Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 305 Unlucky Female Educated Youth 5_1

Chapter 305: Chapter 305 Unlucky Female Educated Youth 5_1

Watching the three of them leave, Huang Lei realized she hadn’t even combed her hair or washed up, and she must look a mess right now.

"Forget it, he’s not my husband anyway, why should I care, I really don’t need to care."

With that thought, Huang Lei shrugged her shoulders, went to the sink, and started to wash up. As she did, she took a good look around.

What a sight, the endless fields that one can imagine will be rolling with waves of wheat come the harvest season.

The scenery is indeed beautiful, but the labor is truly hard, though fortunately, it’s a farm with mechanical harvesting.

They just have to redo the areas where the harvester didn’t clean up well, and if the weather isn’t good during the harvest, that’s a big problem.

Everyone would have to hurry into the fields to reap the harvest, and that’s when it’s really tiring, although it doesn’t happen very often.

After doing a set of stretches, Huang Lei washed her dirty clothes and hung them on a line.

From her observation just now, she was sure that no one would want to switch to this dormitory.

Wang Nan is willing to walk further to get here every day, but Fan Xiaofei and Zhao Aoran are likely to disagree, as their dormitories are over there, and they wouldn’t want to walk a long way to and from work every day.

And most importantly, she had seen that someone from their dorm was on the same train car with them, familiar with Wang Nan’s behavior—no one would want Wang Nan in this dormitory.

After putting out the laundry to dry, Huang Lei hung up the mosquito net that she hadn’t had time to deal with last night.

Here, a mosquito net is truly essential—in summer it prevents mosquitos, and during the rest of the year, it keeps stuff from falling from the roof.

Because she discovered that the roof here was actually thatched, not the tile roofs she had lived under in her previous life.

It was only then that she understood why, despite the same area, this house accommodated eight people—it wasn’t just because it was a longer walk to work, but because the houses here were old.

If she had to choose, she’d really rather stay in a house with a thatched roof, which is warm in winter and cool in summer. If she had to point out a downside, it would be that the roof needed to be repaired every year, and stuff often fell from it.

But in an era without air-conditioning, to be able to live in a house that’s warm in winter and cool in summer is truly a fortunate thing.

Soon, everyone was waking up, not because they didn’t want to sleep any longer, but because they were getting hungry.

When they awoke, they found a mosquito net had already been hung over Huang Lei’s bed. "Oh right, I need to hang my mosquito net too, or else the mosquitos..."

"I always feel like something is falling down." someone spoke up.

"That’s how it is with thatched roofs," Huang Lei said, pointing at the ceiling.

Ah, thatched roofs? Everyone was suddenly shocked. What’s going on here? They all looked up at the roof, and then they understood.

"I think it was my grandparents’ generation that lived in thatched houses," someone said, not very certain.

No matter what their family background was, they basically had never lived in thatched houses, and now, coming here as educated youth, to find themselves living in such houses was really surprising.

"But this house really is warm in winter and cool in summer," Huang Lei whispered, "I found it quite comfortable last night."

Due to the lack of time, they didn’t have the energy to look for mosquito nets and just closed the windows and went straight to sleep.

They had thought it would be very hot, but it turned out not to be too warm; they didn’t even dare to think whether they would need a blanket if they slept with the windows open.

That’s right, now that Huang Lei mentioned it, the other seven people in the dormitory also felt that the temperature wasn’t high.

Yawning, "It’s just that it’s a bit far from the canteen."

Carrying their luggage to the dormitory yesterday, they felt like they had walked for a long time and were indeed a bit tired.

"That’s right, come winter, we’ll have to run quite a distance just to get hot water, not to mention having meals."

"Exactly, especially in winter, hot water gets used up really quickly." You need hot water for washing your face, brushing your teeth, and all that. Without it, it’s all sorts of inconvenient.

"I just took a look around, and at the very front of this row of dorms, there’s an empty house with a stove inside, just no pot on top."

Huang Lei felt that the existence of a stove indicated that it had likely been used for cooking before, and there was probably a cast iron pot, but she wasn’t sure of the actual situation.

Ah, there’s such a house? Everyone rushed out to take a look, and alright, there was indeed such a house.

"But a stove without a pot is useless." Even though they were children back home, they all knew that buying things required coupons, let alone something as essential as an iron pot.

"Besides, who will do the cooking after a day’s work?" Someone asked the sharpest question.

Alright, even though Huang Lei knew how to cook, she wasn’t willing to do it after a whole day of work.

"Being able to boil water would be nice."

After a brief sigh, everyone went back to their rooms. Those who were organizing stuff did so, and those who were washing things, washed.

Huang Lei was on the bed, gesturing with some items, considering whether she should acquire a few things. Everyone watched her speak with conviction.

"Huang Lei, what are you doing?"

"I’m thinking, perhaps I should craft a cabinet so that clothes and such can be stored." Of course, some valuables could be put in there as well.

Even though there wasn’t much, there were still some things that needed to be stored safely.

A cabinet? Everyone looked at Huang Lei, puzzled. Beds were placed against all three walls, and there was a big table in the middle. There seemed to be no place for a cabinet.

"So I did some calculations, and I can make a cabinet to go on the outside of the bed."

"Aside from storing things, it can also block some of the view." Initially, she thought of putting it against the wall, but then it seemed better to have it this way. The cabinet could be made larger.

After listening to her, everyone thought it was a good suggestion. After all, money and ration coupons and the like couldn’t just be left out. It wasn’t practical to carry them all the time.

Everyone agreed that a cabinet should be made, "But where can we buy one?"

Huang Lei thought about it. Though the waste station was a decent place to look, it was still uncertain whether they could find one there.

Plus, Wang Nan knew that she was the only child of the Huang family and would definitely subsidize her in various ways, possibly even haggling over the money she had.

"I think there must be a carpenter around here," Huang Lei mused, "Since we’re going to have a meal, we might as well ask if there’s a carpenter."

A group of eight went to the cafeteria for lunch, and Huang Lei took the opportunity to ask where to find a carpenter while getting their food.

After having their meal, led by Huang Lei, they went to the carpenter’s home, stating their requirement, since they didn’t have any wood on hand.

Carpenter Tan quickly quoted a price, "A cabinet will be thirty yuan."

Everyone gasped at the price. It was really on par with one person’s monthly wage.

Keep in mind that their income as educated youths on the farm wasn’t even twenty a month, and after accounting for food, drink, and daily expenses, it was doubtful they’d have thirty left over by year’s end.

"I’ll need one." Huang Lei felt the price was a bit steep, but it would likely be used for a long time.

In the end, in a dormitory of eight, only three people decided to have a cabinet made, even though they knew it would be convenient to have one.

As they were leaving, Huang Lei noticed there were small wooden barrels around and bought one after asking the price.