The first exam Lin Qiaozhi took was the third-year final theory exam.
It might sound a little disheartening to say so.
But at the time, China’s industrial foundation really was so weak that what they studied and were tested on rarely went far beyond the scope of the textbooks.
Many of the textbooks had been translated from foreign sources. From countries that had long since completed industrialization, from countries where skyscrapers lined the skyline and Porsches were already racing down the streets.
The country itself had not yet fully mastered all of that knowledge.
There was even less chance that the instructors at Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory could.
But that also worked to Lin Qiaozhi’s advantage.
When she searched for secondhand textbooks, she had deliberately sought out ones that had belonged to top-performing graduates and were filled with notes.
The sections the teachers had emphasized and the parts they had only skimmed over were all clearly marked.
Studying on her own was not especially difficult, because there was very little “advanced extension” material.
The night before, Lin Qiaozhi had already filled her fountain pen with ink and sharpened two pencils at home.
She sat at a temporary desk placed near the front of the familiar yet unfamiliar third-year classroom, close to the lectern.
She arranged her stationery neatly, placing her pencils, ruler, and eraser beside her.
She clipped the cap onto the back of her fountain pen, then scribbled a couple of lines on her scratch paper.
Only after confirming that the ink flowed smoothly did Lin Qiaozhi turn her attention to the exam.
The graduating third-year students also received their freshly mimeographed test papers and wrote their names on them.
Throughout the process, they could not help stealing glances at the figure seated in front of them.
There was no particular reason.
It was simply because they had endured far too many shocks this semester.
It wasn’t even that they had deliberately paid attention to her. Their teachers simply never let them forget.
“Even a young girl knows to study this hard and isn’t afraid of putting in the effort to practice fitter skills. Now look at all of you. I won’t be too blunt about it. Some of you know perfectly well what kind of work you’ve been doing. When I call on you, you can’t even answer the most basic formulas. Have you actually been paying attention in class?”
“You’re already third-year students. You’ll be graduating next year. Whether your foundation is solid or not will become obvious the moment you start working! Don’t wait until you’re watching other people move up one grade after another and get pay raises before you start regretting it…”
“Do you know how first-year student Lin Qiaozhi studies?”
“Students, I went and asked around. She practically never puts her books down. As soon as classes end, she buries herself in the workshop. I heard she even studies after going home. Most importantly, this kind of self-discipline isn’t something she keeps up for just a day or two. She gets up before dawn every single morning. Every single day…”
Stories like these always ended with the same standard conclusion.
Only effort brings rewards. Look at Lin Qiaozhi. Watch her. Learn from her.
Perhaps all teachers enjoyed motivating students this way.
Or perhaps because her story was simply too inspiring, nearly every teacher who heard the rumors and marveled at them ended up saying something similar to their own students.
And in the process, a few rumors started spreading, like the claim that Lin Qiaozhi got up before dawn every day.
Lin Qiaozhi herself had no idea that she supposedly woke up before dawn every morning. Wasn’t she still asleep at that hour?
As the rumors passed from one teacher to another, each adding their own embellishments, they became increasingly outrageous.
The third-year students felt like crying every time they heard them.
Teacher, listen to yourself. Does that even sound like something a human being would do? Getting up before dawn, not sleeping until even the dogs have stopped barking… is she even human?
They desperately wanted to ask, “Did you live like that when you were a student?”
Unfortunately, they had the nerve to think it but not the courage to say it, so they could only grumble silently to themselves.
Now, as they looked at Lin Qiaozhi’s back, they felt both exasperated and deeply uneasy.
Lin Qiaozhi knew people were looking at her, but she paid them no mind.
She focused entirely on answering the questions.
The earlier questions were all fairly simple for her. Problems like, “A steel ring has an outer diameter of aa, an inner diameter of bb, and a thickness of *. Calculate its weight,” were simply variations of textbook examples. She had thoroughly mastered them.
The later questions involved practical work, operations, and technical drawings, so she proceeded more cautiously, since she had never actually sat through the teacher’s explanations.
Even so, she searched through the experiences she had seen and practiced in her dreams, and they were not particularly difficult.
She worked through them one by one.
When Lin Qiaozhi reached the final question, she froze for a moment.
Class, your three years of fitter training have come to an end. If a perfect score were one hundred points, what score would you give your own performance? And if the pinnacle of a fitter’s career were one hundred points, how many points do you think you will achieve in the future?
Lin Qiaozhi hesitated as she glanced at the point value.
The final question was worth ten points.
She lowered her pen several times, only to stop each time the tip touched the paper.
She reviewed the earlier questions and realized she was fairly confident about all of them. Even if she lost all ten points here, her overall score would still stay above eighty-five.
So she decided to follow her heart.
Answer:
100 points.
By the time she walked out of the classroom, winter had already arrived in Jiangcheng, and the warm sunlight poured down around her.
Lin Qiaozhi raised a hand to shield her eyes.
She wasn’t sure how many points she would receive for the final question.
But her conscience was clear.
With the third-year final exams over, the atmosphere among the first- and second-year students also gradually grew more tense.
After all, the New Year was approaching.
If they did poorly, and their grades were posted on the school’s outer wall or their teacher casually mentioned them to their parents, they would be in for a miserable holiday.
The first-year theory exam passed without any of the unexpected incidents that had occurred during the third-year exam.
Lin Qiaozhi finished it smoothly and felt very confident about her score.
That afternoon came the practical exam.
As the saying went, “Fast for a turner, slow for a fitter.”
Fitting was, after all, meticulous work.
The exam lasted a full five hours, from one in the afternoon until six in the evening.
The entire class took it together, and several additional workbenches were temporarily brought over from the workshop.
Lin Qiaozhi operated the lathe, aligning the cutting tool before bringing it down onto the metal stock.
Her technique was very basic, without any flashy movements.
Yet within just a few minutes, the workpiece had already begun to resemble the drawing on the blackboard.
After finishing the rough turning, she stepped away from the lathe and carried the roughly machined piece to her workbench.
When Wang Baiqiang made his rounds and came over, he looked at the workpiece in surprise.
“Let me measure it.”
He pulled out the vernier caliper he always carried with him.
Even before measuring it, he had already sensed something was different. But when he saw the actual reading, Wang Baiqiang was still taken aback.
The last time he had checked, she clearly hadn’t been able to keep the tolerance within ten si. Yet in barely over half a month, she had already crossed that hurdle.
Based on his many years of experience teaching students, plenty of third-year students, and even fitters who had already spent several years working in factories, were only at about this level. He was referring to the kind who practiced diligently to improve their skills for higher wages.
“Have you been focusing specifically on this lately?” Wang Baiqiang put away the caliper. It was the only reasonable explanation he could come up with.
Lin Qiaozhi nodded. “Yes.”
Wang Baiqiang fell silent.
Having trained under his own master, he had met quite a few highly skilled fitters in the industry, including one or two who had even been recruited away by higher authorities.
Yet even that experience no longer seemed sufficient.
If, before today, any student had dared say to him, “Engineer Wang, don’t worry. Give me one month of hard practice, and I’ll reach the next level of precision,” he would have made sure they learned just how unrealistic that dream was.
“Carry on.”
Keeping a stern face, Wang Baiqiang clasped his hands behind his back with the caliper still in one hand and continued inspecting the other students.
At around four-thirty in the afternoon, Lin Qiaozhi submitted her workpiece.
With most of her tasks before the New Year finally completed, she felt an enormous weight lift from her shoulders.
Looking bright and full of energy, she said to the practical instructor and Wang Baiqiang, who had deliberately stayed behind, “I’m ready.”
Ready at any time to begin the timed lathe disassembly and reassembly test.
This was the part she felt most confident about.
The lathe model wasn’t going to change, and the time required for disassembly and reassembly wouldn’t vary much either, usually differing by only a few seconds.
“The power’s already been cut to the lathe.” Wang Baiqiang pointed toward the school’s only training lathe.
Everyone else had reached the final hand-finishing stage of their workpieces, so the lathe was no longer needed.
Lin Qiaozhi arranged her tools one by one within easy reach according to her usual habits.
Then she looked at the two teachers.
Her eyes sparkled with confidence.
“Begin.”
The starting time was recorded in the logbook.
Lin Qiaozhi focused completely on disassembling the lathe.
Her movements did not appear especially fast, but there was an unmistakable smoothness to them. Though he never said so aloud, the practical instructor genuinely enjoyed watching her work.
She wasn’t rigidly copying the disassembly and reassembly methods she had been taught. Instead, she seemed to have naturally refined them into a technique that suited her perfectly.
It was difficult to describe exactly what made it so appealing.
It simply looked remarkably satisfying to watch.
During the process, one or two students occasionally came over to submit their finished practical exam workpieces.
But Lin Qiaozhi remained completely unaffected.
Come to think of it, this was actually Wang Baiqiang’s first time watching her complete an entire lathe disassembly and reassembly from start to finish. Leaning back against the table behind him, he kept his eyes on her movements as he asked, “Is she always this focused?”
“She is,” the practical instructor replied. After thinking for a moment, he added somewhat uncertainly, “Sometimes I even feel like… she enjoys this state of complete concentration.”
“Enjoy?”
“Mhm. Especially when she’s completely immersed in practicing. She seems to genuinely enjoy it.”
Wang Baiqiang fell into thought and glanced at the mechanical wall clock again.
At that moment, Lin Qiaozhi herself hadn’t even realized it.
Ever since she was little, she had loved making toys. Deep down, she truly enjoyed the satisfaction of creating things with her own hands.
Right now, half her heart felt submerged underwater.
She desperately longed for the security of finally reaching shore and having solid ground beneath her feet.
But whether it was urgency or enjoyment, it all became action. She threw herself into mountains of books and an ocean of machinery, turning everything into sweat and achievements, weaving them into the memories of her youth at fifteen.
Memories of a youth spent striving with unwavering determination.
Yet she herself remained completely unaware of all this.
On the report card, with the time and date clearly recorded, Lin Qiaozhi and the two instructors signed their names.
She had passed!
The first requirement for graduating early was complete!
“Congratulations.” The practical training instructor handed her the report card.
A brilliant smile spread across Lin Qiaozhi’s face.
She looked at Wang Baiqiang, her eyes gleaming with fighting spirit. “Teacher Wang, I’ll keep working hard during winter break.” Don’t think she’d back down just because the challenge was difficult.
She was going to become a fitter worthy of a perfect score of one hundred.
If she dared to write it down, then she would definitely dare to achieve it!
About three days after the exams, the school released the test papers and posted the results.
Lin Qiaozhi’s name ranked first across both year levels.
A glance down the list showed one score after another in the nineties.
There was even a conspicuous perfect 100.
One outstanding score would have been remarkable enough, but when an entire row looked like that, there was no way the students wouldn’t notice.
Who, during their school days, didn’t look to see what kind of scores the top student in class had?
“How does she even study? Does she really get up before dawn and stay awake until even the dogs have gone quiet?”
“Her hands are so steady. She used the lathe to cut three grooves in a row, and the depth, width, and spacing were all exactly the same.”
“She even got a perfect 100! That’s the only perfect score in that subject, right? I remember there was a final question asking you to evaluate yourself and your future. It was such a subjective question. What did she write that made the teacher give her full marks?”
Students crowded in front of the bulletin board, discussing it animatedly in astonishment.
One of her classmates, who had once traded breakfast for Lin Qiaozhi’s notes and a sentence or two of guidance, couldn’t help saying after hearing everyone’s comments, “It’s not just about those scores. You have no idea how far she’s taken it. She’s unbelievably good.”
The discussions and amazement among the workers’ children naturally followed them home and soon spread throughout the entire factory.
Strangely enough, before Lin Qiaozhi had actually achieved anything, everyone had been talking.
Some things were complimentary, some weren’t, and every kind of opinion could be heard.
But after she really achieved results like these, there was hardly any discussion at all.
Lin Qiaozhi: ?
She didn’t quite understand. This wasn’t how she had imagined it.
Adults were so hard to understand.
Now no one was discussing it or saying anything, but they had better not suddenly pop up at the last moment.
But she didn’t have the time to worry about any of that.
Because it was almost New Year!!
Every year, the atmosphere in the family housing compound during the New Year was especially lively and festive.
The factory would hold activities in advance.
The factory administration would also purchase holiday benefits to distribute to the workers.
Some families would make metal drums out of sheet iron ahead of time to burn firewood and smoke cured pork.
Anywhere there was sunlight was quickly claimed with rows of wooden racks for drying cured fish, and quite a few households with both spouses working also hung up cured chickens and ducks.
Even the quietly standing phoenix tree in the corner was forced to put on its own distinctive New Year outfit of hanging cured meats.
On New Year’s Eve, every household got busy, setting up woks of hot oil to fry meatballs, lotus root balls, stuffed lotus root.
Father Lin carried home two large boxes of New Year’s goods distributed by the factory, grinning from ear to ear. “Come on, come give me a hand!”
Lin Qiaozhi and Lin Jiadong hurried over.
Lin Qiaozhi picked up the box stacked on top.
Lin Jiadong took the one underneath.
Lin Qiaozhi hefted hers in surprise. “It’s so heavy!”
“Mine isn’t light either,” Lin Jiadong said with a smile.
Father Lin had been born with exceptional strength, which was why he had earned the opportunity to work at the factory during that round of recruitment. Both of his children had inherited that trait.
If both of them thought the boxes were heavy, that just showed how generous Hongqi Factory’s New Year’s goods really were!
Father Lin beamed with pride. Moments like this always made him especially pleased. “The factory’s been doing well this year. I heard there’s even a whole ham inside!”
At times like this, not only Father Lin, but perhaps every worker in the factory could stand a little taller.
Jiang Hongmei, wearing an apron, was busy frying meatballs.
Looking radiant, she called out from a distance, “Did they hand out fabric this year? Normally I can never save enough cloth coupons to make clothes. I had to borrow quite a few just to sew ours!”
Fortunately, things had recently taken a turn for the better.
After all, Comrade Jiang Hongmei had performed exceptionally well in the literacy class, shown great ideological progress, and been selected as a model, earning herself an opportunity to work as a temporary employee.
If she continued to perform actively and well, she would become a permanent employee after one year.
The entire family housing compound was green with envy.
Everyone said she looked so full of energy that even her hair seemed to bounce, and her voice had become louder and more vigorous.
Although uneducated, she had managed to get a temporary job on the packaging team, where she nailed together wooden crates and packed them with straw to protect tractor diesel engines and parts during long-distance transport.
Jiang Hongmei loved the work. It was something she could do.
She didn’t care about anything else. She was a worker now! Next year she’d be a permanent employee, with an official position and registered household status!
On the night her grain supply registration and employment records were officially transferred, she sat on the bed hugging her household registration booklet and grain ration booklet, crying as she wiped away tears again and again.
The very next day, she hurried off with money and coupons, stood in line at the supply and marketing cooperative, and bought two pieces of fabric along with some cotton.
She made two bright red padded jackets. “My daughter really knows how to care about her mother. The two of us can wear new clothes for the New Year too.”
But at the moment, she couldn’t bear to wear the bright red padded jacket. Instead, she wore an old outfit while frying the New Year’s food.
She opened the boxes and examined the holiday benefits one by one, her voice brimming with cheer. “Next year I’ll be a permanent employee too. I’ll get a share of these myself!”
She happily sorted through the items.
“This ham is great. We’ll send half to your father’s side and half to my mother’s side. That’ll make for respectable New Year’s gifts!”
Father Lin frowned, disagreeing. “Take something else instead. I need to bring this ham back to Father. What kind of gift is half a ham?”
“I’m not trying to carry things off to my parents’ house,” Jiang Hongmei instinctively explained before straightening up again. “I’ve got a proper job this year. If I don’t bring something home to honor my parents, who knows what people in the village will start saying? In past years all the good things went to your family. What’s wrong with splitting it in half this year?”
…
Lin Qiaozhi tuned them out.
She picked up a bowl.
Using chopsticks, she speared meatballs and lotus root balls from the bamboo tray where they had been set out to cool, catching them in the bowl and eating them one after another.
The crispy fried shell crackled with every bite, releasing the rich aroma of meat. Jiangcheng’s lotus root was especially fragrant. Grated into a fine paste and mixed into the minced meat, the sweet, fresh lotus root blended perfectly with the savory meat, while delicious juices burst out with each bite. One taste was enough to make it unforgettable.
The freshly fried meatballs were so hot that Lin Qiaozhi kept blowing on them, yet even though they burned her mouth, she couldn’t bear to put them down.
She ate while hissing through the heat, contentedly narrowing her eyes. An indescribable feeling of happiness and satisfaction filled her whole being.
She used to worry over things like her parents did.
Now she didn’t anymore. After seeing so many beautiful demon sisters who had transformed from salted fish, she had come to understand one thing: if something was beyond her control and couldn’t be changed, then she might as well let it be.
If she wanted to eat something, she would earn it herself in the future.
She had complained and grumbled about it for more than ten years, and it had never changed anything. Whatever was meant to be sent back would still be sent back, so why keep worrying about it?
She speared another meatball with her chopsticks.
The important thing now was to get the meat in front of her into her mouth and into her stomach. That was what was real!
On New Year’s Eve, most of the factory workers celebrated in the family housing compound.
Every household was visiting one another.
In previous years, the Lin family had never had many visitors, just one or two of Father Lin’s close coworkers from the loading and unloading team.
This year, however, the house became lively.
The Zhou family arrived first. Mother Zhou held Lin Qiaozhi’s hand and said with a smile, “Zhou Shu isn’t good with words, but both he and I remember your kindness. We truly don’t know how to thank you.”
“Aunt Fang, I got something in return,” Lin Qiaozhi replied with a grin. “The rich pork siu mai you made was delicious. It was even better than what the cafeteria’s head chef makes!”
Over on the other side, Father Lin was chatting with Father Zhou about the transport team.
Father Lin had already learned almost everything there was to know. He could drive, handle repairs, and solve common mechanical problems, like breakdowns. All he needed now was an opportunity to be transferred over.
No matter how stable a job seemed, anyone who had ever worked knew that no team could stay unchanged forever. People strained their backs, had family emergencies, fell ill, grew too old for their eyesight to keep up, or even got into traffic accidents…
When something happened to a permanent employee, the factory couldn’t simply dismiss them. They would usually be reassigned instead, and that was when an opening would become available.
Father Lin and Father Zhou chatted happily, both beaming.
One household after another continued to arrive.
Only then…
Did Jiang Hongmei realize that the notes her daughter had made could actually be exchanged for breakfast at the cafeteria. Those were genuine grain coupons and cash!
For example, a serving of hot dry noodles cost 2 liang of grain coupons and ten cents. Her daughter only had to move her pen and write a few pages of notes, and she could exchange them for that much money!
By the time they had seen all the visitors off…
Father Lin and Mother Jiang’s smiles had practically frozen on their faces.
Jiang Hongmei circled the table, looking at the pile of gifts, and sighed with emotion. “Studying really is wonderful. Director Meng was absolutely right. Children need to study hard so they’ll have a bright future.”
Just look at that. Even notes could be exchanged for food now!
After marveling over it, she found herself facing a happy sort of dilemma. “So many people came to pay us New Year’s calls. How are we ever going to return all these visits?”
There were simply too many New Year’s visits to fit into the schedule.
But the New Year did not leave her much time to worry.
After preparing the New Year’s goods and eating New Year’s Eve dinner, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, it was already the first day of the Lunar New Year.
“Qiaozhi, don’t forget to put on your new clothes!”
Back then, people often said that clothes were new for three years, old for three years, and then patched for another three years.
Whether buying clothes or having them made, they expected them to last at least ten years.
Lin Qiaozhi’s padded jacket had been deliberately made with extra room.
Fortunately, she had broad shoulders, so she filled it out well enough. She adjusted the elastic cord the tailor had sewn into the lining, tightening the waist so it wouldn’t let the wind through.
The newly made cotton-padded jacket was a bright festive red, cheerful at first glance!
“This jacket makes your complexion look rosier. You look healthier,” Jiang Hongmei said happily as she held her daughter’s arm and looked her up and down.
Lin Qiaozhi smiled.
If it were possible, she truly wished her mother would not return to her hometown for the New Year. If that were the case, she could wholeheartedly believe that even a withered tree could sprout new buds and bloom with the flowers of a new era.
But that was impossible.
Lin Qiaozhi looked at Jiang Hongmei in her brand-new red cotton jacket. Her face was radiant, and she seemed to have become ten years younger overnight.
She reached out and hugged Jiang Hongmei, softly calling, “Mother.”
This was truly the last time she would be brave. Please don’t let her down.
There really wouldn’t be a next time. Otherwise, the little Qiaozhi who had suffered so many grievances as a child would come out and scold her.
“Oh, you child.” Jiang Hongmei was caught completely off guard by the sudden hug. Unaccustomed to such unexpected tenderness from her daughter, she awkwardly reached out and gently patted the top of her head.
Lin Qiaozhi let go of her. “Alright, let’s go.”
She watched Jiang Hongmei happily packing up the New Year’s goods, eagerly looking forward to returning to her hometown in her new red jacket and telling everyone that she had a job. Confidence and joy shone across her face.
Lin Qiaozhi couldn’t describe what she was feeling.
Her mother had been born in the countryside, the eldest of eight siblings, yet at a turning point in her life she had unexpectedly ended up at Hongqi Factory, where she met Director Meng and was exposed to new ideas.
The old and the new coexisted within her, weaving together the intricate patterns of her life.
“Let’s go, let’s go! If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late. If we miss the bus, we can always wait for the next one. But if we miss the ox cart, we’ll have to walk all the way back!” Father Lin stood at the doorway carrying large and small bags, urging them along. Lin Jiadong, who was also eager to return to the village for the New Year, stood beside him.
“Coming, coming!” Jiang Hongmei quickly bent down to change her shoes. She called out, “Qiaozhi, hurry up too.”
“Right away.”
Lin Qiaozhi withdrew her gaze from Jiang Hongmei, took a deep breath, rubbed her face, and quietly told herself, “Lin Qiaozhi, you promised yourself you wouldn’t hesitate anymore!!”
Whether or not she could untie this dead knot, she was going to keep moving forward.
They took the bus.
Then caught the ox cart.
That year, the snow came early to Jiangcheng, and it melted early too.
The ox cart swayed gently along the muddy yellow dirt road.
In the distance, Shuiwan Village gradually came into view.
Shuiwan Village was truly a beautiful rural village. From afar, the green mountains lay veiled in drifting clouds and mist. Before the village stretched a shimmering lake. Evergreen pines and cypresses stood lush and full, while the delicate fragrance of wintersweet blossoms lingered in the air.
Having grown up surrounded by the red-brick apartment buildings of the factory compound, Lin Qiaozhi actually loved this kind of vast natural scenery, as boundless as the great river. It made her feel broad-minded, as though the world itself was full of beauty.
Unfortunately, there were things mixed into that magnificent landscape that made her dread returning to her hometown every New Year.
The ox cart entered the village.
Father Lin was the first to jump down, his back held perfectly straight.
After imagining this moment all the way there, Jiang Hongmei could hardly wait to show off to the entire village that their family was about to have three factory workers!!