Starting from 1950

When dinner time came, everyone was even more pleasantly surprised.

The group was taken to a simple but large canteen, where the food was slightly better than in Beijing, consisting of cornbread buns and potato stew with vermicelli.

Most importantly, each person received more than twice the amount of food in Beijing!

The cafeteria was noisy, with dozens of teenagers and some bulky adults crammed together.

Su Yang and Wu Xinxue got their food together, and since there weren't enough chairs, they simply found a corner to squat in and eat.

"Su Yang, have an extra steamed bun." Wu Xinxue smiled and gave Su Yang a steamed bun.

Su Yang rolled his eyes. "How could I possibly eat three? You eat them yourself."

Wu Xinxue didn't say anything more, but simply put the cornbread into her pocket.

Su Yang shook his head; this girl really loved Tibetan food.

Su Yang keenly noticed that apart from them, the rest of the group were all women, and all of them were of average or above-average appearance.

The women were also curious about these teenagers and kept looking at them.

Su Yang overheard their accents and, based on their conversation, deduced that these women were probably of the same background as them, all from brothels.

They were from Shanghai and arrived only half a day earlier than the others.

After the meal, many people were burping with satisfaction.

Some children even cried, saying that this was the first time in their lives they had known what it felt like to be full.

After finishing their meal, everyone rinsed their lunchboxes and were taken back to their dormitories.

After eating and drinking their fill, the group of teenagers, no longer feeling the cold, sneaked out into the yard to have a snowball fight.

The comrade in charge, who had been very serious with everyone when they first arrived, did not reprimand them. Instead, he stood at the door with Li Weixin and the other two, smoking and chatting idly with smiles.

Su Yang and Wu Xinxue did not join the snowball fight; they simply stood together at the dormitory entrance.

"Su Yang, come here!" Li Weixin suddenly waved to him.

Su Yang, puzzled, quickly walked over.

Li Weixin patted Su Yang on the shoulder, then smiled at Zhao Laochu and said, "Brother Zhao, there's something I have to tell you. Su Yang is quite something. On the way here, he..."

He recounted how Su Yang seized a gun and killed a bad element on the train.

"Heh! Looks like you've got some talent!" Old Zhao, puffing on his pipe, looked Su Yang up and down, clicking his tongue in amazement. "You're as pretty as a girl. You really can't judge a book by its cover."

"You flatter me," Su Yang replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Li Weixin then asked, "Su Yang, what was the name of that girl you were with again?"

Su Yang was taken aback, but then quickly realized that Li Weixin was trying to take care of the two of them. Wang Cui must have spoken to him first, so he quickly replied, "Her name is Wu Xinxue."

Li Weixin nodded and smiled at Zhao Laochu, "Brother, these two kids are both good kids. Could you please show them some consideration within the bounds of propriety?"

"Hey! This is nothing!" Old Zhao waved his hand dismissively.

"Thanks, brother," Li Weixin said.

Su Yang quickly thanked him, "Thank you!"

......

Li Weixin and the others did not stay in the shelter for long. Not long after finishing their meal, they went to the train station and boarded the train back home.

Su Yang and his group of 47 teenagers were completely handed over to the Tiexi District No. 3 Detention Center.

Silent all night.

The next morning, before dawn, a sharp whistle shattered the silence of the dormitory area.

"Get up! Assemble! Everyone, get up and shovel snow!"

Everyone was jolted awake and began frantically getting dressed.

Last night after dinner, someone brought over even thicker cotton-padded clothes, cotton-padded shoes, and cotton-padded hats.

At night, someone was even on duty to add firewood to the kang (heated brick bed) where everyone slept. After two days of train travel, everyone was exhausted and slept comfortably all night without any problem sleeping in the same bed.

Once everyone was bundled up and lined up in the yard, Old Zhao said with a stern face, "It took you a whole quarter of an hour to get up! If this were a battlefield, I would have shot you long ago!"

The room fell silent; no one dared to object.

Many people tightened the collars of their cotton-padded coats. Although Beijing, like Shenzhou, is located in the north, it is far colder.

The women from Shanghai covered their heads completely with train engine hats.

"Remember to be quicker next time," Old Zhao said, not dwelling on the issue, but pointing to the pile of tools beside him. "Today's pre-dinner task is to clear the snow from our yard and the road from the gate. We'll eat when we finish!"

"Let's begin!"

At his command, everyone sprang into action.

Su Yang handed Wu Xinxue a broom and then picked up a shovel for himself.

He got a feel for the shovel as soon as he picked it up, much like the feeling of getting a gun on a train.

He muttered to himself, "In the game, hunters can use bows, crossbows, guns, axes, daggers, gauntlets, swords, staves, and polearms. Could this shovel count as a polearm?"

Su Yang pondered in his mind, but his hands never stopped. The shovel felt light and weightless in his hands as he shoveled the snow quickly, and soon he had cleared a snowdrift.

"Good lad, you're a good worker." Old Zhao, the foreman, praised with a smile.

After cleaning the yard, the boys lined up with shovels and started shoveling from the gate toward the main road, while the girls and women swept behind them with brooms.

The shelter's yard wasn't big, and the entrance wasn't far from the main road; all that was needed was to clear a three-meter-wide path.

Su Yang surged ahead, quickly leaving the others far behind.

The boys, who were at the age where they cared a lot about their reputation, were all indignant at the sight of Su Yang. No one slacked off; they all put in their best effort to catch up with him.

Although they ultimately failed to catch up, they significantly accelerated the work progress.

In the end, the task was completed in just over half an hour.

The boys were panting heavily, their cotton-padded coats even getting wet on their backs. In contrast, Su Yang was only slightly out of breath, and even after shoveling the snow, he still had the energy to help Wu Xinxue and her group of girls clean up.

"Not bad, not bad, you finished really fast." After finishing sweeping, Old Zhao first gave Su Yang an approving look, then called out to everyone, "Let's all go to the cafeteria for lunch!"

Everyone lined up at the cafeteria to get their meals, which were the same as the previous night.

Su Yang and Wu Xinxue had just finished getting their food when they saw Old Zhao waving at them with his lunchbox in hand.

"Su Yang, Wu Xinxue, come to my office!"

Upon hearing this, the two followed him into the house.

Old Zhao's office was simply furnished with a desk and chair, two benches, and a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

"You two sit down first, eat your food before it gets cold."

Zhao Laochu and Chong waved their hands and sat down behind their desks, eating while flipping through their notebooks.

Su Yang and Wu Xinxue exchanged a glance, then sat down on a bench and slowly ate their meal.

Old Zhao rummaged through the books for a while, finally finding the two men's basic information in the handover book Li Weixin had given him the night before. With his mouth full of food, he mumbled something indistinctly:

"Wu Xinxue, you're 16 years old? And Su Yang, are you 14?"