The Bicycle Factory
The Security Department had one chief, one deputy chief, two gate guards, and nine rank-and-file officers.
The nine officers were divided into three groups working in rotating shifts. During the day, their main duties were patrolling the production area and inspecting the workshops for safety hazards. At night, they were primarily responsible for guarding the warehouses, patrolling the surrounding areas, and checking for potential risks.
Jiang Ye had been working the day shift recently. The two men in his group were named Yu Dagang and Ma Ming.
Both were slightly older than Jiang Ye. However, when Jiang Ye first joined the factory, he had clashed and fought with them. In the end, he had beaten them into submission. Afterward, Ma Ming treated him fairly normally, while Yu Dagang called him “Brother Ye” at every opportunity.
Male friendship was a strange thing.
After finishing a round of patrols, the three returned to the office and sat down. Jiang Ye tossed his wooden baton onto the desk, while Ma Ming took out the work log that needed to be completed that day. He recorded the time and route of their patrol, along with any problems they had discovered.
Yu Dagang watched Jiang Ye smoking and shamelessly begged him for a cigarette.
Cigarettes were difficult to buy at this time. Each month, the work unit issued a fixed quota of three cigarette coupons per person. Each coupon could be exchanged for only one pack, and there were price restrictions as well.
In other words, their coupons allowed them to buy just three packs of cigarettes a month. If they smoked every day, they had to be extremely careful and make each cigarette last.
Jiang Ye was popular and had many friends. Some of them couldn’t bear to smoke their own cigarettes and would exchange their cigarette coupons with him for cash.
Even so, Jiang Ye wasn’t a heavy smoker. He usually smoked only three or four cigarettes a day.
Seeing that Yu Dagang wanted one, Jiang Ye pulled a cigarette from his pack of Da Qianmen cigarettes and tossed it to him. Then he took out a match and lit the cigarette in his own hand.
Leaning back against his chair, he smoked with half-lidded eyes, seemingly lost in thought.
“Brother Ye, have you settled on the date for your wedding?”
“Mm.” Jiang Ye flicked some ash into the homemade ashtray on the desk. “It’s settled. Tomorrow. We’re only having two tables of guests, though. The day after tomorrow, you guys can come over to my place to eat. I’ve invited a few friends, too, so we can celebrate together.”
“Sounds good.”
Yu Dagang leaned closer to Jiang Ye.
“Brother Ye, is your wife-to-be especially gentle?”
Yu Dagang lived in a large, crowded residential compound. Twelve households lived there, with at least four or five people in each family. Dozens of people shared the same courtyard, leaving absolutely no privacy. From morning until night, the place was bustling with noise.
The family next door to his argued all the time. They could turn even the smallest matter into a half-day-long quarrel.
The things they fought about were downright unbelievable.
For example, a daughter-in-law might come home without greeting her mother-in-law first. Over such a trivial matter, the mother-in-law would accuse her of being disrespectful.
Or a child might fall while playing in the courtyard during the day, and when the daughter-in-law came home, she would complain that her mother-in-law hadn’t watched the child properly.
Then there was the time a man helped a widow in the courtyard carry a bucket of water. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stood at the doorway and joined forces to berate the poor widow.
In short, the place was full of endless domestic squabbles.
His own family had plenty of problems, too. Whenever he went home, he could barely get any rest.
As a result, he now spent most of his time in the dormitory and was reluctant to return home.
That was why he still hadn’t gotten married. Even though a matchmaker came to see him every ten days or half a month, he resolutely turned down every proposal.
Marriage was misery. Long live being single!
Gentle? Jiang Ye thought Ji Yang was a rather contradictory woman.
If he called her gentle, she could openly defy her own father.
But if he said she wasn’t gentle, then when they kissed, she was unbelievably obedient. Whenever he spoke to her, she would obediently nod and answer, “Okay.”
Jiang Ye licked his lips and said, “Your sister-in-law… is especially gentle.”
“Really?” Yu Dagang sounded skeptical. “Isn’t that just an act?”
When his own sister-in-law was dating his older brother, she would lower her head every time she spoke. Her cheeks would turn pink, and she would act terribly shy. But after they got married? Good grief! All she had to do was glare at his brother, and the man wouldn’t dare utter a single word.
Maybe Jiang Ye’s future wife would turn out the same way.
Ma Ming, who had just finished writing the work log, chuckled.
“Dagang, you don’t understand. There’s a good side to having a wife, too. Imagine how wonderful it is to hold your wife while sleeping at night. But tell me, is something wrong with you? Have you never even thought about that? You’re already this old, and you still don’t want to hold a wife in your arms?”
“Of course I want to hold a wife.”
Yu Dagang was equally frank.
“But I’m genuinely afraid of what married life might be like, too. And I’m not just talking about all the nonsense happening in our courtyard. Look at my own family. My mother and sister-in-law got into another fight these past two days. My sister-in-law wanted to take her child and go back to her parents’ home. My brother tried to stop her, but my mother told him not to bother and to let them leave. Then my sister-in-law said he’d better not dare come and fetch her afterward. My brother is caught in the middle and can’t please either side.”
“What did they fight about?”
“I heard it started when my sister-in-law was making dinner. She cooked rice, but made a little too much. Then she used a bit too much oil when stir-frying the vegetables. While chasing after the child and trying to feed him, she accidentally broke a bowl. Somehow, that was enough to set the two of them off arguing.”
“Hahahahahaha! They fought over that?”
“Yep. That’s all it was.”
“If you ask me, you can’t entirely blame your sister-in-law. Using a little extra oil makes stir-fried vegetables taste better. If she cooked too much rice, she could just make rice porridge with the leftovers the next morning. And as for breaking one bowl… well, I’d say your nephew is a little too mischievous. Someone needs to discipline him.”
“Easy for you to say! How are we supposed to discipline him? My mother and sister-in-law have completely different ideas about how to raise my nephew.”
“Hey, why don’t you get your brother to talk to both sides and work things out…”
Yu Dagang interrupted him.
“You think my brother hasn’t tried? He has, but it hasn’t helped. He’s already given up. These days, his attitude is basically, ‘Do whatever you want, just don’t drag me into it.’”
After saying that, he patted Jiang Ye on the shoulder.
“Brother Ye, what would you do if you ran into a situation like that?”
Jiang Ye finished his cigarette and pressed the butt into the ashtray. Then he stretched, crossed his legs, and thought about how Ji Yang would react if her mother-in-law criticized her for cooking too much food or using too much oil.
She would probably say something like:
“If you want to eat it, eat it! If you don’t, put it down!”
“Stop running your mouth!”
“Annoying!”
Thinking about it, he suddenly began to wonder whether marrying a woman like her would bring endless turmoil into his household.
“Brother Ye, I’m asking you! What would you do?”
Jiang Ye gave a light cough and answered with righteous confidence, “If your sister-in-law dares to bare her teeth at me, I’ll knock them right out of her mouth!”
Yu Dagang blinked. He almost wanted to say outright, Really? I don’t believe you!
He nudged Ma Ming with his elbow and exchanged a knowing look with him.
A smile appeared in Ma Ming’s eyes. As the only married man among the three, he had gained some experience in these matters.
It was best not to boast too early. When the day came that reality slapped you in the face, the sound would keep ringing in your ears for three whole days!
Soon, the next day arrived.
Ji Yang had originally hoped to squeeze some money out of her father to have a new outfit made for the wedding. To her utter surprise, she couldn’t get a single cent out of him.
Not only had she failed to get any money, but she also received none of the traditional wedding dowry items a bride’s family was supposed to provide not a quilt, towel, pillowcase, thermos, or enamel mug.
Her father hadn’t even invited any relatives. Ji Xingguo was clearly determined to humiliate Ji Yang on her wedding day.
Fortunately, Jiang Ye had brought her a dress the previous evening. He explained that his mother had made it herself.
Ji Yang didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it.