Chapter 8

Wang Meiying saw Mingshu staring outside, she reached out to touch the cake, and when she was about to pick it up, someone pinched her hand hard.

“It hurts, please let me go, it hurts so much!” Wang Meiying screamed in pain.

Ming Shu looked at Wang Meiying with a sullen face, “You just wanted to steal my things?”

When Wang Meiying heard the word “steal”, she looked up with a trace of guilt in her eyes and said stiffly, “Who stole it? I just wanted to pick it up and take a look.”

“It’s better to take a look.” Ming Shu caught the guilty conscience, sneered, and shook off her hand.

“you····”

He Yun, who was sitting at the edge of the aisle, grabbed Wang Meiying who was about to speak.

Looking at Ming Shu sitting by the window, her phoenix eyes were full of impatience, and her tightly furrowed brows were like the cold moon on a cold mountain, revealing a hint of coldness. But upon closer inspection, she was still a beautiful lady.

He Yun glanced at Brother Zhou across from him. Seeing him lower his head, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then a gentle smile appeared on his face. “Comrade, where are you going to the countryside? We’re going to Heilongjiang Province. Are you going too?”

Ming Shu took a look at “Heilongjiang Province”

“What a coincidence! We’re going to Qingshan Brigade of Hongqi Commune. What about you?”

Mingshu glanced at them and frowned even more. She said nothing.

“Comrade, which commune in Heilongjiang Province did you go to?” He Yun insisted.

“Qingshan Brigade,” Ming Shu said directly, really annoyed by the question.

When He Yun heard Ming Shu was in the same place as them, he exchanged glances with the others. A glint flashed in the eyes of the six of them.

Shi Yan, who was sitting diagonally opposite, heard this and repeated “Qingshan Brigade” in his mouth as if he wanted to imprint these words in his mind.

In the next few days, the six men and women did not bother Mingshu again. They occasionally met and whispered to each other, and from time to time they looked at Mingshu who was pretending to be asleep.

Mingshu sat for several days and nights, and also slept for several days and nights, and was very energetic.

Mingshu wanted to take the opportunity to return the pastries to the man, but he had already gotten off the car, so the pastries had to be put into the space to keep them fresh.

The six men and women looked so superior when they first boarded the train, but after five days and five nights on the train, they now looked as listless as castrated chickens.

They arrived in Heilongjiang Province at midnight

The six men and women sitting next to Mingshu stood up, carrying large and small bags, pushing and shoving them, and lining up.

Mingshu was also carrying two bags and a cloth bag slung over her shoulder. She stood up and slowly followed the crowd out of the car.

The person who was specially responsible for receiving the educated youth at the station was holding a loud speaker and shouting loudly, “Educated youth who went to the countryside, gather here! Educated youth who went to the countryside, gather here!”

Ming Shu heard the voice and quickly picked up her things and walked over with firm steps. She took out the letter of introduction and handed it to the young staff member.

The educated youth following behind her were surprised to see Mingshu carrying two bags and looking so relaxed.

“Mingshu?” The young clerk looked at the letter of introduction.

Mingshu nodded in confirmation.

“Okay, stand aside and wait for a while. There are still several people who haven’t arrived yet. Once they arrive, we can go to the guesthouse and arrange for them to rest.”

“Okay.” Mingshu stood aside and waited.

Soon those six people will come here too.

“Zhou Wenfu, He Yun, Wang Danli, Wang Meiying, Li Xiaoming, Chen Guojun” the reception officers confirmed the names one by one.

The six people nodded.

“Yi Lu, Chen Li”

“arrive”

The officer said to the eight people, “You all wait aside.”

Zhou Wenfu and his group stood aside

Yi Lu looked at Ming Shu standing alone. He pulled Chen Li over to stand beside Ming Shu and smiled at her. “Hello, I’m Yi Lu and he’s Chen Li. We both go to Qingshan Brigade of Hongqi Commune.”

“Hello, Mingshu, Qingshan Brigade,” Mingshu nodded in response.

The three of them stood together and started chatting. Actually, it was mainly the two men who were chatting, while Mingshu was listening on the side and nodding occasionally.

It took about twenty minutes for everyone to arrive.

The reception officer took these educated youth to the guesthouse next to the train.

The guesthouse is a two-story building.

There was someone on duty at the front desk of the guesthouse. The staff member took a dozen keys from the front desk and said, “You guys go and rest first. You can take the bus to the town below tomorrow morning.”

“Two people in a room, put them together and come up to get the key.”

The six of them stepped forward and took two, Ming Shu also took one, and looked back at the girls.

Finally, he looked at the girl with a big package at his feet and said, “I’m going upstairs to rest. Do you want to follow me?”

The girl looked up at Ming Shu, who was a head taller than her, and nodded slightly, “Okay, can you help me move some things?”

“Okay, let’s go.” Mingshu carried her two luggages in one hand and helped the girl carry them up with the other.

The girl was carrying her own luggage while looking at Mingshu who was so strong.

After entering the room, Mingshu and the girl put their luggage on the floor. She whispered to the girl, “We’ll stay together tonight. I’ll get some rest first.”

“Yeah,” the girl responded softly and walked to the bed by the window and sat down.

Seeing this, Mingshu went to the bathroom outside, washed her face, and came back to lie down on the bed and fell asleep.

When the thin girl saw Mingshu go to sleep directly, she also took off her shoes and went to sleep on the bed.

At dawn, Ming Shu squinted her eyes and stared at the white ceiling. She got up and saw that there was no one on the bed by the window. The quilt was scattered on the bed. Her big package was also gone.

Mingshu washed her face, went back to her room, ate a few eggs, and went downstairs.

Suddenly, there were many more educated youth in the lobby on the first floor, speaking Mandarin with various dialects.

“Mingshu, are you awake? We have to leave in a while. Here, fill your stomach first. There is nothing to eat in the kitchen right now.” Yi Lu was standing in the corner of the hall and whispering to Chen Li. He turned to look at Mingshu who had just come downstairs and hurried forward to say.

“Thank you, I’ve already eaten.” Ming Shu shook her head. She looked towards the hall and asked, “Why are there so many people?”

“Two more groups of educated youth arrived last night. Let’s all leave together later.”

Mingshu nodded and followed them to a corner, looking at the people in the hall. A quick glance revealed that the girl she’d shared a room with yesterday was now standing with the six people.

The people in the hall waited for ten minutes before the Youth League Office came and called for them to assemble and send them all to the bus station.

Mingshu and her friends took out their letters of introduction, bought tickets, and took a bus for seven or eight hours to the town where they were going to work.

The bumpy journey made the girls in the car miserable.

Except for Mingshu, she was agile and easily squeezed into the car with two large bags, found a seat to sit down and closed her eyes to take a nap.

Fortunately, Wang Danli, He Yun and Wang Meiying had companions to help them.

The girl who shared a room with Mingshu in the guesthouse had to squeeze into the car with a large bag on her back. She was yelled at by others when she bumped into them.

She often looked at them with tears in her eyes. Seeing that more than a dozen boys did not respond, she turned to look at Mingshu. It was obvious that she wanted to ask Mingshu for help, but she did not open her mouth.

Mingshu pretended not to see it.

to the town,

They had to take another bus to the Hongqi Commune where they were sent to work in the countryside.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, they finally arrived at the commune after staggering through mountains and rivers.

More than twenty educated youth stood at the gate of the commune, feeling relieved.

“This is Qingshan Brigade.” An old man sitting in the front seat of an ox cart saw a group of people who had just got off the cart and shouted while smoking.

Zhou Wenfu led a few of them forward, and Mingshu and the other two also stepped forward.

The old man looked at the large and small bags at the feet of the five men and five women, turned around and said, “There are too many of you. This cart can only carry packages. You should walk back.”

“Uncle, how many miles is it?” Zhou Wenfu took out a handful of fruit candies from his bag and handed them to the old man.

“Not far, ten kilometers.” The old man took it and smiled, revealing his yellow teeth.

When Zhou Wenfu and the others heard the word “10 kilometers,” their vision went dark. Isn’t that far enough? How long would it take to get there?

“Uncle, can we ask a few girls to take the car? They haven’t recovered from motion sickness yet.” Li Xiaoming said with a smile.

As soon as he said this, he received gratitude from the four girls.

Li Xiaoming was secretly proud of himself. It only required him to open his mouth and didn’t require any effort, so why not do it?

“No, there’s no place to sit,” the old man refused, “put the packages up here quickly, let’s go before it gets dark.”

After hearing this, Zhou Wenfu looked at the sky which was still daytime, and was the first to put his luggage up, followed by the others.

Mingshu also put her luggage on board. It was a ten-kilometer journey, so she could take it easy.

The girl lifted the luggage up with great effort, and the ox cart sank down.

“Baby, have you moved all the things from your home here? They are so heavy.” The old man said to the girl with a bit of pity for the ox cart.

“Uncle, this is something I often use at home.” The girl lowered her head and said softly.

The old man saw this and could not say anything, he could only feel sorry for his cow and go home to give it an extra handful of corn stalks. “Okay, let’s go, you guys follow me quickly.”

The old man whipped the whip and drove ahead, then turned around and yelled, “Hurry up, or it will get dark and we’ll have to walk at night.”