Starting a new chapter in life

The biggest difference between the trains she had ridden in her previous life and the ones she had ridden on was that ordinary trains were noisy and chaotic, while military trains were much quieter. Even when people were talking, they didn't speak too loudly, and the environment was much better.

Jingyan and Sister Liu took turns sitting by the window to make it easier to sleep. When they arrived at Harbin Station, apart from a slightly stiff back, they were fine, and at least they had gotten enough sleep.

Following the announcement, everyone went down to the platform and exited the station one by one. Seeing that everyone was standing near the exit, they also found an empty spot to stand nearby. After a while, another military truck drove up. This time, the organizers did not follow the departmental requirements; they simply checked the number of people in each truck and left once it was full. Jingyan and the others squeezed onto a truck and continued standing for three hours until their legs ached. Finally, they arrived at their destination.

Everyone got off the vehicle and looked around. The soldiers continued to line up, while those on the fringes of logistics remained standing alone to the side. They walked in one direction with the flow of people. After about ten minutes, they arrived at their destination, a Russian-style building with soldiers standing guard at the gate. Inside the gate was a row of three-story red brick buildings. The leader shouted, "Logistics personnel, stay here in the square and wait. Regiments 1, 2, and 3, follow me!"

Squads of soldiers were led around the small building and inside. The remaining people in the square looked at each other in bewilderment. Then, squads of soldiers entered the gate again. Some were left behind, but most were taken away.

When Jingyan finally met Chef Lin and his group, they had been waiting in the square for over two hours. Apart from eating the dry rations they had brought, no one dared to wander off. Chef Lin and his men directed the military vehicles to park in front of a bungalow on the side of the small building. Soldiers went in and out, carrying the canteen's utensils inside. Sister Liu tugged at Jingyan, and the four of them headed straight for Chef Lin.

Chef Lin turned around and saw them, then smiled and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"It's been more than two hours. Is this going to be the cafeteria from now on?" Sister Liu replied.

Chef Lin nodded: "The logistics staff, military leaders, and designers will all be working in this small building. Our canteen is over here, and the engineers are housed in the two rows of small buildings behind. The rest is none of our business, so don't ask around."

The group nodded obediently.

Chef Lin looked at Jingyan and the others: "Our work location will be here from now on. You can go and look around for a place to stay. Settle down your accommodation first. Jingyan, you can settle down here before the New Year and come to report for duty in the spring. The troops haven't all arrived yet, so we can manage for now."

Jingyan thanked Chef Lin and said goodbye to Sister Liu. Then she left the military base with her fourth sister and brother-in-law. As soon as she left, Jingyan asked passersby if there was a guesthouse nearby. Fortunately, the guesthouse was not far away, and it only took about 20 minutes to walk there. The three of them booked two rooms, put their luggage at the guesthouse, and then found a state-run restaurant to have a hearty meal before wandering around and looking around.

"Jingyan, where are we going to find a place to live?" Jinghuan looked at the unfamiliar city. Although there were many pedestrians, she was still apprehensive.

Jingyan hesitated for a moment, "Let's go back to the guesthouse. Instead of wandering around like headless flies, we might as well ask the receptionist directly. She's a local, so she'll definitely know more about things than we do."

When the group returned to the guesthouse, Jingyan took out a small tin box from her bag, opened it, and grabbed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies. These were the ones He Zhijun had bought for her as snacks. She told her fourth sister and brother-in-law to rest in the room first, and then went to the front desk.

These days, fewer people travel, especially in this remote city. The guesthouse didn't have many new guests. Two receptionists were sitting there knitting. Jingyan walked over and said with a smile, "Hello, comrades, can I ask you something? I'll treat you to some candy."

He handed over four or five White Rabbit candies. The two girls weren't really interested in talking to him, but they still answered him for the sake of the candies: "What do you want to ask?"

"Did you know that a new construction corps has arrived in our area?"

"I know, it's not far from here, only about a quarter of an hour's walk. We can't find out about things in the Production and Construction Corps. Don't get any funny ideas, they're cracking down on spies really hard right now." The girl in the pink dress warned with a cold look on her face.

Jing Yan quickly waved her hand: "I'm not asking about the Production and Construction Corps. I want to ask if anyone has a vacant house near the Corps? It would be best if I could rent a house there."

Don't get me wrong, I'm a military dependent. My husband works in the Production and Construction Corps, but he doesn't have a high rank, so he can't let me accompany him. I thought I'd come here myself so he'd have a home to go back to when he's on leave, and I can improve his meals a bit.

Hearing this, the receptionist's expression softened considerably. The woman in the pink dress thought for a moment and said, "I remember there are some vacant houses in Hongqi Community. My aunt works at that street office, and I think she mentioned it. I'll ask her when I get off work, and if the information is accurate, I'll let you know tomorrow."

Jingyan was pleasantly surprised, "Then thank you in advance. I'll treat you to canned food once I've settled in."

The girl smiled and said, "It's nothing, just something to ask."

Jingyan went back to her room and told Jinghuan about it. Jinghuan was very happy: "I didn't expect it to go so smoothly."

“No one can say for sure until the house is settled. We’ll have to consider the neighbors and the surrounding area. If the neighbors are nice, Jingyan will have someone to look after her. But if they’re all troublemakers or difficult people, then even if the house is great, we can’t rent it,” Peng Chunhai said.

"At least we have some news. As long as we can get in touch with the people at the neighborhood office, if this place doesn't work, we can try other places. It's better than us just wandering around in silence." Jing Yan was quite optimistic.

The next morning, the receptionist knocked on the door. When Jingyan opened the door, Jinghuan and his wife also heard the noise and came out. The receptionist was very efficient: "I went back and asked my aunt yesterday. The house my aunt mentioned is a two-bedroom, one-living-room bungalow with a large yard, a high brick wall, and an iron gate. It's very safe and private, so the rent is a bit expensive, five yuan a month. If you can accept that, go to the neighborhood office and find her. Her name is Gao Mei. If you think it's too expensive and want to negotiate, don't go. It'll save both of you trouble."

Jingyan nodded: "Thank you for your trouble. We'll go over after we've had breakfast. It's so early. Have you had breakfast yet? Would you like to have some together?"

The girl shook her head: "I ate at home before coming. You don't need to go too early. Just go around nine or ten o'clock. If you go too early, she won't have time to take you there."

Jing Yan smiled and thanked her, then thought for a moment and took out a can of food from the house: "Here, have this as a snack, don't be shy."

The little girl hesitated for a moment, then blushed as she accepted the can of food: "Okay, okay, I'll take it. Don't forget, just come at nine or ten o'clock."

Watching the little girl leave, Jing Huan and his wife entered Jing Yan's room: "Shall we go and take a look together later?"

Jingyan nodded: "Let's go to the state-run restaurant for breakfast first, and then we'll wander around the neighborhood to see where the post office, supply and marketing cooperative, and vegetable market are. We'll go there when it's almost time."

After tidying up, the group went out and greeted the young lady at the front desk. The breakfast at the state-run restaurant was also very lively. Each person ordered two fried dough sticks and a bowl of tofu pudding. The side dishes on the table were served by themselves, which was delicious and affordable.

After finishing breakfast and asking for directions to Hongqi Community, the group arrived. Jinghuan checked her watch; it was exactly nine o'clock. She waved her wrist at Jingyan and asked, "Shall we go in now?"

Jing Yan nodded and led the way into the subdistrict office. As soon as she entered, she saw someone and quickly asked, "Comrade, do you know which office Gao Mei is in?"

The man glanced at her and casually pointed in a direction: "The second door on the right, just go in and ask."

"Thank you!"

Following the instructions, I arrived at the office door and knocked on the open door: "Excuse me, is Comrade Gao Mei here?"

A woman in her forties looked up at the doorway: "I am... and you are..."

"I'm currently staying at a guesthouse. My surname is Zhang."

Gao Mei suddenly realized: "You are the one my niece was talking about. Wait for me a moment, I'll take you to see the house right away."

After she finished speaking, she tidied up the documents in her hand, locked them in the drawer, put the key in her pocket, and took a bunch of keys from the wall behind her. "Let's go, I'll take you to see it."

The group followed her for only five or six minutes until they reached an intersection. The house was at the end of the road. Gao Mei unlocked the iron lock on the gate, pushed the door open, and entered the yard. The yard was quite large. Apart from the winding path paved with red bricks in the middle, there was soil on both sides. The tomato, cucumber, pepper, green bean, and other vegetable seedlings in the fields were living listlessly, and the weeds next to them were almost ankle-high.

Gao Mei smiled and said, "This house belongs to Aunt Chen, who lives two streets away. Originally, it was her son's family who lived there, but in May or June, her son's work unit allocated them housing, so they moved in directly. This yard has been abandoned. You can take a look at the vegetables in the yard later and eat whatever you can. Next year, we can plant more green vegetables in this yard, which will save a lot of money on buying vegetables."

As soon as she finished speaking, she arrived at the door. After rummaging around for a while, she found the key and opened the door. Inside was the living room, and to the right was a bedroom. The bedroom had a half-kang (a heated brick bed), about three meters wide. There was a fairly large empty space between the kang and the wall. Jingyan estimated that it could fit a wardrobe. The room had glass windows, and the sunlight streaming in made it very bright. The curtains were light green, and Jingyan was very satisfied with the color.

Walking inside, past the living room, on the left is another bedroom. Inside, there's nothing but a desk. Oh, the windows and curtains are still there. On the right is the kitchen, where you can light a fire. Sister Gao pointed to the wall next to the stove and said with a smile, "This whole wall is a fire wall, connected to the kang (heated brick bed) in the bedroom, and there are radiators for heating in the living room. When this fire is lit, the whole house is warm."

"Where are the coal and firewood stored? Where do we buy them? And where are the wells and toilets?" Jingyan asked.

"The main gate is the front door, and this is the back door. See how it is? There's a small backyard. The ground is all paved with cement. The row of buildings along the side of the backyard are the storage rooms. The right-hand storage room is where we store coal. Every year when we buy coal, we can drive in from the back alley and unload it directly into the coal pile—very convenient. On the left side, you can put some ceramic jars or earthenware pots here. In winter, you can store chicken, duck, fish, or meat there; it won't easily get eaten by rats."

As for coal and firewood, since you're renting a place and your food ration isn't here, you probably can't buy the affordable coal. Every year, in addition to the affordable coal ration per person, we also have high-priced coal. Affordable coal costs eight yuan per ton, with a limit of two tons per person, while high-priced coal costs ten yuan per ton, which is unlimited and you can buy as much as you want.

We buy firewood from the soybean stalks of the farmers in the production brigade. It costs about ten yuan, which is enough for my family to start a fire for the whole winter. We can also negotiate to buy scrap wood, bark, and sawdust from some carpenters. A sack costs between fifty cents and one yuan. You have to find connections to buy these yourself. If you want to buy some, I'll call you when my family goes to buy some. You can come with me. Once you get to know the area in the first year, you can go to buy them yourself after that.

As for water, we now have running water here. Look, the tap just needs to be turned on to get water. It's all groundwater, and the water is so refreshing in the summer. But we have to be careful in the winter. No matter if anyone is home, we have to burn a coal stove every day, otherwise the water pipes will freeze in the cold weather.

"The toilets are all outside, public toilets. Just go out the door, walk to the right to the end, then look to the left. It's not far. Don't go out at night. Keep a spittoon at home and empty it in the morning." Gao Mei explained very clearly.

"Can we just buy firewood and stuff like that freely?" Jinghuan asked curiously. In this era of distribution according to work, aren't these kinds of transactions investigated?

"Of course we don't openly say we're buying it. We usually say that someone's relative has some firewood that they're sending over, and the person who wants it can exchange it for some grain or something. But actually, exchanging it is just a pretext; nothing is as real as cash or coupons. But who wants to use coupons for those things? So we just give money. If the people don't complain, the officials won't investigate. That's how we've always done it. You and I know this, but don't go around telling everyone. If they ever find out about it, I won't admit it," Gao Mei instructed.

Jing Yan nodded repeatedly: "Don't worry, Sister Gao. I don't know how many more years I'll be staying here. How could I cut off my own escape route? Don't worry."

"I've seen this house, what do you think?"

"Sister Gao, what do those neighbors on the left and right do?" Jing Yan asked with a smile.

"This area is a government family housing area. It was built uniformly back then. Most of the people who live here work in party and government organs. Even if the people living here don't, their parents must be. There isn't much interaction between neighbors, but there aren't any shady people here."