Early morning.
The quiet residential compound gradually stirred to life with soft rustling sounds.
Lin Qiaozhi woke from her sleep. Getting out of bed felt different today. It wasn’t the usual relief of exhaustion and soreness melting away. Instead, she felt exceptionally refreshed.
It was a feeling that bordered on joy and contentment.
The whole world seemed brighter, as though it had been freshly washed clean.
She hurriedly got dressed, jumped out of bed, grabbed her towel and washbasin, and ran downstairs toward the communal tap.
In the residential compound, familiar neighbors greeted one another with smiles.
“Morning!”
“Old Wu, just got off the night shift?”
“Yeah, just finished eating. It’s Wednesday, so the cafeteria’s serving cold noodles this morning. Master Zhao really knows how to make them. Nice and chewy, refreshing too, and the chili oil smells incredible.”
“Qiaozhi, you’re up early! Good things really do put people in high spirits. Look at that smile on your face.”
Lin Qiaozhi beamed brightly. “Morning! I’m happy today, so of course I’m smiling.”
Jiangcheng was rich in rivers and lakes. At sunrise, the mist glowed beneath rosy clouds, turning the sky a stunning blend of gold and crimson.
Her smile caught the first rays of dawn. The vibrant energy radiating from her was impossible to miss.
Lin Qiaozhi had spent plenty of time in the sun growing up, leaving her with wheat-colored skin. She wasn’t the kind of round-faced, “fortunate-looking” girl people favored these days. Her face had slightly sharper angles, making her look fierce when she was angry, but when she smiled, she possessed a vigorous, untamed kind of beauty.
“You look so pretty when you smile. Young girls should smile more.”
Everyone assumed she was happy about her exam results.
As they washed up, they chatted animatedly about the factory technical school’s entrance assessment. They talked about who had failed, whose family was arguing over it, and which other schools people were planning to apply to.
The apartment buildings didn’t have running water upstairs. Instead, there was a communal cement washbasin fitted with a row of water taps.
Cool water rushed from the faucet, splashing into washbasins and scattering droplets across the cement sink.
Bent over the washbasin brushing her teeth, Lin Qiaozhi hummed a cheerful tune to herself.
After washing up, she hurried back upstairs with quick, light footsteps.
Everyone else was up as well.
They were getting dressed and combing their hair. Jiang Hongmei set out a crock of cooled rice porridge, then fished out a handful of pickled long beans from the pickle jar and chopped them into small pieces.
No matter how delicious the cafeteria’s cold noodles were, they had little to do with their family.
Even if the cafeteria was inexpensive, it was still cheaper to buy ingredients from the factory grain and oil store and cook at home.
The more mouths there were to feed, the greater the savings.
Lin Qiaozhi looked around but couldn’t find the canned oranges or mung bean cakes that Uncle Zhou had brought over yesterday. She turned to Jiang Hongmei. “Mother, where did you put the canned oranges and the mung bean cakes?”
Jiang Hongmei looked at her. “Why are you asking?”
“To eat them, of course.” Lin Qiaozhi answered matter-of-factly, then eyed her suspiciously. “Mother, don’t tell me you’re planning to hide them away and take them back to Auntie and Uncle?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? What kind of girl is as greedy as you, thinking about eating first thing in the morning? Good things should be put away and eaten little by little.” Jiang Hongmei grumbled in rebuttal.
Lin Qiaozhi felt she had guessed the truth.
Her mother was the eldest daughter in her family and was always looking after her younger siblings. Whenever she had something nice, she thought of sending it back home.
Even more frustrating was her father. Honest and hardworking at the factory, but the moment he returned to his hometown, he put on airs. He was the only factory worker in the entire village, “the man who had made it to the city,” and couldn’t afford to lose face.
As a result, their own family lived a rather miserable life.
Lin Qiaozhi said, “If you keep saving them to eat later, won’t they go bad?” It felt as though something inside her had finally come undone, and she spoke with complete ease. “Besides, I really have been craving these. If you’re not tempted, then don’t eat them. I can finish them myself.”
Lin Jiadong, who had just come out after getting dressed, stopped in his tracks and looked over in surprise. His older sister hated people speaking badly about her, especially when it involved her being a girl. She would always argue back.
So what was going on today? She had openly admitted that she was greedy.
Jiang Hongmei was momentarily stunned as well, but still hadn’t caught on.
Lin Qiaozhi didn’t wait for her. She knew where the cupboard key was hidden, found it, unlocked the cupboard, and packed the canned oranges into her shoulder bag. She had originally intended to leave half of the mung bean cakes at home, but changed her mind, leaving the package unopened and taking the whole thing with her.
“You’re… not leaving any at home?” Lin Jiadong couldn’t help asking as he took a couple of steps forward.
“They were given to me in the first place. Besides, you aren’t craving them anyway.”
Patting the canned oranges inside her shoulder bag, Lin Qiaozhi was in such a good mood that even her voice carried a smile.
An odd atmosphere filled the air.
Lin Wuqiang and Jiang Hongmei had stayed awake half the night, discussing what to say, yet somehow never found the chance to bring it up.
The only sound at the table was everyone drinking their rice porridge.
Seeing that Lin Qiaozhi really wasn’t leaving anything behind and was about to walk out with the pastries, Jiang Hongmei finally called out, “Qiaozhi.” Her voice was gentler than usual. “Mother’s not feeling well today. Help wash the dishes.”
Lin Qiaozhi couldn’t resist. It tickled her too much. Mimicking the beautiful fairy-like older sister’s tone, she pointed at Lin Jiadong. “Mother, let me tell you, boys should learn to do more housework. Otherwise they won’t be able to find a wife in the future.”
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
Father Lin, who had just tipped back his bowl to gulp down the last mouthful of porridge, broke into a fit of coughing after a grain of rice went down the wrong way.
Jiang Hongmei stared in astonishment. As she patted Lin Wuqiang’s back, she turned to watch Lin Qiaozhi’s departing figure outside the door. “What’s gotten into that girl? What kind of nonsense is she talking about?”
She had buried herself in studying these past two years, and Jiang Hongmei had thought she’d mellowed out.
But this wild girl was still every bit as wild.
Lin Qiaozhi walked forward beneath the rising morning sun.
She couldn’t stop smiling.
She had dreamed for a long time yesterday. In the dream, the beautiful older sister never lifted a finger herself. She coaxed the military officer, played with the little child, and not only lived an incredibly comfortable life, but also raised the child exceptionally well. Clever, lively, brave, and fond of cleanliness.
The child was just a little mischievous, constantly matching wits with people every day.
Most importantly, she realized that the beautiful fairy-like woman casually repeated the same kinds of phrases day after day, as though they were only natural: “Boys should…” And the little child really did change, growing exactly in the direction she described.
“Boys should care about their mothers.”
“When boys grow up, they should become more sensible and know how to help out with the housework.”
Listen to that. How familiar it sounded.
All the fear and worry inside her suddenly burst like a soap bubble with the slightest poke.
Girls are naturally soft-hearted? Girls become sensible as they grow up and naturally learn to manage the household? Every girl eventually gets married?
No.
That’s not how it is.
It’s because everyone keeps telling girls over and over again: this is what you should do, girls are supposed to do these things, girls are naturally like this. Otherwise you’re immature, you’re wrong, you’re not behaving as you should!
Fifteen-year-old Lin Qiaozhi spoke animatedly to Director Meng, her eyes shining with excitement as she boldly imagined:
“Director Meng, suppose one day every girl in the world started saying that men have to know how to wash clothes and cook, or they won’t be able to find wives. Would boys also grow up being taught from childhood to tend the stove, wash clothes, and cook?”
Director Meng looked at the mung bean cakes Lin Qiaozhi had brought her.
She felt a little dizzy, as though her entire world had just been shaken.
Director Meng felt that despite spending her entire life doing women’s affairs work, she had never been this bold.
“No, wait a minute…” She rubbed her forehead and took two seconds to collect herself. “Qiaozhi, we also have to consider the reality of the situation. Take your family, for example. Your father works all day long. He’s exhausted. He can’t come home and still be expected to cook and wash clothes, can he? Husband and wife are supposed to support each other. You’re still young. You’ll understand some things when you’re older.”
“What about families where both husband and wife work?” Lin Qiaozhi didn’t think she was young at all. She could see things perfectly clearly. “Even if many dual-income families eat at the cafeteria, once they get home, both of them are factory workers, both earn money to support the family, but it’s still the women who wash the clothes, scrub the shoes, sweep the floor, and make the beds. The men never lift a finger. They act like hands-off bosses at home and just wait to be served.”
In all fifteen years of her life, she had never once seen a man standing by the communal washbasin in the residential compound scrubbing clothes in a washbasin.
But there was one in her dream!
Lin Qiaozhi took Director Meng’s hand and urged, “Director Meng, you once said that women’s work isn’t just for women to listen to. Women’s thinking needs to progress, and all workers’ thinking needs to progress. We can start the next stage of women’s work with dual-income households, or households where the wife is the only wage earner!”
When Director Meng’s husband returned home, he set down the cold noodles he had brought back from the cafeteria. “Where did these mung bean cakes come from?”
Then he noticed his wife looking at him thoughtfully.
He instinctively touched his face. Had he not washed it properly?
Why did it suddenly feel so unsettling?
“Wife?”
Director Meng looked at him for another couple of seconds before replying, “Qiaozhi brought them.”
She hadn’t intended to accept them, but before she could return them, the girl had already run off, faster than a rabbit.
Lin Qiaozhi happily ran toward the school.
Director Meng had helped her so many times. Otherwise, as just a child with no one to stand up for her, how could she ever have held her own against adults?
It was the first time she had the ability to thank Director Meng, even in such a small way!
And she had only taken her first small step.
It wasn’t enough. She wanted to do even better, to become a senior engineer, to become someone as respected and influential as Engineer Lu.
She also wanted to become an Eighth-Grade Fitter.
…
After arriving at school, Lin Qiaozhi diligently reviewed her lessons.
Then she took out the canned oranges and shared them with Zhenzhu, A Shui, and the others during the lunch break.
Arctic Ocean soda was expensive, costing a full ten cents. For many families earning only twenty or thirty yuan a month, it was a luxury.
Only Ning Zhenzhu had the money to spare, and she had generously bought it to celebrate for her.
After school, Lin Qiaozhi packed up her books and, as promised, headed to Uncle Zhou’s house.
Mrs. Zhou greeted her warmly. “Qiaozhi, come sit down. Have some water.”
Not wanting to let the canned oranges she’d just eaten go to waste, Lin Qiaozhi smiled even sweeter than the syrup from the can. “Don’t worry, Auntie. I’ll definitely teach him seriously.”
The Zhou family’s youngest son was named Zhou Shu.
One look at him and Lin Qiaozhi could tell he was an introverted, honest kid. In Jiangcheng dialect, they’d call someone like him a “muffled chicken.”
He looked rather dejected, probably because he’d been scolded.
“Sister Qiaozhi,” Zhou Shu greeted quietly.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Qiaozhi called him along and found a relatively secluded corner of the residential compound so they wouldn’t disturb too many people.
She shot the hammer a look and gestured. “Go ahead and give it a few swings. Let me see.”
“Oh, okay.” Zhou Shu hurriedly took a full set of practice tools out of the large toolbox he was carrying.
Lin Qiaozhi glanced at them and thought to herself, Pretty well equipped.
The quality was good too. It looked like everything had been specially bought.
Once Zhou Shu got into position, he swung the hammer several times.
The chaotic clang-clang-clang of metal striking metal immediately made Lin Qiaozhi frown.
She looked at the steel rod, then at Zhou Shu, her gaze settling on his face as she stared at him. “Are you afraid of me? Why are you so nervous?”
“N-No.” Under her gaze, Zhou Shu subconsciously took a step back.
Lin Qiaozhi: ?
She finally understood why Uncle Zhou wanted Zhou Shu to learn a trade and work at their own factory instead of learning to drive and waiting for another factory to recruit him.
After pressing him for an answer, Lin Qiaozhi finally got the truth out of him.
Zhou Shu looked at her cautiously and whispered, “I’m afraid you’ll hit me.” He’d seen Lin Qiaozhi beat people up before. He’d seen it since he was little. She was really fierce.
Lin Qiaozhi: “…”
“I don’t just hit people for no reason.” Seeing the distrust in Zhou Shu’s eyes, she added, “Those people had it coming.”
Lin Qiaozhi’s relationship with boys her own age had actually always been rather complicated. She had loved playing since childhood and knew how to make all kinds of toys, so for a time many boys had followed her around calling her “Sister.”
But because of all the chaos caused by “If he doesn’t do it, then we won’t either,” many adults disliked her and told their children not to play with her. In some of the stricter families, the boys had also grown resentful whenever they were called over to do chores.
They always had fun when they played together, but children inevitably quarreled sometimes. Kids didn’t think too deeply about things, so they unconsciously repeated what they’d heard at home.
And then… they started fighting.
A few days after every fight, they’d make up and play together again.
Then they’d fight again.
Eventually, as the children grew up, their friendships quietly faded away.
Lin Qiaozhi herself could hardly remember exactly why they’d fought each time. She only remembered that they’d fought a lot, and that boys were so annoying!
Meeting Zhou Shu’s skeptical gaze, she rubbed her nose and said, “I promise I won’t hit you, all right?”
She patted her stomach. “Besides, I’ve still got the canned oranges your father treated me to in here. You know the saying, right? Once you’ve eaten someone’s food, it’s hard to turn against them.”
Only after hearing that did Zhou Shu finally relax a little.
Slowly, he settled into the task.
Lin Qiaozhi observed him for a while and realized that his fundamentals were actually quite solid.
His arms were strong enough to swing the hammer.
His palms were callused enough to grip it firmly.
His hammer swings were smooth too. At the very least, he’d practiced seriously.
Then again, that made sense. Honest kids like him rarely slacked off.
The problem was that he used his strength rather clumsily. He put one hundred percent of his force into each swing, but after it traveled through the chisel to the steel rod, only seventy or eighty percent remained.
Holding his elbow, she lifted it by about half a fist’s height. “Don’t keep it so low.” Then, unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, “How did your previous teacher teach you?”
She still had no idea how masters normally taught apprentices.
But after talking for a while, she came away with only one conclusion: Zhou Shu’s master didn’t seem very good at teaching.
His technical skills were definitely fine. Hammering through a steel rod was effortless for him.
But some people were just like that. They knew how to do something themselves, yet couldn’t explain it.
Apparently, the sentence Zhou Shu heard most often from him was, “Just watch how I do it, and you’ll understand.”
The angle of the hammer swing: “How can you explain something like that? Just watch me.”
How to generate force: “You’re not using your waist. You need to put strength into your waist. Just watch how I do it.”
The coordination between the eyes and hands: “Just hit it like this. Watch me.”
Lin Qiaozhi couldn’t help laughing.
This real-life master was just like the fake masters from her dreams. Aside from saying, “Just watch me,” a little more often, there didn’t seem to be much difference.
She guessed that either the master had never consciously summarized his own techniques, gradually improving through years of work, or he simply wasn’t very good at expressing himself.
Fortunately, for the sake of efficiency, she had always relied on figuring things out with her own brain.
She also had an advantage no one else could match. In her dreams, she often deliberately disrupted the fake masters’ movements, throwing them off, then observed how they corrected themselves and returned to proper form.
And she’d “sabotaged” more than one fake master. They’d come in all shapes and sizes, all so she could uncover the underlying principles and apply them to herself despite differences in height and build.
“Move over a bit.”
“Raise your hand higher.”
Lin Qiaozhi made a series of adjustments.
The results were immediate.
Unfortunately, they had the exact opposite effect.
Zhou Shu no longer knew what he was doing and nearly smashed his own hand.
Lin Qiaozhi: “…”
She’d given away the mung bean cakes, eaten the canned oranges, and then managed to drag the poor kid’s skill from fifty-five points all the way down to five?
That wouldn’t do!
Lin Qiaozhi coughed awkwardly a couple of times before saying, “Go back to doing it your original way. We’ll make adjustments little by little.”
Fortunately, Zhou Shu was an honest kid. He didn’t object and obediently hammered away for another hundred-plus strikes, barely recovering to his original fifty-five-point level.
Of course, Lin Qiaozhi suspected he might also simply have been afraid she’d hit him.
—She had retired from the fighting scene years ago, yet legends of her still remained.
Lin Qiaozhi reflected that all those fights she’d gotten into hadn’t been for nothing, then, exercising extreme caution, chose just one thing to change.
Another round of clang-clang-clang followed.
Once she felt Zhou Shu had more or less absorbed it and his movements had stabilized, she cautiously continued making slow, incremental adjustments while explaining why each change was necessary.
Another round of hammering followed.
Amid the clang-clang-clang of the hammer, there came faint cracking sounds.
Three times in a row, Zhou Shu consistently broke a steel rod within ten to twelve strikes.
Lin Qiaozhi finally let out a sigh of relief. He had barely climbed to sixty points. At least she hadn’t turned him into someone who had learned Handan’s walk. Dropping him to five points had been terrifying.
“Sister Qiaozhi, could you come home with me later? I want to tell my parents that I’m really not stupid.” Zhou Shu looked at Lin Qiaozhi tentatively. “You can be my witness.”
Lin Qiaozhi: …
She felt that testifying to that seemed just a tiny bit against her conscience.