Chapter 15 Signing up for the rural assignment: My sister is determined to venture into northern Shaanxi.

After completing her final check-up at the hospital, Bai Nuo solemnly said goodbye to the young police officer who was taking care of her and left the hospital.

The medical expenses for the past three days have been paid in advance by the deputy director of the police station. Although she has money in her personal space, she doesn't have a single penny on the surface, so she can only repay the money when she goes to thank him later.

Bai Nuo refused Xiao Wang's offer to take her home and strolled slowly alone on the streets of Shanghai in the 1970s.

These past few days, when I secretly ran away from the hospital, I was always in a rush, never having a moment to spare, and I really didn't get to see the world properly.

This parallel universe's Shanghai in the 1970s is very similar to the old Shanghai she saw in a documentary in her previous life.

It was still early, and many people wearing white shirts and black trousers were riding bicycles to work. The roads were clean and wide, there were few private cars, the buildings were old, and there were many old buildings with a strong Western style.

Occasionally, you can see billboards for Shanghai brands along the way. The residential areas are mostly old two- or three-story buildings, and you can clearly see the traces of renovation on the streets. Occasionally, a tram will pass by. All of this is new to Bai Nuo, whose brain has been damaged for sixteen years and whose memories are mostly from her previous life.

Most importantly, the place is filled with an atmosphere of peace, without the stench of zombies, the messy streets, or the mutated plants and animals that might suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Stability and peace were what she longed for most in her past life.

After wandering around for a while, Bai Nuo asked someone for directions and then headed straight to the street's educated youth office.

She can take her time to enjoy the sights of Shanghai. Anyway, she expects to live here for many years to come, until her grandmother or older brother contacts her. So there's no rush. She needs to deal with the last bit of trash first.

"Hello comrade, my name is Bai Nuo. My great-aunt asked me to come and register my cousin for the rural service program." As he spoke, he handed over the page of the old Ma family's household registration book with Ma Xiaomei's name on it.

In 1972, during the period of mass migration to the countryside, management was not very strict. It was not necessary for the person or their parents to come in person; all they needed to do was bring their household registration book.

Those members of the Ma family who went in will almost certainly be sent to labor camps, where they won't be able to get out for decades. No, it's more like they won't be able to get out alive.

Of the remaining elderly woman and two children, the elderly woman was terrified and went crazy, taking the crippled Ma Fubao back to the countryside, leaving only Ma Xiaomei.

Although the Ma family favored sons over daughters, they treated Ma Xiaomei, their only granddaughter, quite well. After all, they had two other granddaughters, and the housework was mostly done by those two girls. So, Ma Xiaomei could be said to have been spoiled growing up. Although she herself might not have realized it, she had basically never done any work, and there was nothing to blame her for, so they simply sent her to the countryside.

It can be considered that she kindly left the Ma family with a healthy only son.

Thinking about it that way, she's such a great person!

The registration process was quick. After completing the registration, the staff glanced at the young girl in front of them and asked, "Do your grandmother and cousin have any requirements? The current rural resettlement policy is quite lenient, especially for families like yours that voluntarily choose to go to the countryside. They can even give you priority in selecting the rural areas they are assigned to, but they cannot be from the same province."

"Really? That's wonderful!" Bai Nuo looked at the staff member with delight and said firmly, "My grandma always felt that my cousin was spoiled too much and always wanted to rely on her family for a better life. How can that be allowed? As children of the new era, the first thing we must learn is to be like our predecessors, like Comrade, and have the spirit of hard work and perseverance. Our great leader once said that we must dare to fight and dare to win. All the mentality of relying on convenience and luck to win without our own hard work, bloodshed, and sweat must be eradicated. So..."

Look, she definitely didn't spend her time looking at the system tablet these past two days for nothing; she's almost convinced herself.

Bai Nuo continued firmly as the other person stared in disbelief and a hint of pride, "So we must sign my cousin up to go to the most difficult place in the countryside. My grandma's whole family thinks that Yushi, a revolutionary old area in northern Shaanxi, is a good choice. What do you think?"

She had the system check this place before she entered, and it was sure to bring Ma Xiaomei many pleasant surprises.

The staff in the educated youth office gasped in shock.

"...That's quite a coincidence!"

Living conditions in the old revolutionary base area of ​​northern Shaanxi were extremely harsh. The highest annual income of rural farmers was no more than forty yuan. Especially after the three-year famine, people in many places had great difficulty surviving. Since the establishment of educated youth settlements there a few years ago, it can definitely be called the place where educated youth suffered the most.

In previous years, whenever a sent-down youth was assigned to go there, the area within a five-mile radius of the sent-down youth office would be filled with wailing and crying. Who would have thought that someone would volunteer to go today?

Although my cousin registered me on her behalf, it was still my own initiative, since my whole family agreed.

"Alright, I'll finalize Comrade Ma Xiaomei's assignment in the countryside right away." With that, he wrote down the assignment on the application form.

These are all performance targets; hesitating for even a second is irresponsible towards one's job.

"By the way, there is a subsidy for educated youth who sign up to go to the countryside. The travel allowance is 20 yuan for crossing provinces and 40 yuan for crossing major provinces. It is a little different in northern Shaanxi, so it is 50 yuan."

Moreover, northern Shaanxi is located on the Loess Plateau, where winters are dry and cold. Therefore, each person was given an additional set of cotton-padded clothes and a cotton-padded quilt, which was equivalent to 60 feet of cloth coupons and 5.5 kilograms of cotton.

Finally, there's a living allowance: 10 yuan per month for the first year in the countryside, and 5 yuan per month for the second year, for a total of two years. Also, staff will deliver your train ticket to your door the day before departure.

After speaking, the comrades from the educated youth office took out a detailed notice form for Bai Nuo to see. This was all normal procedure, so that no one would say that the educated youth office was not reliable. In more serious cases, they might even say that the educated youth office was embezzling educated youth resources. Such things had happened before, so now whenever they are not busy, they will explain it clearly to the educated youth who come to register. When they are busy, they will just post the form on the wall for them to see.

Bai Nuo stared silently at the notice, her lips slightly pursed.

Therefore, she couldn't take all of Ma Xiaomei's educated youth subsidies, since those subsidies could only be paid out after she went to the countryside.

Forget it, let's try to be good people again and not push them to the brink.

"Thank you so much, comrade. I never expected to receive such great care and support from our country when I went to the countryside as an educated youth. I am so fortunate. I will take my cousin's other subsidies back first. While there are still a few days left, I will ask my grandma and the others to prepare her things for going to the countryside."

"Alright!" The comrade from the educated youth office nodded readily, turned around and took out a rural subsidy from the cabinet.

"Wait, your name is Bai Nuo?"

The other woman who hadn't spoken looked at Bai Nuo with a puzzled expression, then quickly flipped through the documents in her hand and asked, "Do you live at No. 309, Building 2, Machinery Factory Family Compound, Taiping Lane?"