The Village Secretary made the final decision. The Brigade Leader discussed renting a house with Xiao Mandong. The annual rent was twenty yuan, payable once a year. In fact, he wanted to help ease Xiao Mandong’s financial pressure.
How much money could a young woman just sent to the countryside have? He could also tell that she came here for her sister’s sake—she was a person of deep loyalty and compassion.
However, Xiao Mandong insisted on paying the full five years’ rent upfront. She was worried that after she fixed up the house, the village might go back on the deal, causing unnecessary trouble later.
With a lump sum of one hundred yuan coming in, the leadership naturally accepted without hesitation.
Xiao Mandong wanted the three rooms by the east side, because they were right next to the well, making water access convenient.
Once everything was agreed upon, the Village Accountant quickly wrote up the agreement. Xiao Mandong read it over, then slowly laid the paper flat on the table. Her tone was calm, but her eyes held a glint of sarcasm:
“Let’s just forget about today’s business... Since the village can’t bear to part with those few stone walls, and doesn’t want to rent to me, I won’t trouble you leaders any further.”
Xiao Mandong found it quite ridiculous. All that was left were a few stone walls. She would spend her own money to repair them and still pay rent, and after the repairs, they wanted to arrange for people to move in. At that rate, they might as well just rob her outright.
With that, Xiao Mandong took her sister and prepared to leave. The Brigade Leader stopped her. He picked up the agreement, examined it, then handed it to the Village Secretary.
The Village Secretary shot a hard look at the Village Accountant, said nothing, picked up his pen, and rewrote the document himself.
The Village Accountant was now filled with regret. Under the Village Secretary’s gaze, cold sweat broke out on his back even in the heat of summer. He hadn’t expected Xiao Mandong to call him out on the spot. He’d thought his subtle wording would go over her head, or that even if she caught it, she wouldn’t make a scene. But now he had thoroughly offended the Secretary.
After the Village Secretary finished writing the agreement, Xiao Mandong signed it without a second thought and directly paid the one hundred yuan in rent.
“Dear leaders, since I have the money, I’d like to let the villagers earn it. I’m willing to hire local people to fix up the house. I want the roof beams reinforced and ridged, the front and back yards to have high walls, the interior walls to be plastered with lime, and the backyard to have an outhouse. Both rooms need new heated brick beds (kang), with brick walls as partitions.” Xiao Mandong then wrote her requirements on a scrap of paper.
“Uncle, I just want to find some dependable people to do the work. Could you please help me calculate the labor and material costs?”
The Village Secretary shot her an approving look. He hadn’t expected this young woman to know so much—even about ridging the roof beams.
Having lived a previous life, Xiao Mandong naturally knew that a ridged roof would better prevent leaks and reduce the risk of roof beams collapsing under heavy snow.
In her last life, a snowstorm that winter had lasted over a month, and old houses collapsing and killing people had happened in many villages.
The Brigade Leader’s son had built a new house after getting married last year, so he had a fair idea of material costs. He calculated on his fingers:
“Two main beams: about 24 yuan. Eight purlins: 40 yuan. Twenty rafters: 16 yuan. Two brick beds (kang): 15 yuan. Plastering and lime walls: about 22 yuan. Building an outhouse in the backyard, including adobe and stone slabs: about 8 yuan. Repairing doors and windows, raising the courtyard walls, hardware, nails, and various other sundry materials, plus labor—if we use a mud-and-straw roof, the total cost is around 180 yuan. For a blue lime roof, about 195 yuan.”
The Brigade Leader wrote down all the approximate costs on paper, making it clear at a glance.
Xiao Mandong took out two hundred yuan from her pocket and handed it to the Brigade Leader.
“Uncle, we can settle up later—more if it’s needed, less if there’s leftover. As for the workers, I’ll leave it to you to choose. I trust your judgment.”
Then she glanced at Accountant Sun.
The Brigade Leader was a shrewd man. With just that one look, he understood that Xiao Mandong didn’t want anyone connected to the Sun family involved in the work.
This girl was quite interesting—she repaid every slight, and she had a sweet tongue. First she called him “Brigade Leader,” then “Uncle-Leader,” and now just “Uncle.” No wonder city kids were different.
“Alright, miss, don’t you worry. I’ll keep a clear record of every penny for you.”
The Village Secretary went home, and the Village Accountant left with a dark face.
The Brigade Leader and the Team Leader still had to pay a visit to the educated youth settlement. If other educated youth also wanted to build houses, it would be easier to bring in the materials all at once, and the rent would bring more income to the village. But Xiao Mandong’s house would be fixed first, since she was the one who came up with the idea.
At the educated youth settlement, the two who had been fighting were no longer at it. They sat on the kang, panting and cursing at each other. Dong Huimin kept looking out the door. Someone had gone to fetch help, but it was already dark. Why weren’t they back yet? Could something have happened?
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. She decided to go with a male educated youth to look for them. A bear had come down from the mountains a few days ago, and no one dared to go out alone after dark.
Just as they stepped out of the yard, they saw Xiao Mandong and her sister following the Brigade Leader back. Only then did her heart settle.
The Brigade Leader didn’t bother with the ones who had been fighting. He stood in the yard and called for the male educated youth to gather for a meeting.
More than twenty people stood in the yard, wondering why the Brigade Leader was calling a meeting at this hour. The female educated youth were also thinking about the housing problem. What solution would the village come up with? Either way, they had no intention of staying with the local villagers.
The Brigade Leader cleared his throat, signaling for quiet.
“Comrades Xiao Mandong and Xiao Manxue will move out of the educated youth settlement within ten days. This will temporarily ease the overcrowding. If anyone still finds it too cramped, they can apply to stay with a local family. You can choose which family, and we won’t interfere.”
Everyone looked at the Xiao sisters. They were curious which family the sisters were staying with. Two such beautiful girls, living outside the settlement with locals—if they ended up with someone unscrupulous, it could be very dangerous.
The Brigade Leader continued:
“Of course, you can also follow Comrade Xiao’s example and rent a house in the village. Those stone houses in the west end of the village—Comrade Xiao Mandong is paying for the repairs herself, and the rent goes to the brigade. It’s twenty yuan a year rent. There are five houses left. Anyone interested in moving out can come see me.”
The crowd immediately erupted in whispers. So they were renting a house. Weren’t those stone houses already collapsed? The repairs must cost a lot. Paying for repairs and rent on top of that—wasn’t that a huge waste? Still, being able to live on one’s own did sound nice.
“Alright, we have work tomorrow. Everyone get some rest early.”
With that, the Brigade Leader left, hands clasped behind his back. But the educated youth couldn’t sleep.
They swarmed around to ask Xiao Mandong about the rent and the repair costs.
“I don’t know the exact cost yet. We’ll settle it after the repairs are done. If you’re not in a hurry, you can wait until mine is finished and see how it turns out,” Xiao Mandong explained patiently.
The one most upset inside was Wang Yuanyuan. She had assumed Xiao Mandong had just come to visit Xiao Manxue and would leave. But instead, she was settling down as an educated youth, and everyone was crammed together. And now she wanted to move out and live alone? On what basis?
Unexpectedly, Xiao Mandong was so rich. She could afford to fix up a house and pay rent. Wang Yuanyuan knew those dilapidated houses—just a few stone walls left. Fixing them up would be almost like building a new house, easily costing over a hundred yuan. It was infuriating.
She was going to ask for leave tomorrow to write a letter to her aunt. Once Xiao Mandong’s house was repaired, she would move in too—there was no way she would stay in this sent-down youth settlement when there was a new house available.
Hu Guizhen had always thought she had the best conditions in the settlement. Her mother sent her ten yuan every month, but today Xiao Mandong had casually tossed out over a hundred yuan, twisting Hu Guizhen’s face almost beyond recognition with jealousy.
She also wanted to move out of the settlement, so she planned to marry Fan Wenhai and have his family repair a house. It was perfectly normal for the groom’s family to fix up the house before marriage. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about Fan Wenhai being lured away by someone else. Once she became Fan Wenhai’s wife, he would naturally have to help her with work.
At that moment, Fan Wenhai, however, was harboring entirely different thoughts. He knew that since Xiao Mandong had arrived, he could no longer take advantage of Xiao Manxue. Since there was no hope of returning to the city, if he married Hu Guizhen, whose family was well-off, maybe they could also have a room repaired to live in. That way, someone would cook and wash clothes for him, and he wouldn’t have to squeeze into the settlement—wouldn’t that kill two birds with one stone?
Everyone in the sent-down youth settlement had their own schemes. With only five rooms left, they all understood that if they wanted to get out, they had to act quickly.
