Chapter 5: Arrival

The train was delayed. It was supposed to arrive at Yao County at 11:30, but ended up arriving at noon.

“Yao County, we’re getting off.”

“Don’t rush, check your belongings. Don’t leave anything behind.”

“Where are my shoes? Who kicked them away?”

“That’s my bag—you took the wrong one.”

“I’ve got too much stuff. Can you help carry a bag for me?”

“Sure, treat me to a meal.”

“……”

The train car was noisy and chaotic. Lin Qi, who only had one bag, squeezed through the crowd. In front of her was Sun Zhigao, and behind her was Ming Kangjian. Sandwiched between the two, she was pushed along toward the exit.

After getting off the train, everyone was divided into multiple teams. These teams headed straight to the county’s train station and then boarded train to go to various communes.

Lin Qi had thought the smell on the train was already unbearable—until she got on the train. That’s when she realized the train was just the appetizer. The public transport of this era truly left her speechless. Even during the apocalypse, she had never ridden in a train that smelled this bad.

The trip from the county to Jiahe Commune took two hours. For Lin Qi, they were the most miserable two hours since arriving in this world. As soon as she got off the train, she rushed to the roadside and vomited until her eyes rolled back, collapsing on the ground.

“Sure enough, she’d be trouble,” Ma Guizhi curled her lips.

The others also looked at Lin Qi. Although they didn’t say anything out loud, the word “trouble” was clearly written in their eyes.

Jian Tongyi glanced at Lin Qi and changed the subject, “It’s already three o’clock in the afternoon. It’ll take a while to get from the commune to the brigade. Let’s go check which brigade we’ve each been assigned to first.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry—if it gets dark, we won’t even reach the village.”

After Lin Qi emptied her stomach, she felt much better—her head clearer and her stomach more comfortable. Carrying her bag, she was pulled by Ming Kangjian by the arm, struggling to follow at the end of the group.

“That Zhao Haiyan only said you were a fool, not that you had trouble moving,” Ming Kangjian said helplessly. “Not right in the head, slow to move, can’t talk properly—what can you even do in the countryside?”

Lin Qi: “……”

Upon hearing that educated youths would be arriving today, brigade leaders from all around had already come to the commune ahead of time to wait. As soon as they saw the arriving youths, no matter what they were thinking internally, most of the brigade leaders showed smiles on their faces and actively greeted the newcomers.

But not all of them wore pleasant expressions.

“The brigade already doesn’t have much land. It’s hard enough to feed our own people. Now you’re sending over this many? What are they supposed to eat? Air?”

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere instantly froze.

Lin Qi raised an eyebrow—so the “Educated Youth Going to the Countryside to Build the Nation” campaign wasn’t as welcome as it claimed to be?

Still, whether the brigade leaders welcomed them or not, the fact that the educated youths were joining the brigades and becoming members was already decided. It wasn’t up to the brigade leaders, and they couldn’t refuse.

Lin Qi was assigned to the Anliang Brigade. Also assigned to Anliang were Ming Kangjian, Ma Guizhi, and Jian Tongyi. When these three found out that Lin Qi was going to be in the same brigade as them, varying degrees of gloom and frustration appeared on their faces.

Ma Guizhi directly pointed at Lin Qi and said, “She has a problem with her brain.”

The Anliang brigade leader was stunned and looked at Ma Guizhi in confusion.

“She’s a fool,” Ma Guizhi stated even more bluntly. “She’s a burden. If the brigade doesn’t want to support another idler, it’s best to send her back.”

A fool?

Luo Feng doubted his ears. He instinctively reached up and dug at his ear, hesitantly asking, “This girl’s not right in the head?”

“Yes,” Ma Guizhi replied loudly and firmly.

Luo Feng was dumbfounded and blurted out, “Why would they send a fool to our countryside?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, even before anyone answered, he figured it out himself.

What else could it be? Abandoned by her family, obviously.

Look at her, that small, thin frame like a child of eleven or twelve, that little face pale and bruised, eyes dull, how many days has it been since she had a proper meal?

Under Luo Feng’s scrutinizing gaze, Lin Qi felt a chill down her spine: “……”

Luo Feng didn’t want to bring a fool back to the brigade, how could he explain that to the team? He went to the commune leadership, a man in his fifties, and pulled every trick in the book, begging, complaining, even throwing a tantrum, but still couldn’t change the established fact.

“We don’t have any control over where the educated youths are sent. Crying to us won’t help. She’s so small, just treat her like raising a cat or a dog in your brigade. Just don’t let her starve to death.”

Luo Feng covered his face with both hands, “Our brigade doesn’t even have a cat’s hair or a dog’s tail. Who has the ability to raise those things?”

“Just take her back for now and think of a solution later. It’s getting dark — if you don’t leave soon, you won’t be able to see the road.”

“Sigh!”

Luo Feng had come by ox cart. “Put the luggage on the cart. Everyone walks.”

Not just the others — Luo Feng also walked.

“Brigade Leader, Lin Qi moves very slowly. When others walk two steps, she walks one. How about letting her ride in the cart?” Ming Kangjian suggested.

No one objected. They had all seen how Lin Qi walked and knew that if she had to go on foot, it was always Ming Kangjian dragging her along.

Luo Feng: “………”

So being a fool wasn’t even the worst part.

That day, Lin Qi had taken three different kinds of transportation. In terms of comfort, the train was the best, the ox cart second, and the train the worst.

The ox cart jostled and swayed the whole way. Not long after Lin Qi got on, she fell asleep. By the time she opened her eyes again, night had already fallen, and the cart had come to a stop.

“These are the rooms the village has cleaned out for you,” Luo Feng explained. “There are three in total — two can be used for sleeping, and one for storing things. The kitchen is in the courtyard. Tomorrow, someone will come help you build a stove.”

Before Ming Kangjian and the others could respond, someone in the distance approached carrying a torch.

“You’ve brought them back?”

“Yeah, they’re back. Seven in total — four men, three women,” Luo Feng replied, helping unload the cart. In the darkness, no one noticed the deep frown on his face.

The torchlight drew nearer. The woman holding the torch spotted Lin Qi, who was just barely waking up on the cart, and exclaimed in surprise:

“Oh! There’s still someone on the cart!”

“Her case is a bit special. I’ll explain later,” Luo Feng said in a low voice. “Did you prepare food?”

“There are wild vegetable and coarse grain cakes. Think they can eat that?” The woman’s eyes lingered on Lin Qi for a few seconds before moving to the others. Her expression showed concern. “These boys and girls look so fair-skinned — can they even work?”

Two back-to-back questions made Ming Kangjian and the others immediately detect her tone — skeptical, distrustful, and unwelcoming.

They called them wild vegetable and coarse grain cakes, but in reality, they were just coarse bran patties made with wild veggie roots. Lin Qi’s throat hurt just from eating them. After finishing one, she had to drink two large enamel cups of water.

“We men will take the room on the east side. You girls take the west side. Sound good?” Jian Tongyi asked.

“Why shouldn’t we take the east side and you take the west?” Ma Guizhi shot back.

Jian Tongyi glanced at her, picked up his things, and walked toward the west room. “The two rooms are about the same size. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Ma Guizhi exchanged a look with the other girl, then picked up her luggage as well. Besides her things, she also carried a torch — the woman who brought the food had left it for them to use.

Lin Qi was the last to reach the room. It was empty inside, with just a few large wooden planks on the floor — not even a single bed. Ma Guizhi and the other girl stared blankly at the boards, clearly not expecting village conditions to be this bad.

Taking advantage of their daze, Lin Qi chose a plank close to the inner wall, placed her backpack on it, and sat down. While massaging her legs, she quietly observed her surroundings.

The room was just over three meters high, made of gray bricks with gray tiles. Several tiles were broken, and when she looked up, she could see two or three stars through the holes in the roof. The bricks were mottled, crumbling, and covered in moss. A damp, musty smell filled the air.

“You said she’s a fool, but she sure knew to claim the best spot. Tch.” The girl next to Ma Guizhi said sarcastically.

“Gan Tian, I’m not a fool,” Lin Qi corrected.

Gan Tian’s eyes widened in surprise. “You even remember my name? Looks like you really aren’t fool.”

“Even if she’s not a fool, she’s mentally slow. Just listen to how she talks, look at her. If she weren’t mentally disabled, with that face, she could’ve stayed and gotten married for a nice bride price. But clearly, she’s too fool and no one wants to marry her — her family had no choice but to send her to the countryside,” Ma Guizhi said, with solid reasoning.

Gan Tian nodded in agreement. “Still, she’s kind of pitiful.”

Ma Guizhi rolled her eyes. “We’re the ones who are pitiful. We’ll definitely end up having to take care of her. With how slow she is, and how skinny she looks like a gust of wind could blow her away, there’s no way she can support herself. We’ll probably have to give her some of our food.”

“Ah!” Gan Tian gasped, looking distressed. “Is there any way we can not share?”

“Sure,” Ma Guizhi said flatly. “As long as you’re fine watching her starve to death.”

“I’m not that bothered. Plenty of people have starved to death in the past few years,” Gan Tian said indifferently. “If she dies, she dies. I just hope her death doesn’t bring us trouble.”

Lin Qi: “……”

So they were talking this openly just because they assumed she was “a fool“?