CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35: THE EDUCATED YOUTH COMPOUND

There are currently ten educated youth at the Educated Youth Center, three females and seven males. Today is a rest day, but few people went out, most are resting.

Upon hearing the commotion, both male and female educated youth came out. Looking at Xu Qinghuan’s appearance, everyone was a bit dazed; the new female educated youth is stunningly beautiful, like a flower, can she really work?

Qiao Xinyu started introducing the educated youth here, one by one, to Xu Qinghuan and Yu Xiaomin. Pointing to a somewhat older male educated youth, she said, "This is the team leader, Zhang Tieshan, and this is the deputy leader, Qu Qiongfang."

Qu Qiongfang is a female educated youth, wearing a checkered shirt, baggy black pants, with two messy braids. She leaned on the door frame, nodded toward Xu Qinghuan and smiled.

"Why are so many people coming again, can they still find space to sleep?"

The female educated youth next to her glanced critically at Xu Qinghuan, then at Yu Xiaomin, snorted coldly, flipped her braid, went into the room, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

From the introduction earlier, Xu Qinghuan learned that this female educated youth is named Duan Qingmei.

Qu Qiongfang laughed and said, "Come in quickly, settle your things. Qingmei may have a bad temper, but she’s a good person. After spending more time with her, you’ll find that out yourselves."

Xu Qinghuan nodded to her and together with Qiao Xinyu and the others, they placed their belongings in the western wing. Two male educated youth came forward to help, but only to lift the luggage from the truck bed to the entrance; they were not comfortable entering the room.

"Thank you!" Xu Qinghuan expressed her gratitude.

"You’re welcome. You’ve come today, might need a day to rest, tomorrow you don’t need to work either. But starting the day after tomorrow, you’ll definitely have to work." Zhang Tieshan didn’t help, just gave some verbal advice,

"Your ration will need to be collected from the warehouse at that time. Thirty pounds per person, ten pounds of fine grain and twenty pounds of coarse grain. If you can’t lift it, you can ask the male educated youth for help."

"Alright, thanks!" Xu Qinghuan wasn’t worried about these details, with Xinyu around, she could ask if she didn’t understand anything.

In the western wing there are only north and south kang beds. The one by the north side only has one spot, and by the south side, near the door, it hasn’t been heated for years, apart from being cold, there’s worry that the flue might be blocked.

Luckily, it’s summer now, generally no need to heat the kang. However, Xu Qinghuan has heard that even in summer, it’s good for the body to heat the kang in the morning to ward off the chill.

"We can squeeze here, two more people can sleep here. You two can join us here." Qiao Xinyu looked at Qu Qiongfang as she spoke, evidently seeking her opinion.

"That’s fine! We’re all not too chubby!" She said playfully.

"What’s good about that, I don’t agree!" Duan Qingmei yelled.

Xu Qinghuan looked at her properly for the first time: an oval face, rough dark skin, two spots of redness on the cheeks, small eyes, thick lips. Not exactly ugly, but definitely unkempt, looking quite unappealing.

Qiao Xinyu was upset, wanting to argue with her, but Xu Qinghuan held her back, "No need, we’ll tidy up the south kang, Xiaomin and I will sleep there."

The south kang is smaller, comfortable for three but cramped with four.

Meanwhile, two other girls, Kong Lijuan and Lu Nianying, wanted to come over, making it four people sleeping there.

Qiao Xinyu whispered, "The south kang isn’t very warm in winter."

The north kang’s flue leads to the kitchen, and the south kang faces the door, with people coming in and out, the feeling is quite uncomfortable.

Xu Qinghuan squeezed her palm, and Qiao Xinyu quickly nodded, even though she didn’t know what her friend was planning, she would definitely stand with her friend.

"Then I’ll sleep on the south kang too!"

Disregarding the astonished looks, Qiao Xinyu pulled over the kang mat she had bought, while Xu Qinghuan and Yu Xiaomin had already cleaned the kang thoroughly, piling the luggage to one side, waiting for the moisture to dry before laying out the kang mat.

"We need to buy two more kang mats," Qiao Xinyu said. "Hold on, I’ll go exchange two more."

"I’ll go with you." Xu Qinghuan also wanted to familiarize herself with the surroundings, she said to Yu Xiaomin, "Xiaomin, you’ll be okay here alone, right?"

"What could possibly happen, go ahead, and help me exchange one too, I’ll pay you back later." Yu Xiaomin said.

These days, speculating and profiteering are strictly forbidden, private transactions are not allowed, but bartering is permitted, so as long as it’s not buying from the public, it’s called exchanging.

The two left the main house, crossing the courtyard, Xu Qinghuan pointed at the east wing and asked, "Why is no one living here?"

"The exterior walls can be seen, but the interior partitions like the curio shelves were damaged and there is no kang. Our brigade doesn’t have many educated youth, the houses behind can accommodate everyone, the brigade wouldn’t spend money repairing this useless house."

Qiao Xinyu knew what was on her friend’s mind and asked, "You don’t want to live with them, do you?"

"Remember my birth mother?" Xu Qinghuan asked.

"Of course, I still have many questions for you."

"This time, there are two female educated youth, one pushed me, you’ve met her, she’s my birth mother’s foster daughter, from the Lu Family. The other is called Kong Lijuan. Before coming here, to earn money, I attended the recruitment exam at a lamps factory, and there, that woman became my enemy."

Xu Qinghuan smiled slightly, "Living in the same room with someone like that, I’d have to sleep with one eye open. Also, I’m not used to sleeping in a communal bed with so many people, there’s no privacy at all."

Finding it difficult to go from luxury to frugality, she doesn’t want to make herself suffer.

Qiao Xinyu empathized, she had been here for a while too and still hadn’t fully adapted. "If you want to move to the west wing to live, you’d need to spend money to repair the house. And would you eat alone or join them for communal meals?"

"I’d rather cook and eat separately; who would cook for communal meals?" Xu Qinghuan wasn’t keen on sharing meals with so many people.

"Male educated youth are responsible for drawing water and chopping wood. Female educated youth take turns cooking, originally one person for a day, now it depends on how the deputy leader arranges the rota," explained Qiao Xinyu.

Xu Qinghuan hasn’t decided yet.

The brigade headquarters is at the eastern end of the production team, situated on higher ground, and after descending a small slope, there are rows of somewhat disorganized houses, mostly adobe and grass-roofed dwellings. The only relatively decent house is half brick and half adobe, with a grass-covered roof.

According to Xinyu’s introduction, it’s still the brigade leader’s home.

Throughout the production team, aside from the brigade headquarters and educated youth dormitories, there were no other brick tile houses.

Qiao Xinyu led Xu Qinghuan to a low adobe house, across a large yard, and called out, "Aunt Zaohua!"

Someone inside responded, and a short, dark-skinned middle-aged woman with a blue bandana emerged, wiped her hands on her apron, and opened the yard gate. "Qiao Educated Youth is here? Is this the new educated youth?"

Qiao Xinyu introduced, "This is my good friend, also the new educated youth, Xu Educated Youth. We’d like to exchange two kang mats with you. By the way, has Uncle Yonggui been making furniture lately? My friend wants to exchange some furniture too."