Just as Su Cen was about to get into the back of the truck, Wang Jianguo pointed to the passenger seat and said to her and Lin Jiajia, “You two girls sit in the front.”

“Brother Yan, I want to sit in the front too.” Tang Qiuyue was terribly carsick, her face pale as she supported Yan Mingyuan. Her body swayed slightly, and she looked genuinely uncomfortable.

Lin Jiajia, being gentle by nature, immediately said upon seeing this, “Tang Zhiqing, you and Su Zhiqing sit in the front, I won’t get carsick, I’ll sit in the back.”

Zhang Yingying was already envious of Wang Jianguo letting Su Cen sit in the passenger seat. She looked at Su Cen with a sarcastic tone, “Su, I’m not feeling well either. I’m a little dizzy. The back of the truck is so bumpy, I’m afraid I can’t handle it…”

He even pretended to rub his head.

Su Cen didn’t even spare her a glance, and nimbly sat down in the passenger seat while holding onto the handrail at the front of the car.

Apart from Tang Qiuyue and Yan Mingyuan, all the other educated youth had witnessed Su Cen and Zhang Yingying’s affair with Li Zhaodi on the bus. No one wanted to cause trouble, so this time no one said a word.

Tang Qiuyue was also helped into the car by Yan Mingyuan.

“Su Zhiqing, Qiuyue isn’t feeling well. Could you please take care of her for a while?”

Su Cen nodded as she looked at Tang Qiuyue, who was weak and pale.

Zhang Yingying gritted her teeth and stepped forward to open the passenger door, wanting to say something more, but Wang Jianguo raised his voice:

“Hurry up, hurry up! What are you all dawdling about? If you delay any longer, you won’t be back at the team before dark!”

As he spoke, he glared at Zhang Yingying. Wang Jianguo had lived most of his life and had seen all kinds of people during his years as the brigade leader. He could tell at a glance that this female educated youth was no pushover. The brigade was about to get lively again.

Zhang Yingying swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue, gave a soft snort, stomped her foot, and walked towards the back of the truck.

Liu Fengxia saw that Zhang Yingying couldn’t climb up and reached out to pull her up, but Zhang Yingying didn’t appreciate it and even glared at Liu Fengxia. She had originally wanted to ask Chen Xiangdong to help her.

Liu Fengxia was taken aback, her smile vanished instantly, and she sat back down without saying another word.

“Put-put-put,” the tractor was going very fast. Su Cen and Tang Qiuyue were okay because they were sitting in the front and had windows to block the view, but everyone else in the back was in trouble. Except for Lin Jiajia, who had wrapped a cloth around her head beforehand, everyone else had a mouthful of dirt.

“Ptooey… ptooey… ptooey…”

The sound of dust being spit out echoed from the back of the truck.

Midway through, Su Cen looked at Tang Qiuyue and saw her frowning with her eyes closed. “Tang Zhiqing, are you alright?”

Tang Qiuyue opened her eyes slightly, nodded weakly, and then closed them again.

Seeing this, Su Cen said no more.

I originally intended to keep my distance from these two, but I didn’t expect to be sitting with them now.

The tractor was too loud. At first, Su Cen wanted to chat with Wang Jianguo, but neither of them could hear what the other was saying. All they could hear was the tractor’s thumping sound. So they simply shut up and quietly looked ahead, occasionally glancing at Tang Qiuyue beside them.

On the way, Su Cen pondered how to separate herself from the others, otherwise her location would be easily exposed. Ideally, she would build her own small house and surround it with a wall.

There’s also the matter of earning work points in the fields. Neither Su Cen in the modern era nor the original owner of this body had ever done farm work, so they needed to think about whether there was a way to avoid going to the fields.

After a bumpy ride of more than an hour, we finally saw a cluster of mud-brick houses, among which three brick and tile houses looked quite impressive.

Along the way, villagers carrying hoes and baskets passed by, and greeted Wang Jianguo warmly when they saw him.

“Jianguo, is this a new educated youth?”

“Captain, are you bringing educated youth back to the team again?”

It was only then that the new educated youth realized that Wang Jianguo was the captain of the Red Flag Brigade.

As Wang Jianguo parked the car, he loudly replied, “Yes, the new educated youth who came this year will be settling down in our team from now on!”

Upon hearing this, the villagers stopped and gathered around the tractor to examine it, chattering amongst themselves with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.

“Hey, the educated youth who came this time look so delicate and tender. Can they handle a hoe and do farm work?”

“That’s right. Look at that girl in the polyester dress. She’s so thin, her face turns pale just sitting in the car. She’ll probably have trouble even watering the fields. Our team will have to help her out then.”

“And that guy with the black-rimmed glasses, he looks so quiet and nerdy, what kind of work can he do?”

“There are also some who look more sturdy. Look at that tall young man, he looks like he’s got the work to do.”

“Alright, alright, everyone disperse!” Wang Jianguo jumped off the car, waved his hand, and said to the crowd, “Carry your luggage, I’ll take you to the educated youth compound.”

One by one, they climbed down, covered in dust and dirt. Su Cen helped Tang Qiuyue out of the car as well.

As soon as Yan Mingyuan got out of the car, he walked in their direction. “Thank you for your help, Su Zhiqing.”

He then went to help Tang Qiuyue.

The captain led the group to a courtyard.

“Zhao, someone from your educated youth compound has come!”

A square-faced male educated youth came out, greeted Wang Jianguo with a smile, and said respectfully, “Captain, you’re back! Thank you for coming all this way to bring the new educated youth back.”

Then, speaking sincerely to everyone, he said, “Hello everyone, my name is Zhao Gang, and I’m in charge of our educated youth settlement. If you have any difficulties or questions in the future, feel free to come to me, and I’ll definitely help if I can!”

As he spoke, he led everyone into the courtyard.

Su Cen deliberately lagged behind, quietly approached Wang Jianguo, and asked in a low voice, “Uncle Captain, there’s something I want to ask you. Can educated youth build their own houses?”

Wang Jianguo stroked his chin. “Sure, some educated youth have built their own houses before, but it was agreed beforehand that if they returned to the city, the houses would belong to the brigade.”

Suddenly, I remembered, “There’s an old educated youth who went back to the city. He built his own house and even put up a wall around it. It’s really well-built. If you want to build one, you might as well buy one of these ready-made ones.”

Su Cen’s eyes lit up. It was like a pillow being delivered to someone who was sleepy, saving her the trouble of covering herself with a blanket.

“Captain, you’re such a kind person! How much is this house? Let me see if I can buy it!”

“We’ll get this number!”

Wang Jianguo held up a “nine” with his hand, “Ninety yuan!”

It’s definitely not cheap; no wonder it’s still empty.

Su Cen pretended to hesitate for a moment, feigning thought, then gritted her teeth and said, “Fine! Ninety it is, I’ll buy the house. What procedures are required?”

“Cash is required. Come with me to the brigade later to get a receipt, and I’ll stamp it with the brigade’s seal. Then the house is yours to live in, and as long as you don’t go back to the city, you can do whatever you want with it.”

The educated youth in front were all listening to Zhao Gang introduce the educated youth compound, and no one noticed that Su Cen, who was lagging behind, had quietly reserved a room of her own.

Zhao Gang pointed to the rooms on both sides and said to everyone, “These are large communal sleeping areas. The male educated youth will live on the east side, and the female educated youth will live on the west side. You can choose any empty beds you like.”

In the room where the female educated youth lived, there were two rows of beds facing each other. One row was already full, and the other row was empty.