Chapter 13: The Educated Youths Get to Know Each Other

After Wang Zhaodi finished eating a piece of pork belly, she picked up her chopsticks and wanted to grab another.

But before she could, she was stopped by an old educated youth named Tao Xiangqin.

You can’t eat anymore, Tao Xiangqin said, her tone a bit fierce.

Wang Zhaodi looked at Tao Xiangqin in confusion and grievance, asking, why can’t I eat anymore? Do you old educated youths bully us new educated youths like this?

Tao Xiangqin rolled her eyes, who bullied you? You have to be responsible for what you say.

There is only so much meat. We already cut and divided it before cooking, one piece for each person.

Since you’ve eaten your piece, you can’t eat anymore, otherwise you’ll be taking someone else’s share.

Wang Zhaodi hadn’t expected it was because of this. Since each person had one piece, it was indeed difficult for her to grab another.

But thinking that she had only eaten one piece and it was gone before she had tasted it enough, she felt it was too little.

Unable to eat meat, Wang Zhaodi planned to grab some vegetables instead. But before she could move her chopsticks, she was stopped by the old educated youth again.

Li Chunling explained, when we eat together, we always divide the food equally before eating, so that no one can take advantage of others.

Wang Zhaodi opened her mouth wide, Ah? Is it still like this? She was still thinking about taking the opportunity to eat more.

If she couldn’t take advantage of others, she felt she was at a loss.

The old educated youths ignored Wang Zhaodi and continued to follow the rules they had set before. The stew in the pot was divided equally among everyone.

Although there was only one piece of meat to eat, the stew today tasted better than usual because of the meat.

The staple food was a multi-grain pancake with a few pieces of sweet potatoes, all coarse grains.

At this time, there were also fine grains, but fine grains were eaten by people with better conditions.

Even in the city, many people could only eat coarse grains.

Su An and Sun Xinxin both felt that the food wasn’t very good, but they saw that the old educated youths were eating so happily, so they could only eat silently.

Fortunately, they could cook for themselves in the future, so they wouldn’t have to eat so badly all the time.

After the meal, the old educated youths introduced themselves to the new educated youths.

The leader of the educated youth camp, Lin Aodong, took the lead in introducing the young people. Lin Aodong was 26 years old this year.

He was the first batch of educated youths to go to the countryside from the Yutou Village Production Team. He had been here for eight years.

When the new educated youths heard that Lin Aodong had been here for eight years, they all looked at him with admiration.

Lin educated youth, you’ve been able to stay here for eight years. You are really amazing, said Chen Jianguo, a new educated youth.

He felt that it wouldn’t be easy for him to survive even two years after seeing the environment in the countryside, but Lin Aodong stayed for eight years.

At this moment, he looked at Lin Aodong with real admiration.

Lin Aodong smiled bitterly, What can I do if I can’t survive? It’s hard to go back to the city after going to the countryside. Our commune doesn’t even have two places to go back to the city in a year.

When Lin Aodong said this, the faces of the other old educated youths were full of disappointment and helplessness. If possible, who wouldn’t want to go back to the city earlier?

Before they went to the countryside, they couldn’t imagine how hard life was here.

Only after coming here did they realize that life in the countryside was much harder than in the city.

After Lin Aodong introduced himself, other old educated youths followed up:

My name is Chen Ping, I’m 24 this year, and I’ve been in the countryside for six years.

My name is Hu Ziqiang, I’m 25 this year, and I’ve also been in the countryside for six years. I was in the same batch as Chen Zhiqing.

My name is Wu Shengli, I’m 23 this year, and I’ve been in the countryside for four years.

My name is Hao Jianshe. I’m also twenty-three this year. I’ve been in the countryside for two years.

My name is Zhou Jiefang. I’m twenty this year. I’ve just been in the countryside for one year.

When it was the female educated youths’ turn to introduce themselves, Li Chunling said, My name is Li Chunling. I’m twenty-five this year. I’ve been in the countryside for seven years.

My name is Tao Xiangqin. I’m twenty-two this year. I’ve been in the countryside for four years.

My name is Xu Nana. I’m twenty this year. I’ve been in the countryside for two years.

My name is Zhang Liping. I’m twenty this year. I’ve been in the countryside for two years.

My name is Qian Xiaoli. I’m eighteen this year. I’ve just been in the countryside for half a month. I’m not very familiar with this place.

After the old educated youths had finished introducing themselves, the new educated youths also introduced themselves.

Su An asked Lin Aodong, Lin Zhiqing, where are the other two male educated youths who live alone in our educated youth camp?

When it came to this, Lin Aodong explained, the team leader arranged for them to work in the mountains. They usually go out early and come back late. I don’t know what they are busy with.

They live alone at night and don’t eat with us educated youths. One of them is called Lu Zhenting and the other is called Guo Miao. They just came to the countryside half a month ago like Qian Zhiqing.

Su An nodded, but she wasn’t very interested in these two people.

After waiting for everyone to introduce themselves to each other, the old educated youths gave a general introduction to the situation at the educated youth camp.

Now the old educated youths here all eat together, because there is only one pot, it is more convenient to eat together. Since they eat together, the work must be distributed together.

If the new educated youths choose to eat together, they have to join in and take turns cooking.

In addition, the female educated youths at the educated youth camp take turns cleaning, and the male educated youths take turns fetching water.

As for firewood, everyone will go up the mountain to collect firewood together when they have time.

There is also a private plot at the educated youth camp, where the old educated youths have planted some vegetables.

The new educated youths can eat them, but they have to plant and water them together, otherwise they will not be allowed to eat.

At this time, Su An and Sun Xinxin mentioned it to the old educated youths. They bought a pot and would eat alone. The old educated youths naturally had no objection.

The more people there were, the more troublesome it would be. They were so happy that they could solve their own meals.

After roughly explaining the situation at the educated youth camp, Lin Aodong said, That’s about it. If you have any questions, come back and ask me, or ask Li Zhiqing. Let’s go back and rest first, and we have to go to work in the afternoon.

You are the new educated youths who have just arrived, so you should not have to work in the afternoon, and wait until tomorrow. Now you can arrange the remaining things that need to be arranged and buy the things that need to be purchased.

Several new educated youths nodded.

Su An wanted to buy a straw mat and a wardrobe, so she asked Lin Aodong, Lin Aodong, I want to ask, if we want to buy a straw mat, whose house should we go to buy it? And is there a carpenter in our team? Who can buy furniture?

Hearing Su An’s question, Lin Aodong patiently told Su An about it, If you want to buy a straw mat, go to Uncle Meng’s house in our production team and ask. Uncle Meng knows how to weave straw mats.

As for buying a wardrobe, Zhang Youliang’s family in our production team is a carpenter. You can just tell him what furniture you want to buy.

Lin Aodong said, and roughly pointed to the approximate location. If Su An doesn’t know how to get there, she can just ask a random team member on the road.

After Su An understood the situation, she said to Lin Aodong, Okay, thank you Lin Aodong.