Zhao Shuhe had been home for less than two days when her Eldest Sister, Zhao Shulan, came back.
Eldest Sister was already seven months pregnant. She had to support her lower back even when walking, yet she had still crossed several li of mountain roads to get there. The moment Li Qiongxian saw her, she grew anxious. “You’re that heavily pregnant and still running around everywhere?!”
Zhao Shulan plopped herself down in a chair. “Mom, I have something important to take care of.”
“What could be so important that you had to come all this way with that belly?”
Zhao Shulan waved to Zhao Shuhe. “Little Sister, come here. Sis has good news for you.”
Zhao Shuhe had been feeding the chickens in the yard. When she heard her sister call, she walked over. “Sis, what is it?”
Zhao Shulan lowered her voice. “A while ago, when your Brother-in-law went to the provincial capital to haul goods, he met a matchmaker. And not just any matchmaker! She specializes in introducing people to families with good prospects. Skilled workers from factories, clerks from supply and marketing cooperatives[1]In planned-economy China, supply and marketing cooperatives were major outlets for distributing everyday goods and purchasing agricultural products. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733452_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733452_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, teachers from schools—people from all those backgrounds have gone through her hands!”
Li Qiongxian grew interested as well. “Really?”
“Really! The daughter of Old Fourth Wang from the commune where my husband’s family lives was introduced by her to a worker from a machinery factory in the provincial capital. Now she lives in an apartment building!”
Zhao Shuhe’s heart stirred, but she did not rush to say anything.
Zhao Shulan took her hand. “Little Sister, I want to take you to the county seat to have a few color photographs taken. We’ll give the photos to that matchmaker and have her look around for someone suitable.”
“Color photos? How much would that cost?” Li Qiongxian asked.
“It won’t cost much. The photo studio in the county seat can take them.” Zhao Shulan patted her belly. “I wanted to take Little Sister myself, but this belly makes things too inconvenient. Mom, you take her.”
Li Qiongxian looked at Zhao Shuhe. “Little He, what do you think?”
Zhao Shuhe thought about it. She was only going to have some photographs taken; it was not as if she would be getting married right away. Besides, given her current circumstances, marrying into a family in the provincial capital would certainly be better than marrying into one on the neighboring mountain. Even if it was not for marriage, having a chance to go out and see the world would be a good thing.
“I’ll go.”
Zhao Shulan happily slapped her thigh. “That’s more like it! Little Sister, you’re so pretty. You’re sure to look beautiful in the pictures!”
Zhao Manzhu appeared from who-knows-where. “Is Little Sister about to fly out of this mountain ravine?”
Ding Feng came out after him as well. She glanced at Zhao Shuhe, said nothing, and turned back into the house.
When Zhao Shoutian came home from work and heard about it, he thought for a while. “Go, go. Taking a few pictures won’t cost much. I’ll go to the brigade and get an introduction letter. Once you leave the commune, you can’t take a single step without one.”
That very evening, Zhao Shulan arranged everything clearly. “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Take the brigade’s tractor to the commune, then change to a bus for Beicheng Commune. Only the larger commune has minibuses that go to the county seat.”
“Mom, bring enough money. Money for the photographs, money for food and lodging, and enough to buy Little Sister a new outfit.”
Li Qiongxian winced at the expense. “A new outfit too? Isn’t what she’s wearing good enough?”
“Mom!” Zhao Shulan urged. “Just look at what Little Sister is wearing. It’s patches on top of patches! The photographs are going to be shown to people. Who would want her dressed like that?”
Li Qiongxian muttered a few words, but in the end she still dug a cloth bundle out from beneath the cabinet and counted the money inside.
Zhao Shuhe stood beside her, watching, and felt a little uncomfortable. It was not easy for the family to save any money, and now they had to take more of it out just to have her photographed for matchmaking.
“Sis, I can just wear something clean. We don’t need to buy anything new.”
Zhao Shulan refused. “We absolutely have to! Listen to Sis—this isn’t money we can save. If you marry well, our family will gain a relative from the city. And you’re not going to forget Mom and Dad. It’ll be worth it.”
Zhao Shuhe did not argue anymore. That night, she dug out her neatest set of clothes: the blue cotton jacket Li Qiongxian had made for her the previous New Year. It was no longer new, but at least it had no patches. She would wear it when they left the next day.
The next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Li Qiongxian woke her. Zhao Shuhe combed her hair and washed her face, then looked at her reflection in the water jar. Over the past few months, the effects of that pill had become increasingly obvious. Her skin had grown fairer, and her features had become more delicate. She looked entirely different from the mountain girl she had once been.
“Little He, hurry up! The tractor isn’t waiting for anyone!”
The two of them left the house as the horizon was just beginning to pale. When they reached the entrance to the village, the tractor from Old Liu’s household was already chugging away. Several people going to the commune to take care of business were sitting in the trailer. Zhao Shuhe and Li Qiongxian climbed aboard and found a corner to sit in.
The tractor jolted terribly, and the dirt road was full of potholes. Zhao Shuhe’s backside hurt from being bounced around, while Li Qiongxian clung to the side of the trailer and cursed the entire way.
“When are they ever going to repair this blasted road? It’s shaking my internal organs right out of me!”
The auntie beside her laughed. “Sister-in-law Qiongxian, you’ve gotten too used to the good life. In the old days, we walked all the way there!”
When they reached the commune, the two of them got off the tractor and waited for the bus. The bus only came once an hour, and it took ages before one finally arrived. It was packed with people, and Zhao Shuhe was squeezed into a corner and had to stand the entire way. At the station, they changed to a minibus. The minibus was even smaller and more crowded, and unbearably hot.
Li Qiongxian kept muttering the whole way. “It’s much too far. It’s been six or seven hours at least! We’ll probably have to spend the night in the county seat.”
This was Zhao Shuhe’s first time in the county seat. When she got off the bus, both her legs felt weak.
The county seat was much larger than the commune. There were bicycles on the streets, donkey carts, and even several trucks roaring past. Two- and three-story brick buildings stood along both sides of the road. There was a supply and marketing cooperative, a post office, and a state-run restaurant.
Zhao Shuhe looked at it all without feeling particularly moved. Compared with the scenes in her memories, the county seat was nothing remarkable. But for her, who had never traveled far from home, it was already the liveliest place she had ever seen.
Li Qiongxian asked for directions, and it took several people before she finally found the photo studio.
A sign hung outside the photo studio. It read: “Workers-Peasants-Soldiers Photo Studio.” Several sample photographs were displayed in the glass window. When the two of them went inside, there was only a middle-aged man wearing glasses, wiping a camera lens.
“Comrade, how much is one color photograph?” Li Qiongxian asked directly.
The man replied, “Thirty-five fen[2]A fen is one-hundredth of a yuan, the Chinese currency. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3733452_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3733452_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); for one color photograph. How many are you taking?”
“Seven or eight, I suppose.”
“All right. Then take nine for three yuan, to make it an even number. Come over and sit down.”
Zhao Shuhe was seated on a chair with a flower-painted backdrop behind her. The man adjusted the lights, then looked up at her face and paused.
“Little girl, have you ever had your photograph taken before?”
Zhao Shuhe shook her head. “No.”
The man gave a laugh. “I’ve never seen anyone so photogenic on their first try. Don’t be nervous. Just relax.”
Zhao Shuhe had not been nervous to begin with. She sat there and let him adjust her angles. He took nine photographs in one go: some from the front, some from the side, some with her smiling and some without.
Li Qiongxian watched from the side, growing more satisfied the longer she looked. “My daughter’s pretty, isn’t she?”
The man nodded. “She certainly is. The developed photographs will turn out well. Come back and pick them up the day after tomorrow.”
After leaving the photo studio, Li Qiongxian took her to the supply and marketing cooperative. They picked out a floral dacron blouse, a pair of dark-blue trousers, and a pair of black cloth shoes.
“Mom, that’s too expensive.” Zhao Shuhe tugged at her sleeve.
This time, Li Qiongxian was surprisingly generous. “Buy them! Your sister said this isn’t money we can save. Go try them on and see if they fit.”
Zhao Shuhe went inside to try them on. When she came out, even the female salesclerk at the cooperative took a second look at her.
“That girl looks good in anything.”
Li Qiongxian was so delighted that she could hardly close her mouth. While they were there, she also pulled out several bolts of inexpensive coarse cloth, saying she would take them home to make clothes for her grandchildren.
That night, the two of them found a cheap inn and took a room with two beds. Even during the off-season, it cost one yuan and twenty fen for a night. Li Qiongxian kept sighing over the expense, but there was nothing else they could do. It was already dark, and they could not make it home.
Zhao Shuhe lay on the hard plank bed, listening to the occasional sound of vehicles passing outside on the street. It was her first night away from the great mountain.
“Mom, do you think that matchmaker is reliable?”
Li Qiongxian was already sleepy. In a daze, she replied, “If your sister says she’s reliable, then she probably is. Your sister asked around.”
Zhao Shuhe did not ask anything else. She closed her eyes. No matter what, this was still one possible path. Even if the road ultimately led to marriage, at least it was a path leading beyond the mountains.
The next morning, the two of them checked out. Zhao Shuhe remembered that the photographs would not be ready until the day after tomorrow, and Li Qiongxian could not possibly make another trip. So they asked someone at the photo studio to have an acquaintance who came into the county seat bring the photographs back in a few days. The journey home was just as exhausting. By the time they arrived, the sun was almost setting.
Five or six days later, the photographs were brought back. Zhao Shuhe took one look at them. The girl in the pictures really was beautiful, with fair, clear skin and features as lovely as a painting. She looked completely different from the girls in the village, whose faces were weathered year-round by the wind and sun.
Li Qiongxian turned the photographs over and over in her hands. “My daughter is so pretty! These pictures turned out wonderfully!”
That very afternoon, Zhao Shulan sent someone over to ask for the photographs. She said that her husband, Li Yongfa, would be making a trip to the provincial capital the following week and could take the photographs along to give to the matchmaker. Zhao Shuhe wrapped them in oiled paper and had the messenger carry them back.
And so the matter was settled. All that remained was to wait for news.
Zhao Shuhe stood in the courtyard, watching the messenger’s retreating back grow smaller in the distance. She had no idea whose hands those photographs would ultimately end up in. The provincial capital—that was a place she had never even dared to imagine.
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