Liujiawan, he had already stayed in various villages under the commune, never for long.

The reason was simple—Zhou Sinian had violent fits. He was prone to beating people, and when he did, it was brutal. Several times, he had nearly beaten someone to death.

Moreover, he was incredibly strong and highly defensive. No matter how many times the commune or brigade tried to suppress him, they never succeeded.

They couldn’t overpower him. They wanted to send him away, but someone higher up was protecting him, refusing to let him return to the city. The only solution was for each brigade to take turns keeping watch over him.

Fortunately, despite his madness, he was willing to work. He was strong, far more capable than the average person—so long as no one provoked him.

And by “provoking,” it meant never touching his food.

The previous incidents where educated youths and commune members were beaten had all stemmed from them trying to take or steal his food.

Although he was prevented from returning to the city, someone still sent him packages regularly, so he never lacked food.

In the spring, Liu Dazhu had solemnly brought him over and assigned him to the educated youth quarters.

On his very first night there, he had beaten every single person in the quarters—men and women alike—until they were sprawled on the ground.

The reason? One of his packages had gone missing. A bag of sugar.

The culprit was Song Lanlan. She had taken his sugar and, thinking that “the law doesn’t punish the masses,” shared it with everyone.

The others knew exactly where the sugar had come from, but they thought it was just a madman—so they ate it without much concern.

The next day, the entire educated youth commune took a leave of absence. They simply couldn’t get out of bed.

Later, Zhou Sinian discovered the blue-brick house in the backyard. Without hesitation, he ripped off the lock and moved in.

Fang Mingyang and the others were tempted as well. They wanted to live there, but the result was yet another beating.

The villagers were unwilling to let it go. That house had belonged to a former landlord and had been left vacant because it was the only one of its kind, making it difficult to distribute.

Now that an educated youth had moved in, the villagers were displeased. One after another, they sent their strongest bachelors to reclaim the house.

The result? The village’s young men collectively took a day off to recover, forcing the brigade leader to step in and put an end to it.

With no other choice, they had to let Zhou Sinian stay.

In the book, Zhou Sinian’s main role occurred before Fang Rou’s rebirth. When the new educated youths arrived, Zhang Xiaojun had taken Zhou Sinian’s rice to make porridge. As a result, they were all beaten and thrown out.

Later, for some unknown reason, Zhou Sinian died in the mountains. The book never elaborated further.

At the same time, Ming Dai recalled why Fang Rou had left earlier.

After her rebirth, Fang Rou had already known about the conditions of the educated youth quarters. Unwilling to suffer a beating in the brick house, she had gone straight to negotiate with the brigade leader, arranging for heated brick beds to be built in other rooms.

However, constructing brick beds took time. In the meantime, the female protagonist and the second male lead had temporarily stayed with a local family.

Fang Rou had even used her connections to move into Luo Cheng’s widowed mother’s house.

At this point, Luo Cheng hadn’t yet retired due to his injury—that was supposed to happen next year.

None of that mattered to Ming Dai. She had already made up her mind to stay here.

Between living with a madman and dealing with lice, she was far more afraid of lice.

As expected, Fang Mingyang didn’t explain the full situation to them. He hastily finished speaking and hurried back to eat.