At the Sunshine Textile Factory’s third staff quarters, a large old locust tree stood in the courtyard. Beneath it, several women wearing Dacron short-sleeve shirts sat together. At their feet were enamel basins filled with long beans and bunches of water spinach.
Their hands moved nimbly, snapping the beans, but their tongues were far busier than their fingers.
“See that?” Wang Xiuzhi nudged the woman beside her with her elbow and tilted her chin toward the unit entrance.
The group looked over in unison. Yin Jianguo was wheeling out a black “Two-Eight” bicycle.
Yin Li walked beside him. Her illness had come and gone quickly—in just two or three days, she was almost fully recovered. Youth had its advantages, and her constitution was strong. The only thing still off was her raspy voice.
Behind them, Li Wenyue, pushing a brand-new Phoenix women’s bicycle, came out smiling.
“Tsk tsk. Is Old Yin off to the library again?” Wang Xiuzhi’s voice was neither loud nor soft. “Chief Accountant Li sure knows how to dote on her man. Accompanying him every day—worried someone might snatch Old Yin away?”
The words stung no matter how you heard them, yet they weren’t easy to refute. Yin Li glanced at her father’s face and could tell it bothered him.
That’s how men were. Living off a woman’s success was fine, but don’t let anyone point it out.
Zhang Juan tossed her snapped beans into the basin with a loud clatter. “Isn’t that right? Section Chief Li is so capable, she’s hardly ever home. One trip to the south brings in what the rest of us earn in a year. Too capable, really. And her son is so accomplished—when is he coming back from abroad? After all, he’s her own flesh and blood. That’s different!”
These remarks suggested both that Li Wenyue was more capable than Yin Jianguo and that Li Wenyue favored her own son.
Li Wenyue wasn’t just the factory’s head accountant—two months ago, she’d also taken over the sales department. On her first trip, she’d landed a huge order, and word was they were going to make her section chief. The appointment hadn’t been announced yet, but by talking this way, these women were putting her on the spot.
Yin Li thought they were completely unreasonable. Why bring this up out of nowhere? Aunt Li excelled at whatever position she held, and of course she would treat her own son well—wasn’t that only natural?
This was clearly instigation. Sure enough, the smile on her father’s face had faded.
Just then, Li Wenyue, who had been looking rather indifferent, let out a soft laugh. “Oh, Zhang Jie, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I might have forgotten to share the good news with everyone.”
She paused, then added lightly, “Oh, I also heard that Master Old Lin recently filed a request to transfer to the warehouse. He said his back isn’t good and he can’t handle the rotating three-shift schedule in the workshop. For position changes like that, our department still needs to calculate the cost effectiveness and sign off before submitting it upward.”
Li Wenyue had just openly admitted it—the section chief position was as good as hers.
Her gaze swept calmly across Zhang Juan, then landed on Wang Xiuzhi’s face. “By the way, Sister Wang, I heard your husband, Brother Liu, is hoping to get one of the study slots for this year’s Canton Fair? That’s a good thing. It’s just that there are so few slots, the competition is fierce.”
Her words were measured, even delivered with a pleasant expression.
But they hit like a cold gust of wind, instantly scattering the women’s chatter.
Li Wenyue was usually too busy to spend much time with them. When they did meet, she was always all smiles and never spoke harshly.
Still, their husbands occasionally mentioned her, saying she was too ambitious, that she didn’t seem like a real woman. She made good money, and people were somewhat envious. Why couldn’t she be like them—devoted to her husband and children? What was the point of being so driven?
And on top of that, she’d remarried such a good man.
But now, the realization hit them suddenly: the Li Wenyue standing before them could affect their husbands’ futures with just a casual remark.
They—and their husbands—weren’t even on the same level as Li Wenyue.
The atmosphere grew awkward. Yin Li gently took her father’s arm and smoothly steered the conversation elsewhere. “Aunt Zhang, you have such a good memory. Brother really is coming back soon. Mom even said she bought me the same portable cassette player as his—I’ll need it for university.”
She looked up, smiling brightly at Yin Jianguo, whose expression had softened. “Dad, just yesterday I told Mom that I want to earn as much as she does someday, so I can take care of you both in your old age.”
To be honest, Li Wenyue used to be quite willing to offer Yin Li guidance—she would say that a girl who reads more becomes wiser. Thinking back, Yin Li realized how foolish she’d been in her dream. She’d worked so hard to get into university, only to neglect her studies and pine after her stepbrother every day… Otherwise, she might have even gone abroad. And if not that, she would have at least been assigned a good job after graduation.
Besides, Yin Li had truly come to admire Li Wenyue. With just a few light words earlier, she’d shut those women down completely. If Yin Li could learn even a fraction of that skill, she’d be set for life.
A kind-faced middle-aged woman nearby stepped in to smooth things over with a warm laugh. “That’s right, that’s right. Old Li is going to make big money in the future. Well, we won’t keep you any longer, hehehe…”
Yin Jianguo looked at his wife and daughter, feeling somewhat comforted. He patted Li Wenyue’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
But Yin Li was a little disappointed in her father. How could he let the women do all the talking while he stayed silent? It seemed she would have to teach him a thing or two later.
As for Li Wenyue, she hadn’t expected Yin Li to call her “Mom” in front of outsiders. True, the girl was thin-skinned and couldn’t switch over all at once, but she knew to defend her stepmother. That wasn’t entirely ungrateful.
The family of three left the courtyard. Only then did Wang Xiuzhi offer a grudging summary: “That girl Yin Li—she’s really learned something from all that studying.”
Another woman curled her lip in disdain. “Learned what? She’s still living off others. That’s why her mouth’s so sweet.”
No one responded. The only sound was the snapping of beans.
At the time, the prevailing mindset was “Learn math, physics, and chemistry well, and you can go anywhere in the world.” Engineering was the top priority. Most university students chose majors like mechanical manufacturing, aerospace, or surveying and mapping.
But Yin Li wasn’t interested in those. She liked languages—a major that mostly trained teachers. She planned to aim for becoming a teacher first; it was a plum job. So every day off, Yin Jianguo accompanied her to the library to read.
She had no intention of being a third wheel. Once her father and Aunt Li sat down together, she would go off on her own to find her call numbers. She’d write them on her borrowing slip and hand it to the librarian.
The tables were lit by green glass-shaded lamps. The reading room was quiet but completely full. Since the college entrance exams were reinstated, everyone’s enthusiasm for studying had surged like never before.
Yin Li wove through the room looking for a seat. Anfeng’s library was fairly large. The plain-bound books were wrapped in brown paper covers, their spines marked with neatly handwritten titles and call numbers.
She passed a wooden newspaper rack. On the wall hung a sign with the character “quiet” written in brush, along with rules like “Silence” and “Respect the Books.” This area was still relatively empty.
Spotting a seat, she headed straight for it.
But then her body lurched—someone grabbed her arm and yanked her into the deepest part of the newspaper shelves beside her.
“Mmph—!”
Under the high ceiling hung a few incandescent bulbs casting yellow halos, but their light barely reached this corner. Or rather, the light was completely blocked by the man standing in front of her.
The man pressed her gently against the green-and-white wall. All she could smell was him.
He covered her mouth, leaned in slowly, and murmured in a low voice: “Didn’t you say you’d come find me? Why have you been avoiding me all this time?”