After my stepmother was shot, I took my brothers to the countryside

Shen Nian took Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle and strolled slowly back to the Youth League Home. As soon as they reached the door, they heard a sound coming from inside.

"Oh, the new educated youth who arrived this time are all rich people. There are so many boxes alone."

When Shen Nian, Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle walked into the Youth League Home, the voice suddenly stopped.

In the yard, several young men were sitting together. When they saw Shen Nian and the other two come in, they all stared at them.

"You are also new educated youth, right? Welcome, welcome!" A young man with a dark face stood up.

Shen Nian smiled politely and nodded: "Thank you, my name is Shen Nian, and these are my brothers Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle."

The young man also introduced himself: "My name is Li Ping. They are also educated youth from our area, Wang Ju and Liu Yang." He pointed at the other two young men and introduced them.

Shen Nian smiled and nodded. She could feel the eyes of Li Ping and the others moving over the three of them. She knew in her heart that they were probably curious about how she brought her two younger brothers to the countryside.

Wang Ju smiled and greeted Shen Nian and the other two. Liu Yang, a taciturn young man, looked at them and nodded as a greeting.

After saying hello, Shen Nian told the two brothers Shen Nian'an to go play by themselves and not to go too far, then returned to the room to continue making the bed. Ye Jiaojiao was lying on the bed catching up on her sleep. When she saw Shen Nian come in, she asked, "Niannian, where have you been?"

Shen Nian sat on the bed: "I went to the captain's house."

Ye Jiaojiao yawned and sat up: "I was shocked on the way here today. I don't know if I can adapt to life here."

Shen Nian patted Ye Jiaojiao's shoulder gently: "You can only adapt slowly."

As the two were chatting, Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle ran in, their faces flushed, and they shouted excitedly, "Sister, we found a fun place!"

Shen Nian raised his head and looked seriously at the Shen Nian'an brothers who ran in: "Xiao An, Xiao Le, this is the girls' room. You two are boys, you are not allowed to come in without permission!"

Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle lowered their heads in disappointment.

Shen Nian shook her head secretly. Forget it. No one taught them in that situation before. She would teach them slowly in the future.

Ye Jiaojiao patted Shen Nian lightly and asked them with a smile: "What interesting places did you find?"

Shen Nian'an glanced at Shen Nian before saying, "There's a river behind the village. The water is clear and there are lots of small fish!"

Shen Nianle also nodded in agreement: "Yes! And there are many beautiful wild flowers by the river."

Shen Nian and Ye Jiaojiao looked at each other and laughed. Shen Nian stood up and said, "Then let's go take a look together this afternoon. But you must be careful and don't run too far."

After hearing what Shen Nian said, the Shen Nianan brothers ran out.

After Shen Nian finished making the bed and tidying up the luggage, he stood up and prepared to go to the kitchen to make something to eat for the two brothers. On the way here today, they all filled their stomachs with the food they had bought before.

She walked into the kitchen and saw two female educated youth cooking.

"You must be the new educated youth. My name is Zhao Xue and her name is Zhou Xiaoli." Zhao Xue looked at Shen Nian.

Shen Nian smiled and nodded: "Hello, my name is Shen Nian."

"Are you here to cook? You just arrived at noon today, and we will eat together. Now you can go and call them to eat." Zhou Xiaoli also raised her head and looked at Shen Nian.

Upon hearing this, Shen Nian turned around and went out to shout. After everyone was seated in the main room, they first introduced themselves. Except for Shi Zhiqing who was in the backyard, all the other educated youth were there. Shen Nian also knew which educated youth were in the Youth League. There were currently eight female educated youth and seven male educated youth including her two younger brothers.

After introducing each other, Zhou Xiaoli started to make porridge. Shen Nian looked at the corn porridge in his hand without saying a word.

She didn't say anything, but Ye Jiaojiao couldn't help but ask: "Is this what they eat every day here?"

Zhao Xue nodded. "Yes, although we have abundant grain production here, we mostly eat these coarse grains. But it's good to have these to eat. I heard from others that in some places people still can't get enough to eat and some people are starving."

Shen Nian felt a pang of depression after hearing what Zhao Xue said. She knew that living conditions were not good at that time, but after experiencing it herself, she found that the actual situation was even more difficult than she had expected.

She looked at the corn porridge in her hand, then looked at Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle. The two younger brothers were talking excitedly about the small river they had just discovered. Children really have no worries as long as they have enough food and clothes.

At this time, Zhou Xiaoli said, "You are all new here. Today, I will explain the rules of the Youth League. We usually cook separately. You can join us or cook on your own. You have to queue up to use the stove. We exchange our food for work points. If you want to cook, you need to go to the team to buy food first. We also collect firewood in the mountains. You can go to the back mountain to collect firewood. Whoever uses it in the past few days must return it. We also grow vegetables in the backyard. If you want to eat, you need to exchange them."

After hearing what Zhou Xiaoli said, Shen Nian and the others had no objection and nodded to show their understanding.

"We will lend you the food for lunch today. Please return it to us after you buy it." Zhou Xiaoli continued.

Zhang Qiang said from the side: "You just arrived, if you don't understand anything, you can ask us."

After dinner, Ye Jiaojiao asked Shen Nian, "Niannian, do you want to cook with us?"

Shen Nian shook his head: "I'm not planning on living together. I'm planning on building a house. Xiao An and Xiao Le aren't considered educated youth, so it's not good to always live in the educated youth compound."

"Build a house?" Ye Jiaojiao was surprised.

"We still have to wait for the captain's letter. I don't know if it will work."

"Why can't it be done?"

"I want to build a bigger one. Xiaoan and Xiaole are already eight years old, and it's not convenient for them to share a room." Shen Nian lay down on the bed.

"Can it have a yard? I want to build one too. I don't feel used to living here. It doesn't need to be too big, just like the small house at the back." Ye Jiaojiao looked at the room outside the window.

"You can ask the captain."

"Don't ask now. I'll wait until your house is built and then ask." Ye Jiaojiao also lay down on the bed.

In the afternoon, Shen Nian and Ye Jiaojiao followed Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle to the riverside behind the mountain. It was just as Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle said, the river water was clear, and there were small fish swimming in the water.

The two brothers excitedly ran to the river and started catching small fish, while Shen Nian and Ye Jiaojiao sat leisurely by the river, admiring the peaceful and beautiful countryside scenery.

"It's really beautiful here." Ye Jiaojiao exclaimed.

"Yes, this kind of peaceful and simple lifestyle is not available in the city." Shen Nian, who was used to the fast-paced life in later generations, enjoyed the slow-paced life now. It was so comfortable not having to worry about money!

As they were chatting, Shen Nian noticed a clump of green weeds by the river. She walked closer and saw that it was a wild vegetable called "water celery."

"Niannian, what are you looking at?" Ye Jiaojiao came over curiously.

Shen Nian bent down and reached out to pick one: "This is called water celery, a wild vegetable that can be fried and eaten." Shen Nian decided to get some water celery back and fry it in the evening.

The two brothers ran to Shen Nian and Ye Jiaojiao: "Sister, what are you doing?" Shen Nianle asked.

"This is water celery, a wild vegetable. I'll get some and fry it for you to try in the evening." They still had to go to the village to buy food. After picking the water celery, Shen Nian took a few people back to the Youth League Home.

"Shen Zhiqing, Ye Zhiqing, where have you been?" I met Zhou Xiaoli as soon as I arrived at the Zhiqing Home.

"We went to the river to play and picked some wild vegetables." Shen Nian held up the wild vegetables in his hand and answered with a smile.

"This thing can really be eaten after stir-frying. It's even more delicious when stir-fried with meat." Zhao Xueqin said, swallowing unconsciously: "You talk about it and I'm a little bit craving it."

Shen Nian smiled and said, "There are still a lot of them by the river. You can go pick some and bring them back. We'll go in first. We still need to go buy food from the team later."

The three Shen Nian siblings, Ye Jiaojiao, Zhao Gaoxuan, Wu Xiaolan and her sister, and Zhao Guohao all went to the team leader's house. The team leader was not at home, but his wife was. She warmly invited them in and asked, "Are you the new educated youth who arrived today? What's the matter with you coming to see the team leader?"

Zhao Guohao explained: "We came here to ask if we can buy some food from the team."

The captain's wife nodded. "That's no problem, but the autumn harvest is coming up soon, and the team might not have much extra food. I can ask for you. How much do you want?"

"We just need to buy enough to last for a while." Zhao Gaoxuan said.

The captain's wife responded and shouted, "Li Dawa, go to your third uncle's house and see if he is at home." A boy of twelve or thirteen years old ran out.

The eldest? The second? Could there be a third? Should I have as many children as I want? Shen Nian pondered silently.

"Auntie, is there another third child?"

Huh? Wasn't that what I was thinking?

The captain's wife looked at Shen Nian in surprise: "Yes, there is also a third child. The third child is still young and has gone with her mother to stay at her grandmother's house for a few days."

Shen Nian smiled awkwardly. She was really just thinking about it!

While waiting, Shen Nian watched Ye Jiaojiao and others chatting with the captain's wife, and found some photos hanging on the wall of the captain's house.

One of the photos, which was a bit old, caught Shen Nian's attention. It was a group photo. Everyone in the photo was wearing military uniforms and looked very energetic.

"Is there anyone in my aunt's family serving in the army?" Ye Jiaojiao also saw the photo and asked.

The captain's wife smiled proudly when she heard this: "Yes, my second son is a soldier in the army, but the photo hanging on the wall is of your captain uncle when he was young with his comrades."

Shen Nian looked at the photos carefully and found that there were familiar faces in the group photos.

After chatting for a while, Li Dawa came back and said, "Grandma, Uncle San is at home."

The captain's wife took them to Accountant Li's house. After buying the food, they thanked the captain's wife and returned to the Youth League Home.

In the evening, the educated youth lined up to cook. Ye Jiaojiao and Zhao Gaoxuan cooked together. Shen Nian cooked some corn porridge, took out some of the oil he brought from home and added a few dried chilies to stir-fry water celery. After stir-frying, he gave some to Ye Jiaojiao.

Now is not the time to eat good food, it will easily make people jealous and cause unnecessary trouble.

Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle said nothing and asked nothing. They ate whatever his sister cooked. Just being with her was enough. They would praise her from time to time: "Sister, your cooking is really delicious."

The sky outside gradually darkened, and the faint light of the kerosene lamp illuminated the entire Youth League compound.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms. Kerosene lamps were expensive at that time, so no one was willing to use them all the time.

Shen Nian returned to the room and took out a flashlight, handing it to Shen Nian'an: "If you need to get up at night, ask him to come with you. Don't go alone."

"Hey, sister, we got it. Go back to sleep."