Lin Qiaozhi was awakened by a loud pounding on the door.
“What kind of girl lies around sleeping in broad daylight? School’s over, and you still don’t help with the cooking.”
She opened her eyes and instinctively reached up to touch them.
She’d had that dream again.
A blinding red seeped across her vision.
Only when she saw sunlight filtering through the wooden lattice glass window separating the inner room, falling across her bamboo mat and palm-leaf fan, did the icy blood-red haze before her eyes gradually begin to warm and fade.
She sat there in a daze for a moment before walking over to the desk covered with a thick sheet of glass, picking up a yellow enamel mug, tipping back her head, and gulping down several mouthfuls of cooled boiled water.
Once her thirst was quenched, Lin Qiaozhi let out a long breath.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was covered in bead-sized drops of sweat. She wiped them away and fell into thought.
She had dreamed of dying again.
It seemed she had died from pain.
Even after waking from the dream, the cold and agony that felt as though her body had been split open alive, drilling out from deep within her bones, still hadn’t completely faded.
Looking through the wooden lattice glass window, she saw her mother, Jiang Hongmei, wearing an apron and tending the stove in the corridor, moving with practiced efficiency.
The aromas of various dishes drifted together, coming from who knew which households, all floating into the room.
The Agricultural Machinery Factory residential compound consisted of two-story apartment buildings. On the second floor, every family stacked honeycomb coal briquettes in the corridor and kept a small coal stove there for cooking.
The voices of the neighborhood aunties and grannies drifted in along with the smell of food.
“Those three hard years are finally over. We can finally stop going hungry every day.”
“This batch of lotus stems at the food shop is fresh, crisp, and cheap. My Old Wu loves them. Sister Wang, let’s buy some more tomorrow.”
“The high school entrance exam’s coming up, isn’t it? Sister Jiang, which high school are Qiaozhi and Jiadong planning to apply to? Or are they going to a vocational technical school instead?”
Jiang Hongmei, stir-frying red amaranth greens, stiffened slightly before replying, “We haven’t discussed it yet.” Then she turned toward the room and called out, “Bring me a plate for the vegetables.”
Lin Qiaozhi was still somewhat dazed.
She walked out from the inner room, took a plate from the cupboard, and handed it to her mother in the corridor.
Thinking about that dream, she looked at her mother’s back. Without saying anything, she casually cracked the two eggs resting on the stove into a bowl, beat them evenly with chopsticks, and placed them into the steaming basket to cook.
The moment everyone saw what Lin Qiaozhi had done, the noisy corridor fell into an eerie silence.
Surprised gazes met one another.
Even Jiang Hongmei looked at her in astonishment, giving her several long looks before finally taking the plate and dishing out the vegetables.
Pressing her lips together, Lin Qiaozhi said, “I’ll go set out the bowls and chopsticks.”
Then she turned and went back inside.
Only then did hushed voices of surprise begin spreading through the corridor.
“Has that wild girl turned over a new leaf today?”
“Maybe she’s growing up and finally learning some sense?”
Lin Qiaozhi didn’t need to listen to know what everyone was so surprised about.
This entire building, no, perhaps the entire residential compound, had called her “wild girl” ever since she was little, all because they thought she had a fierce temper.
Why?
Because she used to fight with her younger brother.
Though they called him her younger brother, they were actually twins. She believed they were the same age, but everyone always told her, “You’re the older sister. You should give in to your brother.”
Adults were strange.
When they attended public lectures in the square, they’d shout slogans like “Women hold up half the sky and can remake the mountains and rivers!” and “Sons and daughters are equally valuable!”
Yet the moment they got home, they only expected the girls to do housework.
“If you’re not hardworking, your in-laws will criticize you after you get married.”
“What kind of girl doesn’t help with cooking, washing dishes, and laundry? If you don’t learn to do housework now, no one will want to marry you.”
One day after dinner, Jiang Hongmei cleared away the bowls and casually told her daughter to wipe the table and then wash the dishes.
She didn’t want to. Her brother didn’t want to either. So the two of them started arguing, and Lin Jiadong blurted out, “Aren’t those chores girls are supposed to do?”
From that day on, she refused.
Not that she refused to do housework altogether. If she did it, then both she and her brother would do it together. Otherwise, no one could order her around.
If someone twisted her ear, she’d immediately turn around and beat up Lin Jiadong.
She had been stronger than most children ever since she was little. She wasn’t afraid!
If someone scolded her, she’d throw the exact same words back at Lin Jiadong.
At first, Jiang Hongmei would cry, lamenting her miserable fate for giving birth to such a burden.
“Other people’s daughters are so thoughtful. Girls her age work so efficiently and know how to care for their mothers. She’s the only one with a heart made of iron.”
The neighbors also said, “A girl her age who doesn’t even help out around the house is so inconsiderate.”
None of them allowed their daughters to play with Lin Qiaozhi, afraid she’d be a bad influence.
But who actually liked doing housework?
Some girls at school did avoid Lin Qiaozhi, but many couldn’t resist gathering around her.
Little Qiaozhi stood on a chair, waving her fists.
“I never said I wouldn’t do chores! If he does them, then I’ll do them. If he doesn’t, then neither will I! Director Meng already said boys and girls are the same!”
Director Meng was the newly appointed Women’s Affairs Director at Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory. She was broad-minded, well educated, and had given many lectures throughout the factory. She was an important cadre. How could what she said possibly be wrong?
With little Qiaozhi taking the lead, a mighty “revolution” erupted throughout the residential compound.
First came the classmates who admired little Qiaozhi.
Then girls from other classes, as well as those one or two grades above and below her, all followed suit. Why should only they be expected to do housework?
For a while, the entire residential compound was thrown into chaos.
Little Qiaozhi was fiercely loyal, too.
If one of her friends got beaten at home, she’d charge straight into their house to defend them, then run off to fetch Director Meng to settle the matter, making sure the whole residential compound knew about it.
She even taught little girls how to fight boys!
Wild girl!
If that wasn’t a wild girl, then what was?
As a result, even many of the older, more sensible girls became reluctant to do housework. They didn’t say it outright, but it was obvious from how much slower they worked than before.
That wild girl had ruined the atmosphere of the entire residential compound!
…
By the time dinner was ready, Father Lin had returned home.
He was the family’s only wage earner, a permanent factory worker whose salary had to support a family of four while also helping relatives in both his and his wife’s hometowns. Money was always tight.
“You must be exhausted. Hurry and wash up. Time to eat,” Jiang Hongmei said. She tossed his dirty work clothes into a basin to wash later, then served him a bowl of rice and set it on the table.
There were three dishes on the table: a plate of stir-fried red amaranth greens, a steamed egg custard, and a large bowl of pickled long beans Jiang Hongmei had made herself.
Lin Wuqiang had spent the entire day doing loading and unloading work and was completely worn out. He shoveled down several mouthfuls of rice with the sour and spicy diced long beans to take the edge off his hunger before speaking.
“It’s almost time to fill out your school applications, isn’t it? Has your teacher told you which schools your grades are good enough for?”
“The usual ones,” Lin Jiadong muttered. Having just returned from playing basketball, he was hungry too and clearly didn’t want to discuss it.
He curled his lips before adding, “Sister is the one with the good grades. The teacher said as long as she performs normally, aside from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, which she’d have to stretch a bit to get into, she can choose any other high school or vocational technical school in Jiangcheng.”
He also remembered that the teacher had recommended nursing vocational schools or normal schools for girls, and those who couldn’t qualify could consider textile studies.
He glanced at Lin Qiaozhi but didn’t say it aloud.
Every year around this time, the families in the residential compound discussed these things. Lin Wuqiang and Jiang Hongmei had naturally considered them as well.
For a girl, studying nursing or teacher training meant stable, respectable work. She’d be highly sought after when it came time to find a husband.
But when it came to Lin Qiaozhi, they truly dreaded bringing it up. Just thinking about it gave them a headache.
“Learn from your sister. Work harder. Stop spending all your time playing basketball after school.”
Jiang Hongmei ladled out the steamed egg custard. She gave the largest portion to Father Lin. He did heavy manual labor, and poor nutrition would wear his body down. Then she divided two similarly sized portions between the two children.
“Studying uses your brain too. In a couple of days, I’ll queue up at the supply and marketing cooperative to see if they have any pig brains. I’ll stew them for the two of you to nourish your minds.”
The bits of egg left stuck to the bowl and the remaining egg broth at the bottom were scraped into her own bowl in just a few quick strokes.
“Qiaozhi, your grades are good. Spend more time helping your brother with his studies. If there’s anything he doesn’t understand, explain it to him.” After finishing the egg custard, she sat down and continued, “Director Meng said it too. These days, only studying will get you anywhere. I suffered because I had no education. All these years, whenever the factory hired workers, I never even got a chance. All I could do was take odd jobs pasting cardboard boxes. The pay is low, and the work isn’t steady.”
She began talking again about how difficult life was. Everywhere you looked, things required both money and ration coupons. Their family lacked both.
All these years after marrying into the city, never managing to become a permanent employee at a state-owned factory and instead remaining an unemployed drifter had become an obsession she brought up constantly.
That was why she had always supported both children in pursuing their education, hoping they would each find good jobs.
Nowadays, many factory families think the same way. The factory’s Publicity Department and Director Meng had spent years encouraging this mindset.
“If he’s willing to listen, I’ll teach him,” Lin Qiaozhi said without refusing.
Lin Qiaozhi finished every bite of the steamed egg custard in her bowl, then poured a little of the broth from the red amaranth greens over her rice. The purplish-red soup dyed the rice crimson, and the rich, fresh flavor of the amaranth soaked into every grain, making it both beautiful and delicious.
She wasn’t in the mood to talk and focused on eating.
As soon as she finished, she set her bowl and chopsticks aside.
“I’m done eating. I need to go out for a bit.”
Slipping her shoulder bag over her shoulder, she headed for the door, saying as she walked, “It’s Jiadong’s turn to wash the dishes today. Mother, if you wash them for him while I’m gone, then tomorrow you should show the same concern for me.”
With that, she disappeared.
Jiang Hongmei angrily ate two bites of pickled vegetables on an empty mouth and grumbled, “She volunteered to help me today. I actually thought she’d finally grown up.”
…
Lin Qiaozhi headed toward the factory’s technical school.
Their Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory was one of the top three state-owned factories in Jiangcheng. Besides the basics like dormitories and cafeterias, the factory also had its own nursery, elementary school for employees’ children, middle school, factory-run hospital, grain and oil store, and even a lighted sports court.
It could provide for a worker from birth to death.
During the three years of famine, the factory workers had merely gone a little hungry and received smaller food rations. She had never heard of a single worker starving to death.
She didn’t want to be sent to the countryside.
The best solution was to get a job this year, or next year at the very latest.
In her dream, she had been admitted to the high school she wanted, only to encounter the cancellation of the college entrance examination. Soon afterward, classes were suspended, and they remained suspended for more than two years.
Later, under the call for “educated youth to go to the mountains and countryside, to the vast rural areas, factories, and People’s Liberation Army farms to participate in labor and receive re-education from workers, peasants, and soldiers,” she had no choice but to go to the countryside.
It wasn’t as though she had never tried to find work.
But every educated youth in Jiangcheng was looking for a job. Whenever a position opened up, the recruitment notice would already be posted before anyone even heard the rumor.
Job opportunities were more precious than gold.
Until the year she died, the college entrance examination had still not been reinstated. Everything she had studied was buried beneath that stretch of yellow earth.
She walked west through the residential area.
As she drew closer to the factory grounds, the factory radio broadcast became audible.
“When Comrade Li Dazhao taught workers to read, he once said that in the Chinese character for ‘worker’ (工), the top horizontal stroke is the sky, the bottom horizontal stroke is the earth, and the vertical stroke in the middle is the worker. Workers stand between heaven and earth. Workers are the greatest class…”
“A new session of Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory’s literacy classes is now enrolling. Only by becoming literate can workers continue learning and strive to build a better New China. Everyone is encouraged to sign up…”
Lin Qiaozhi tightened her grip on the strap of her shoulder bag.
Her mother’s regretful words from the dream seemed to echo in her ears.
“If only I’d signed up back then. How much money could I have possibly earned pasting those cardboard boxes?”
“Why is my life so miserable? I worked myself to the bone for this family like an old ox, and for those few scraps of money, I missed my chance to become a permanent worker.”
What had happened in the dream had come true once again.
Lin Qiaozhi took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, they were filled with determination.
She strode toward the factory’s technical school.
“Grandpa Zhang,” Lin Qiaozhi greeted the elderly gatekeeper with a smile.
Grandpa Zhang lowered his newspaper and adjusted his reading glasses. After recognizing her, he asked in surprise, “Qiaozhi?”
They had all lived in the factory for so many years that everyone knew one another well, but Zhang Shengli still couldn’t guess why the Lin family’s young daughter had come looking for him.
“I’m here to ask you for an application form.”
Zhang Shengli’s hand slipped as he adjusted his glasses. He suspected he had misheard.
“What did you say?”
“I said,” Lin Qiaozhi repeated a little louder, “I’m here to get an application form for our factory’s technical school.”
Grandpa Zhang pinched the temple of his reading glasses and looked at her carefully.
This really was the Lin family’s little girl, only fourteen or fifteen years old.
She had two braided pigtails and was still carrying her school bag.
“Qiaozhi, are you sure you’ve got the right place? Our factory’s technical school trains welders, fitters, machinists, and the like. Those are all physically demanding jobs done by men.”
“I’m sure.”
“There aren’t any girls in our factory studying these trades,” Grandpa Zhang said, glancing back at the stack of application forms inside the guardroom, uncertain whether he should hand her one. “There’s never been a precedent.”
Lin Qiaozhi replied, “I’ve never heard of our factory’s technical school having a rule against admitting girls. There have only ever been two requirements: your high school entrance exam results and your status as a factory employee’s child. After that, all you have to do is pass the basic technical examination.”
“My father has been a permanent worker at the factory for over twenty years, and I was born in our factory-run hospital.” Pride shone in her bright eyes. “I’m a bona fide factory kid!”
Whenever Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory was mentioned, no one in the factory failed to stand a little taller.
The tractors and diesel engines their factory produced were famous throughout the country. Together with the Changchun Tractor Factory and the Tianjin Tractor Factory, they were known as the “Three Iron Oxen of Huaguo”!
That very night, after Lin Qiaozhi brought home the application form, the news spread through the entire residential compound like wildfire.