A Rather Different Educated Youth Compound

This time, Bai Yao didn't let Kong Wu carry him on his back along the road from the village entrance to the educated youth compound.

They passed quite a few villagers on the way. Some were getting ready to work in the fields, while others were going into the mountains to gather firewood, but all of them were taken aback.

Bai Yao even felt that by tomorrow, word that the five of them were "good-looking and rich" would spread throughout the village.

They reached the educated youth compound at the very edge of the village. Bai Yao saw a mountain and a cowshed close by.

Clearly, the villagers mostly didn't welcome the educated youths.

That was only natural. Educated youths had been sent to the countryside for years, and the villagers knew all too well what they were like.

"We're here. This is the educated youth compound."

As Zhao Jianguo spoke, he knocked on the compound's gate.

"Uncle Village Chief, how many educated youths are there in the village?" Bai Yao asked.

He had already seen that there were only two buildings in the courtyard. Hopefully, there wouldn't be too many people.

"Counting you five, there are nine male educated youths and eight female educated youths in the compound," Zhao Jianguo replied.

He could tell what Bai Yao was trying to find out.

This wasn't the first time. Educated youths had asked about it when they arrived before, but hadn't they all ended up living in the compound anyway?

At his words, the expressions of everyone present stiffened for a moment. Even Kong Wu, whose expression had never changed, reacted.

So many people living together—the conditions would be simply... simply...

Seeing their reactions, Zhao Jianguo didn't want them coming to him about the matter later, so he told them the solutions outright.

"I know you're not used to sleeping on a communal sleeping platform. Educated youths sent down here before have come to me about it too. There are two options. The first is to build your own house. The village will approve a plot of land, but when you leave, the house will belong to the village."

"The second is to rent. Three educated youths built houses before, but they've gone back to the city, so their houses are empty now. Who wants to rent one?"

Naturally, all five wanted to rent. This wasn't the sort of thing they could defer to each other over.

Seeing this, Zhao Jianguo took out a Daqianmen cigarette, lit it and took a puff. "Those three houses are all single-occupancy, so sharing isn't possible. But since you all want to rent, the village can provide another house for you to share, only the rent is higher."

"Thank you, Uncle Village Chief. We're all fine with that." Bai Yao readily agreed, as did the others.

Seeing that, Zhao Jianguo pointed to a row of buildings right behind the educated youth compound that looked like a rear wing.

"Those are rooms the educated youths added on before. They're small, but they're right next to the compound. Rent is one yuan a month, but if anything gets damaged, you'll have to pay for repairs yourselves. Which of you five wants them?"

A private space—even if the room was small, it didn't matter.

So as soon as Zhao Jianguo finished speaking, Bai Yao was eager to say he wanted to rent one.

But just as he was about to speak, Kong Wu suddenly tugged him, delaying his reaction by a second. He watched as Gu Yang, Hu Yang and Jiang Rou spoke up first.

"All right, then the three of you can have them. When you go to collect your grain later, sign the rental papers while you're there," Zhao Jianguo said. Then he turned to Bai Yao and Kong Wu.

"You two are quite willing to defer to others. Take a look at that house, then. A family in the village built it themselves, but they moved to the city and left it in the village's care. If you want to rent it, it's four yuan a month."

"We'll rent it," Bai Yao agreed at once.

Even if Kong Wu didn't agree, he would rent it himself.

He had thought the small private rooms were good enough, but he hadn't expected this one to have its own entrance and courtyard.

As for four yuan a month, that was nothing. It was only forty-eight yuan a year—not expensive.

Hu Yang and the other two looked enviously at the house. If they'd known, they wouldn't have been so quick to agree.

Gu Yang was especially regretful when he saw that the house wasn't far from the cowshed.

Maybe I could swap with Bai Yao... no, he wouldn't agree. Then Kong Wu... he wouldn't agree either.

As Gu Yang considered each possibility and dismissed it, he knew he wouldn't be able to swap houses.

If it had been Hu Yang, he thought there might have been the slightest chance.

As things stood, he would leave it at that. The rooms they had rented weren't particularly far from the cowshed either; it was only a few extra minutes' walk.

With that thought, Gu Yang put the idea aside.

Just then, the sound of the educated youth compound's gate opening drew everyone's attention. They saw a stern cadre's face.

"Village Chief, are these the new comrades?" the newcomer asked, glancing at Bai Yao and the others.

"Yes, these five are the new educated youths," Zhao Jianguo replied. Then he turned to Bai Yao and the others and introduced the man. "This is Dong Aiguo, the person in charge of your educated youth compound. I'll have him tell you about... never mind, I told you everything while we chatted on the way. You're all renting, too, so just take your things back and then go to the brigade office to collect your grain."

"As for you educated youths getting to know each other, I'll leave that alone."

With that, Zhao Jianguo finished the last of his cigarette, wondering how he had ended up taking over the educated youth leader's job this time.

It wasn't that he thought it was a bad thing, but it had been years since he'd talked so much with educated youths.

Dong Aiguo looked surprised too. Did the village chief really hold this batch of educated youths in such high regard?

That was what he thought, but he said, "Village Chief, if you have things to do, go ahead. I can help them move the rest of their things and have a chat to see if there's anything else they don't know."

"All right, I'll leave them to you. Dazhuang, you stay a while too. When everything's done, take the ox back and tell them to give it extra fodder."

Zhao Jianguo left without waiting for an answer.

Once he was gone, Dong Aiguo said with a smile, "Everyone, let's introduce ourselves. From now on, we'll all be comrades working to build up the countryside."

"My name is Bai Yao. I'm from Beijing," Bai Yao said first.

"My name is Gu Yang. I'm from Beijing."

"My name is Hu Yang. I'm from Beijing."

"My name is Kong Wu. I'm from East City."

"My name is Jiang Rou. I'm from West City."

Finally, Dong Aiguo added his own introduction.

"My name is Dong Aiguo. I'm from this city."

"Huh? There's a city called This City?" Hu Yang asked, failing to catch on for a moment.

But when everyone turned to look at him, he caught on and realized how ridiculous his question had been.

His face instantly heated up and turned red.

Seeing this, Dong Aiguo smoothly changed the subject.

"The village chief said he'd already told you what you needed to know, but I'll go over the main points again. Each new educated youth gets fifty jin of coarse grain and thirty jin of fine grain. That's part of the resettlement allowance for educated youths sent to the countryside. The place where you signed up gives you cash, and the place you're sent to originally gave cash too, but later changed it to grain."

"New educated youths can rest for one day. After that, you have to start work. There'll be a work call every morning, and you must be assembled at the brigade office by the third call. Since you're new, make sure you don't sleep in."

"Besides that, you've already settled your accommodation. As for meals, I imagine you won't choose to eat together with everyone. In that case, the little vegetable garden in the compound can't supply you for free."

At this point, Dong Aiguo glanced at their faces. Seeing no change in their expressions, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued.

"The male educated youths live in the building at the front of the compound, and the female educated youths live in the one at the back. If you need anything, you can come to me or Comrade Sun Chunmei. She's in charge of the female educated youths."

"Come to the compound tonight. I'll introduce everyone then."

There wasn't much else to cover, so Dong Aiguo moved on to other practical matters.

He told them where to fetch water, what they needed to do to gather firewood, which family in the village to go to for furniture, and which households they could trade with for vegetables and eggs.

His conscientious and responsible attitude left Bai Yao and the others very satisfied with the head of the educated youth compound.

Most importantly, he worked hard while he talked, helping everyone carry their luggage inside.

Once the last of Bai Yao and the others' luggage had been moved, Bai Yao stopped Dong Aiguo as he was about to leave. "Thank you so much, Educated Youth Dong. We just discussed it. How about each of us contributes a little something and we all eat together tonight? It would be a good chance to get to know each other."

To Bai Yao's surprise, before he had even finished, Dong Aiguo hurriedly refused. "No, no, no. Educated Youth Bai, please don't do that."

Seeing their puzzled faces, Dong Aiguo explained why.

"At first, the compound used to welcome new educated youths with a meal, so everyone could get acquainted. But some people could never get enough of taking advantage, and there were a few incidents. So we stopped doing it after that. Everyone just eats their own food. You newcomers shouldn't do it either, or you'll only end up on the losing side."

Bai Yao: ...

Even without a protagonist around, there could still be so much commotion.

Coming back to his senses, Bai Yao said no more about it.

Still, all five of them gave Dong Aiguo a little food to thank him for his help. It wasn't much—things like a few pieces of candy, a handful of sunflower seeds and a handful of roasted soybeans.

Dong Aiguo didn't refuse the gifts. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he left.

The group then went to the brigade office to collect their grain and pay the rent.

By the time they arrived, Village Chief Zhao Jianguo had prepared the grain and told them they could take it away. They had to return the grain sacks afterward, though, since they were village collective property.

But Bai Yao and the others had no spare sacks, so they each paid one mao for a sack.

Once everything had been carried home, it was time to get busy.

The house was nice, but they still had to deal with the dust and furniture and such.

That was right: the little courtyard house Bai Yao and Kong Wu had rented had no furniture either. It was as empty as the little rooms Hu Yang and the others had rented.

They hadn't asked about the details, but they had heard Dongfang Dazhuang mention that the family didn't intend to return to the village.

"Get some rest. Leave this to me," Kong Wu said.

"No need, I can do it. Go order the furniture. We'll pay when it's delivered," Bai Yao said.

If he were alone, he could use his Mental Power and System Space to quickly clean the house, saving himself the trouble and effort of doing it by hand.

Without giving Kong Wu a chance to refuse, Bai Yao pushed him out the door as soon as he finished speaking.

Only after watching him walk away did Bai Yao begin "cleaning."