Chapter 43 – Going to Town
A few days later, after Lu Xia fully recovered, it was their rest day.
Currently, they worked for ten days and rested for one day. They decided to go to town together and buy some things.
Especially for the new educated youths, they were still lacking many things.
Lu Xia didn’t actually lack anything. She had everything in her space, but she needed an excuse to bring them out.
So she went to town with them.
The group walked to town, and they arrived in about half an hour. Many of the educated youth from the educated youth spot came along this time, even the sick beauty, Jiang Junmo, came out.
After arriving, they agreed on a time to meet back and went their separate ways.
Lu Xia took a stroll around the town. The town wasn’t big, and it didn’t take long to walk from one end to the other.
She first went to the supply and marketing cooperative. It was much smaller than the ones in the capital city, just a small house. If it wasn’t for the signboard of the cooperative, she would have doubted if she had come to the wrong place.
There were fewer items for sale inside, mainly daily necessities like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. Lu Xia didn’t see anything she wanted to buy, so she quickly left after looking around.
Afterward, she went to the state-owned restaurant to have a meal and treat herself. However, the chef here didn’t cook as well as those in the capital city. Lu Xia felt somewhat disappointed.
After the meal, she casually strolled around the town but didn’t come across any black market. Later, she found a secluded place, took out some of the things she had prepared earlier, and planned to meet up with the others.
When she arrived, everyone was carrying bags, especially Gu Xiangnan, Su Man, and Jiang Junmo. Each of them had a large package, probably sent in advance.
It was at this moment that Lu Xia suddenly realized she could have also sent the luggage she didn’t need temporarily.
Why didn’t she think of this earlier? She had carried everything herself on the train, and it was so exhausting.
But it was too late for regrets now. However, in the future, if she had anything, she could claim that it was sent from home.
On the way back, everyone had more items, so they helped each other carry them.
This time, Zhuang Hongmei didn’t go to town with everyone. She stayed at the educated youth spot and couldn’t help feeling jealous when she saw everyone returning with large and small packages.
Lu Xia glanced at her but didn’t say anything.
The others ignored her as well. It could be said that she had the worst popularity among the new educated youths.
After Lu Xia returned to the room, she put the things she brought, along with her shoulder bag, into the suitcase without opening it, while Zhuang Hongmei looked on eagerly. She just put them directly into the suitcase, locked it, and then went back up.
On the other hand, Su Man had some valuable items she wanted to keep, such as new clothes, thick blankets, cotton shoes, and so on. Zhuang Hongmei looked at them with envy, wishing she could have them for herself.
Su Man asked her to leave several times, but Zhuang Hongmei continued to stand there eagerly.
This made Su Man quite annoyed, and her expression turned ugly.
Later, during dinner, she asked Sun Shengnan about building a house.
“Do you want to build a house by yourself?” Sun Shengnan was somewhat surprised to hear her question. It was the first time she heard of an educated youth planning to build a house by herself!
After all, it required a considerable amount of money. That’s why even though the living conditions at the educated youth spot were uncomfortable, everyone endured it.
Su Man nodded and said, “Yes, I’m used to sleeping alone. I can’t sleep well with others, and these past few days, I haven’t been sleeping well.”
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Chapter 44 – Sun Shengnan’s Words
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Sun Shengnan opened her mouth, wanting to say that everyone started like this and they would get used to it eventually.
But she also thought that maybe some people just didn’t like living with others, and it was just an excuse.
So she said directly, “If you want to build a house by yourself, it’s not allowed. The land here belongs to the village. Although our household registration has been transferred, the village has never treated us as their own, unless we marry someone from the village.
Of course, in reality, not everyone in the village refuses. In the past two years, two of our educated youths got married, and it was inconvenient for them to live in the educated youth spot, so the village allowed them to build their own houses.
At that time, the village said that as long as they didn’t leave, the house would belong to them. But if they left, the house would belong to the village.
But those two didn’t have money, so they ended up renting an old house from a family in the village.”
Lu Xia had been listening attentively since Su Man spoke. Now, hearing this, she felt somewhat disappointed.
They weren’t allowed to build houses! It seemed like that option was no longer available. Does it mean they will have to continue squeezing in the educated youth spot in the future?
Zhuang Hongmei, who was beside them, clicked her tongue and said, “The village really knows how to plan. If the educated youth build houses with their own money, why should they give them to the village when they leave?”
Sun Shengnan sighed, “Well, this land belongs to them. We don’t have much say.”
Zhuang Hongmei pursed her lips but didn’t say anything more.
Meanwhile, Su Man felt disappointed. It seemed that the path of building a house and moving out was currently not viable. So she asked, “What about staying with a fellow villager?”
Sun Shengnan glanced at her. They had been here for some time, and they had gotten to know each other’s personalities to some extent. There weren’t any particularly annoying troublemakers among them, so she could share more information.
“Not many villagers have extra rooms for the educated youth to stay. Nowadays, everyone has many children at home, so it’s rare to have a spare room. Even if you go to a villager’s house, you’ll probably have to share a room with their children. Although there might not be as many people as in the educated youth spot, I advise against it.”
As she spoke, she looked meaningfully at Su Man.
Su Man was puzzled, “So is there something else behind this?”
Sun Shengnan shook her head, “I don’t know if there’s something else, but two years ago, a female educated youth who couldn’t stand living with everyone went to stay with a villager. Within a few months, she got married to their son, and they have children now.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Xia and the others fell silent. They didn’t know what they were thinking, but there was a sense of coldness in their hearts.
It felt like the countryside was even more terrifying than they had imagined.
Staying with villagers probably wouldn’t work either.
Seeing that they had understood, Sun Shengnan didn’t continue but instead comforted them, “Don’t worry too much. We have already raised the issue of the lack of living space at the educated youth spot to the village chief several times. They should be working on finding a solution for everyone and continue expanding.
It’s not good if there are too many people in the male dormitory, and it’s impossible to turn over at night. If more new educated youths arrive, it will be even more crowded.
Once they build new accommodations, our living conditions will improve.”
Everyone nodded to show they understood, but deep inside, they sighed. They didn’t know how long they would have to wait for that.
After hearing Sun Shengnan’s words, everyone had a better understanding of the situation in the countryside, but their hearts felt heavy.
Nevertheless, they had to continue living in the countryside and get up the next day to go to work.
Thanks for the chapter (-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥