Chapter Nine: The Easygoing Veteran Educated Youth

Fortunately, the Fengsheng Brigade was quite prosperous. Backed by a mountain, the houses were not built of simple mud bricks but of large, sturdy, gray-blue stones, making them remarkably solid. In fact, to level the ground, the walls had been built twice as thick as standard urban walls, providing excellent soundproofing.

The row of seven individual rooms for the educated youth shared a high-pitched roof. This triangular structure was designed to shed snow easily during winter—a necessity in the Northeast, where heavy snowfall could easily collapse a flat roof under its own weight.

Thick, solid timber beams supported the roof, which was covered in tiles on the outside, while the interior was lined with thinner wood strips to hold up the straw insulation. While this design was windproof, warm, and aesthetically pleasing, it had one drawback: it tended to shed debris.

Thinking of her sleep quality for the next two years, Yun Shu pondered how to cover the area above her small brick bed. Should she hang a curtain, or perhaps tack some fabric to the ceiling?

Oh, and she would need to buy some hemp rope for hanging curtains and drying clothes.

...

After a moment of idle thought, Yun Shu came back to reality. Feeling embarrassed to let the three young men work for nothing, she took a handful of fruit candies from her bundle as a "labor fee." Lin Jingshu also brought out three crisp, juicy apples from her room.

The young men were unable to refuse and accepted them with shy, bashful expressions.

The scene was harmonious and lively, which made Yang Yue, who was peeking from the main room, burn with resentment.

She could not fathom why she had been ostracized by everyone. On the train, she had clearly acted with a straightforward, impulsive personality rather than being calculating, whereas that Xie Yunshu and Lin Jingshu had been the ones acting aggressive and unforgiving.

Furthermore, she had not even had a conflict with the others! Yet, after that incident, they all tacitly acted as if she didn't exist, as if only the five of them had arrived at the Fengsheng Brigade.

Selfish people find it difficult to admit their faults; they are more likely to habitually shift the blame onto others.

Just then, the veteran educated youth, who had been out to clear their minds before the autumn harvest, returned. Seeing the new faces in the courtyard, they immediately realized these were the new arrivals.

...

Thanks to the healthy atmosphere of the Fengsheng Brigade, the veteran educated youth, despite their own anxieties about returning to the city, did not fight tooth and nail over food or petty advantages.

The veterans quickly took note of the single rooms with open doors. This indicated that these new arrivals were clearly not short of money. They weren't there to drain the communal food supply or crowd the dorms, but were potential allies who might share their good fortune.

Having navigated the complexities of social life, the veterans warmly stepped forward to strike up conversations with Yun Shu and the others. The two young men who had also rented single rooms, though slightly reserved, were polite in return.

After a brief chat, Yun Shu’s group gathered much useful information: how to cultivate their personal plots, where to find vegetable seeds, how to gather firewood, and most importantly, where to collect their grain rations.

The veterans also formed a quick impression of the newcomers as being "well-off."

A veteran who appeared the most scholarly, yet had the thick, muscular arms of a natural leader, stepped forward to offer guidance. When new youth first arrive, the brigade lends them grain—mostly coarse grains and sweet potatoes, rarely anything refined. After the autumn harvest, at the end of the year, they must return the equivalent based on their work points; whatever remained was their total harvest for the year. If they wanted fine grains, they could trade or buy them from the brigade, and the members were usually happy to oblige if the price was right.

Regardless of the method, however, one had to collect the grain themselves.

Yun Shu nodded in understanding. She knew this wasn't the twenty-first century where couriers delivered to your door; here, one had to rely on themselves.

Having obtained the necessary information, Yun Shu and the others thanked them and agreed to have a meal together that evening to welcome the newcomers. Just then, Yang Yue, feeling her presence had been completely ignored, could no longer contain herself. She rushed out of the main room with red, teary eyes and a look of grievance, startling the young women.

After hearing Yang Yue’s introduction, the veterans cast probing glances at Yun Shu and the others, forming their own private guesses.

The women in the dorm grew anxious, fearing that the peaceful atmosphere they had finally established would be disrupted by Yang Yue. Yet, not knowing the full details of what had transpired, they all wished to maintain a sense of decorum.

As the one being provoked, Yun Shu naturally chose not to engage with Yang Yue. Even when Yang Yue tearily explained in front of the veterans that she had simply been "too blunt" on the train and that it was all a misunderstanding, apologizing and begging for forgiveness in an attempt to salvage her first impression, Yun Shu remained unmoved.

Yun Shu’s stance remained firm: they were not that close, so she should keep her distance.

Lin Jingshu, as the new best friend, could not let Yang Yue paint Yun Shu as an unforgiving, spoiled girl. With her sharp tongue, she concisely recounted how Yang Yue had "kindly comforted" Yun Shu on the train. The confusion in the veterans' eyes instantly cleared.

...

Yang Yue seethed with hatred, cursing herself for being too impulsive and blinded by jealousy, failing to gauge the backgrounds of the two girls before burning bridges.

But it was too late. Not wanting to spend her days in the countryside being ostracized, she forced herself to stay calm and play the long game, choosing to lay low for now.

She couldn't manipulate Xie Yunshu and Lin Jingshu, but couldn't she manipulate others?

Though she was filled with malice, she wore a mask of grievance and humble compliance. The veteran youth who had no prior conflict with her found it hard to be cold or dismissive toward her.

Since Yang Yue was not living in a single room, she inevitably had more contact with the other women in the dorm.

It was unclear what Yang Yue had said to them, but by dinner time, she was already integrating easily, chatting and laughing with the women in her room.

The two "Shus" exchanged a glance, their vigilance heightened.

Yun Shu remembered that in the original book, this Yang Yue had caused the heroine endless trouble, nearly succeeding multiple times. She was like a cockroach that couldn't be crushed and a leech that couldn't be shaken off—a formidable adversary.

She hadn't expected that now, she too would have an irreconcilable conflict with Yang Yue, becoming one of her primary targets.