12dz Chapter 16 A New Life Begins
Chapter 16 A New Life Begins
The courtyard was bustling with activity, but the old educated youth who were taking a nap up front were not so happy.
Guan Wenbin lay on the kang, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, and was extremely angry. He felt that the prestige he had accumulated in the Youth Farm for several years was completely destroyed. When he thought about the rules of the farm and the new youths in the backyard who obviously would not cooperate, his eyes suddenly went dark. He was afraid that he would not be the head of the Youth Farm for long. Even if he continued to be the head, he would only be in name only.
The educated youth compound has always followed the principle of pairing men and women and working lightly. The male educated youth do more physical work, such as collecting firewood and fetching water, while the female educated youth are responsible for washing clothes and cooking.
Just that Jiang Yu, asking her to wash clothes? You can tell with your toes that it's good enough that she doesn't throw the clothes directly at people's faces...
If you put that set of words in front of others, you will be scolded. Guan Wenbin chose to be a sensible person and never take the initiative to provoke that tigress.
If Jiang Yu knew what he was thinking, he might even give him a thumbs up. People should still have some self-knowledge.
Today's work in the fields has ended. The village committee's loudspeaker sounded. Xue Li's kang and earthen stove have been completed, and Jiang Yu's are half done. Hearing the loudspeaker, the workers passed the earthen bricks swiftly.
"Hurry up, we can probably finish it before dark." Team leader Zhuang Shouren glanced at the work progress and encouraged everyone confidently.
In the courtyard, Jiang Yu and Xue Li had already started helping to wash vegetables and rice, and the cooking was left to Wu Aiqing, because he said his cooking skills were pretty good. With the idea of avoiding hardship if possible, the two female comrades tacitly handed over the kitchen to him.
The aroma of food gradually spread, and the old educated youth in the front yard started to get busy with grim expressions.
"They are eating meat." For people who lack oil and water, the smell of meat is really tempting. Chen Xiaohua whispered to Chen Lei. The two of them are cooking partners, one cooks and the other makes the fire.
Chen Lei hummed in a muffled voice, squatted behind the stove, and occasionally stirred the firewood in the stove.
Seeing that he didn't respond, Chen Xiaohua bit her lip and continued to cut the sweet potato vines. They had just given each of the new educated youth a small bowl of grits at noon, so they had to reduce the amount of food for dinner. They boiled the grits and dried sweet potatoes with water, fried the sweet potato vines, and added some pickles, and that was everyone's dinner.
They were eating coarse food, but the new educated youth in the backyard were cooking meat porridge and scrambled eggs. The contrast was so sharp that Fang Qianqian, who always liked to play the good guy, lost control of her facial expression.
When the old educated youth sat together on the broken wooden table in the front yard and found that everyone else was in the same bad mood as themselves, they suddenly felt a sense of bitterness in sharing the suffering. For a moment, it seemed as if the spirit of the group was burning here...
In the backyard, the new educated youth found out they had no table after preparing dinner. They searched the empty houses and found only a shabby bench that they could use.
"Uncle Zhuang, is there a carpenter in the village?" Fu Biao found a similar stone to support the legs of the stool, and did not forget to ask Zhuang Shouren while serving the dishes.
Zhuang Shouren looked back and said, "Yes, do you want to change something now?" There was not even a table for dining. Even if they prepared their own meals later, they still needed to prepare stools and kang tables.
"Is it okay?" Jiang Yu wanted to change, otherwise there would be no stool to sit on when eating, which was too miserable.
Zhuang Shouren stood up and patted the dust on his hands. "Let's go, let's go change now, before Old Liu's family has dinner." They had just got off work, so they had to hurry.
Then, except for Wu Aiqing and Xiong Lijin who stayed behind to cook, everyone else followed Zhuang Shouren and rushed out of the educated youth compound.
There is a jujube tree planted on the side of the mountain where Old Liu's house lies, so it is easy to find.
"Old Liu! Old Liu!" Zhuang Shouren stood outside someone's yard and shouted loudly.
An old man in a homespun vest, holding a plane in his hand, poked his head out of a doorless room and said, "Captain, Shitou, open the door for me."
Hearing the call, the little kid hurried out to open the door.
Zhuang Shouren touched the baby's bald head and strode into the yard. "I brought the new educated youth here to exchange for something. Do you have anything ready?"
"Yes, yes, yes. What do you need? Come in and choose." Old Liu stepped aside and motioned for everyone to come in.
This is probably Old Liu's workshop. Tools are placed on the ground and finished wooden furniture is placed along the wall, including cupboards, wooden cabinets, tables, chairs and benches.
Jiang Yu picked out a cupboard, two cabinets about half a meter by one meter, a kang table, two stools, a washbasin rack, three wooden basins, and two brooms, one large and one small.
Xue Li and Jiang Yu chose similar things, and she also asked Old Liu if he could make a bathtub.
"How many do you want?" Old Liu helped them stack the things up so that they could be sent over on a cart later.
"Do you want ginger fish?"
"Yes!" Jiang Yu nodded immediately.
"We want some too!" Chen Jinghan had already learned how to answer quickly. "We want three first!"
There is no other way. The three brothers originally had pretty good living conditions and they also attached great importance to bathing. It is better not to share a bathtub or something.
As for Wu Aiqing, before he left, he said that he would come over to buy it himself the next day, so Chen Jinghan did not take the initiative to make a reservation for him. Anyway, Old Liu had received a large order for 5 bathtubs at once, and he would definitely be too busy to handle it in a short time.
"Okay, I'll make it bigger for you." Old Liu glanced at the educated youths, especially Jiang Yu, whose height was almost the same as that of the men.
If the bathtub is made too small, Jiang Yu's long legs will be hurt. It's better to have a bigger one.
But what did this girl eat to grow so tall? This is rare in the Northeast where most people are tall and strong. She is skinny, like a corn stalk.
After buying the things, Old Liu pushed out the cart from his home. Fu Biao was strong, so he volunteered to steady the cart. The other people helped to move the things up and stack them up.
Jiang Yu was stronger, so he helped move things, while Xue Li helped with small items such as wooden basins.
The cupboard was very large and they couldn't take all the cups in one trip, so Chen Jinghan said that he and Fu Biao would make another trip later, and then they all went back to the Youth League Home with the fully loaded cart.
The old educated youth smelled the fragrance of food at the back and saw that they had bought so many things, and suddenly felt complicated.
These new educated youth seemed to be quite wealthy. If they had known, they would not have been greedy for the half bowl of corn porridge at noon. If they had not quarreled, they might have been able to have a mouthful of bacon porridge and a few chopsticks of eggs to satisfy their cravings. Zhao Chunjiang held his chopsticks, feeling somewhat regretful that he had been hanging out with the old educated youth for so long that his eyes had become shallow.
Guan Wenbin's regret was even more obvious. He was originally the person in charge of the educated youth center. If he had established a good relationship with this group of new educated youth, wouldn't it be easy for him to eat and drink with them in the future? Now it's all over.