Time Travel: My Comfortable Life After Going to the Countryside

Zhang Tiejun: "Why are you taking so long? Hurry up and come over to sign. According to the rule of 70% labor and 30% work, each of you will receive 45 jin of grain per month. There are less than four months until the autumn harvest, so the team has decided to give you an advance of three and a half months' worth of grain."

"This decision is to allow you new educated youth to hold out until the grain distribution, but don't be lazy. Otherwise, if you don't have enough work points and no money to distribute, no one will care about you."

"After the grain is harvested, you must first repay the grain you have already paid. If you have more work points left, you will receive more grain. If you have fewer work points, you won't have enough to eat. If you become a household with less than enough grain, then congratulations, you will go hungry every day next year."

"Don't even think about having money and ration coupons to buy grain in the city. If you get caught for speculation, our brigade will absolutely not plead for you."

"Of course, as long as you work hard and do your job well, there will be no situation where you don't have food to eat. Even if you want to eat fine food, it is possible. As long as your work points are high, you will get money and fine food."

Liu Xiangyang knew things wouldn't be that easy. If fine grains were so easy to obtain, then there would be no need to buy grain with ration coupons.

Li Jianjun then said, "All the advance payments you received were for coarse grains. If you want to eat refined grains, it depends on how many work points you have left after the harvest. There won't even be enough coarse grains for you to eat, let alone refined grains."

Someone asked, "How many work points does Accountant Li need to buy fine grains? How much money will our commune receive for 1 work point at the end of the year?"

"It's different every year, depending on the grain harvest. Last year, our commune's standard was 800 work points. If you exceeded that, you could get money and fine grain. If you didn't reach 800 work points, you had to eat your own rations."

"You can exchange all your work points for fine grains, but you can only buy 20 jin of fine grains for every 100 jin of grains. That's a fixed rule."

"How many work points can you earn each day?"

Wang Lixin, the production team leader, then interjected, "That depends on yourselves. Strong men can earn 10 centimeters a day, and women can earn 6-8 work points a day. Of course, if you have skills and are willing to do dirty and tiring work that others are unwilling to do, you can get extra points. But you probably won't have that opportunity."

Seeing that everyone's expressions weren't very good, Wang Lixin added, "Of course, once you've completed your assigned tasks for the day, you can go and rest or help others."

Liu Xiangyang did the math: it would take more than three months, calculated as 100 days, to earn enough work points to exchange for money and fine grains each day, not to mention the three and a half months' worth of rations that the village had advanced.

I also need to make sure I can eat my fill and have the energy to work in the fields next year, which means I need at least ten work points every day.

I'm here to relax, but if I get ten work points a day, wouldn't that mean I have to work myself to death as a laborer?

They say you can rest once you finish, but do they really think the commune is stupid? If you finish quickly today, they'll definitely increase the tasks assigned to you tomorrow.

Zhang Tiejun: "Alright, I've explained everything to you. Now come over and sign to collect your grain."

Liu Xiangyang waited until everyone else had signed before going up to sign. After signing, he asked Zhang Tiejun and the other two, "Village Chief Zhang, Captain Wang, and Secretary Li, I heard that educated youth in our village can build their own houses, is that right? I'd like to build two small houses to live in."

Everyone stopped and looked at Liu Xiangyang when they heard this question, especially the two sisters, Leqi and Leyao. They had just had a fight with the old educated youth after being assigned to different bunks, and who knew how they would make things difficult for them later.

The three exchanged glances. Village Chief Zhang Tiejun said, "It's true. You can build whatever you want with your money, but there's one thing I have to tell you: the house is yours as long as you live here, but once you leave the village, it belongs to the village collective. Can you agree to that?"

Liu Xiangyang naturally agreed. He was there to relax and have nothing to lose, and he also had the secret of the cheat system. What if someone overheard him talking in his sleep at night?

Having so much stuff in my own space, having my own separate room, and being able to cook special meals for myself every day—that's exactly why I chose to go to the countryside.

When winter comes, you can heat the kang (heated brick bed) as hot as you want, and then sleep with a girl in your arms—how comfortable that would be!

After hearing what Village Chief Zhang Tiejun said, Liu Xiangyang immediately agreed.

The three leaders of Dongsheng Village discussed the matter in hushed tones. Village Chief Zhang Tiejun cleared his throat and said, "The village agrees to your request and allows you to build your own house. However, for the sake of management, the house cannot be too far from the educated youth settlement."

"Go back tonight and think carefully about what kind of house you want to build. I'll help you calculate how much it will cost in a few days. Also, think about other people who want to build their own houses tonight and come talk to me tomorrow."

"Once I'm done with this part, I'll fix it all for you at once."

Leqi and Leyao exchanged a glance, and the older sister, Leqi, stepped forward: "Village Chief Zhang, my sister and I also want to build our own houses. We wonder how much it would cost for two rooms."

"The difference is huge. It depends on what kind of house you want to build. It can cost anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars. There's a big difference in that."

"Go and collect your food now. Think it over carefully tonight, and come back to us when you've made up your mind."

Li Jianjun: "I have the warehouse key. Everyone, follow me. Take the grain and go back to cook early. You've all been out all day, so eat and rest early."

The group followed Li Jianjun to the warehouse, each received their own rations, and then headed towards the educated youth settlement.

Xie Zhiyong: "This is the village's communal stone mill. The rations we receive are all coarse grains and broken corn kernels, which can get stuck in your throat when you eat them. So if you have time tomorrow, you can come here to grind the grains a little finer."

"In our educated youth settlement, we all cooked together. Each person contributed only the amount of grain they needed to eat, and we took turns cooking. Cooking also used a lot of firewood, so everyone would gather some firewood when they had free time, otherwise we would all go hungry if we ran out of firewood while cooking."

Roland said, "Each person should keep their own food safe and prevent it from being stolen by mice. New students can make a cabinet to store their food."

When everyone returned to the educated youth settlement, the older educated youth had prepared a meal and were waiting for them.

Once the new educated youth had put away the grain, the older educated youth would call them to eat.

Liu Xiangyang didn't eat at the meal because the older educated youth disgusted him. They used moral blackmail again, saying that the older educated youth invited the new educated youth to dinner, but the new educated youth didn't know any manners and didn't share the good things they brought from home with their comrades.

They also said that the food and vegetables for dinner were provided by them, and that the new educated youth only knew how to take advantage and eat and drink for free. The new educated youth were young after all and didn't know how to refute it, so they all blushed.

As a time traveler, Liu Xiangyang wouldn't tolerate them. He immediately threw down his bowl, stood up, and pointed at the group of elderly educated youth, cursing them.

"Did we ask you to treat us to dinner? You invited us yourselves, calling it a welcome dinner. You're hypocritical and then blaming us."

"If you can't afford it, then don't invite them. We'll pay for the food today, no matter how much it costs. You're a bunch of disgraceful bastards."

"Comrade Liu Xiangyang, don't be angry. Everyone is tired today, and we've been waiting for you for a while. We're all starving and just complaining a bit. Don't take it to heart," Xie Zhiyong said.

"Stop, Team Leader Xie and Team Leader Luo. I thank you both for your help and for introducing us to the situation in the village, but I'm not a three-year-old child who can't understand good words and bad words. I will definitely not eat with you again."

After Liu Xiangyang finished speaking, he went back to his room, took out the steamed buns that his mother had brought him from his luggage, and ate them with pickled vegetables.