Chapter 231: The Conditions for Joining the Young Scouts

The Young Scouts gave their leader plenty of face. At her wave, they parted like flowing water, stepping aside to stand behind her.

The other children watching could only grow more envious.

Yan Yu got straight to the point: “If you want to join us, it’s not impossible—but there are a few things you need to listen to carefully.

The Young Scouts aren’t playing some random kids’ game. We’re disciplined, and we have our own code to follow. You probably already know, when necessary, we arm ourselves and fight just like the adults.

Even when we’re not busy, we never lower our standards. We help out during the busy farming seasons, but the rest of the time is all training—and the training is tough. Whether you can stick with it, you’d better think that through first.”

“And another thing. When there’s an emergency and the village needs us, the Young Scouts charge in. No one’s allowed to shrink back. That’s the whole point of our training—to always be ready to head straight for the battlefield!”

Yan Lao’er: …

He crouched nearby, listening out of curiosity to what his daughter was telling the kids. He’d always wondered what it was that made her so admired, how she’d captured the hearts of all the children in the village, all following her lead.

Now that he heard it for himself—well, it really was something else.

His daughter had a real knack for brainwashing. She wasn’t treating these kids like kids at all—she was treating them like soldiers!

Look at this rhetoric: “When the village needs us,” “no shrinking from battle,” *“always ready to head for the battlefield”…

If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were about to go to war.

It was downright absurd!

Though… considering the situation in Guanzhou, maybe the training wasn’t such a bad idea. Raising soldiers from a young age… tsk tsk!

Yan Yu kept going. “First, you need permission from your parents. Once you join us, you won’t have much time to help out at home.

More importantly, all income earned by the Young Scouts is managed collectively. It’s considered military funds—we don’t hand it out casually. We have our own military merit system. I won’t go into detail now, since you’re not part of the Young Scouts yet.”

Yan Lao’er: Learned something new again. Listen to how his daughter dressed that up. Clearly, she just hadn’t figured out how to distribute the money, but the way she put it? It elevated the entire image of the Young Scouts.

“Second, you can’t just join the Young Scouts because you feel like it. You have to pass our test first. Until then, you’re just reserves—which means you haven’t earned our full trust yet.

The criteria are simple. We judge by character. If you’re timid, you can train. If you’re weak, you can train. If you don’t know something, you can learn. But if you’ve got a bad heart, then that’s it—we don’t want bad kids with us, period.”

Yan Lao’er: That’s… surprisingly reasonable.

“Third, even if you do join, you can still get kicked out. So you’d better think it through. If you can’t follow orders, don’t bother coming.”

With that rapid-fire speech, Yan Yu turned and marched off with the Young Scouts in tow.

Kicking people out would be a waste of time—better to just move the base and leave them behind.

Yan Lao’er and the other kids were among the abandoned.

He stood up, patted the dust off himself, grabbed his little square table, and leisurely made his way back home.

As soon as he got to the courtyard, he went looking for his wife. Face glowing with pride, he reenacted for her the “meeting” his daughter had just held with the Young Scouts.

The two of them holed up in their room—one playing it out, the other watching.

Li Xuemei listened with a bright smile, chiming in now and then with a “Then what?” “Really?” “Is that so?”

Yan Lao’er got even more into it.

Back with Yan Yu, things were serious.

She first explained to her team why they needed to bring in new members.

“The village has grown. There are more people now. If we don’t accept them, it’ll lead to conflict over time. For now, it’s just kid squabbles, but once we get older, it could turn into bigger problems. That’s not good.

Besides, more people means more hands. This time, we earned 217 wen. With more people, we can earn even more.”

She figured most of the kids wouldn’t really get the idea of “unity is strength.” They’d ask, why do we have to stick together…?

But if you explained it through cold hard cash, the benefits of numbers were crystal clear.

The kids understood. They all agreed that Yan Xiao’er made a good point.

“For our military funds,” Yan Yu continued seriously, “I’m thinking of asking my dad to help us buy some small hoes and sickles. Also, the woven baskets we had Grandpa from the village make for us—we owe him for those too.”

Maybe the old men in the village didn’t expect payment—just saw it as playing along with the kids.

But Yan Yu wasn’t about to let the Young Scouts pick up that kind of habit.

This money had to be paid.

“Yan Xiao’er, how are we handling the village’s mules and donkeys? It’s not just feeding them—we have to brush them down too, and collect their manure.”

“We’ll still take turns,” Yan Yu replied, “but mules and donkeys eat way more than rabbits, so we’ll need a few people each shift. And they don’t need to be brushed every day—if they’re too clean, they’ll get sick.” She knew a bit about them, since her dad often mentioned it at home.

Speaking of manure, the kids were eager—farm kids knew it was precious.

They’d need to organize things well, or it could lead to arguments.

“Here’s what we’ll do. Since we’re taking responsibility for the mules and donkeys, let’s not have them kept at anyone’s house anymore. We’ll move them all to one place and build a shelter for them. The manure can go there too—we’ll dig a pit to compost it. When it’s time to fertilize the fields, everyone gets their share.”

Yan Yu tried her best to keep things fair.

The kids were impressed.

But they were stumped about the shelter.

“How are we supposed to build a shelter? We don’t know how!”

“Yeah, yeah! Maybe we can ask my dad and uncle to help?”

Yan Yu cut them off. “Why should we do it? Aren’t those mules and donkeys the village’s? We’re just helping take care of them. Finding a place and building a shelter—that’s Village Chief Grandpa’s problem. Er Tie-ge, can you go home and talk to Village Chief Grandpa about it? See what he says?”

Er Tie agreed right away.

“As for the Work Points Village Chief Grandpa mentioned—since it’s a job we’re all doing together, the Work Points should count toward the Young Scouts as a group. Anyone have a problem with that?”

The kids all shook their heads. “Nope, no problem.”

“Alright then—dismissed!”

…

When Yan Yu got home, she noticed her mother looking at her strangely.

But she was too tired to think much of it. After washing up, she had barely laid down before soft snores began to rise from her bed.

Li Xuemei, half-asleep, felt someone shaking her. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Yan Lao’er wiping his face with a damp cloth.

Through the empty window frame, the sky outside was still dark—it was the middle of the night.

Her voice rasped as she asked, “It’s so late, where are you going?”

Seeing she was awake, Yan Lao’er quickly came over and gently patted her shoulder, his voice just as soft as his touch. “I’m heading into the woods for a bit, I’ll be back soon. Go back to sleep, alright?”

Li Xuemei murmured an acknowledgment and slowly closed her eyes again.

Yan Lao’er stepped out, lit a torch, hitched Sanbao to the cart, and made his way toward the spot in the forest where they burned charcoal.

Qi Si followed him out. Qi Da and Qi Wu took turns sleeping out in the woods.

Tonight’s watch belonged to Qi Wu.

When he saw the torchlight, Qi Wu thought one of his brothers had returned—but to his surprise, it was Yan Lao’er.

“Yan Lao’er, what brings you out here?”

(End of Chapter)