“Our factory only hires children of employees. Try the towel factory next door.”
“Our towel factory doesn’t have any hiring plans this year.”
“Our steel mill is only hiring employees’ children this time, and since the positions are for boiler workers, we’re only taking men.”
……
After leaving home, He Yuyan didn’t have time to take in the local customs and atmosphere of this era. Following her memories, she immediately went to visit several large factories near her home. The conclusions she reached were indeed discouraging.
Some factories hadn’t released their hiring plans for the year yet. Others were only hiring children of current employees. This kind of policy—benefiting only workers and their families—was very common in state-owned enterprises of this era.
Once you became a worker at a state-owned factory, the unit would provide support for everything: marriage, childbirth, children’s education, medical care, retirement, and so on. That was why workers in this era had such a strong sense of happiness. But by the same token, competition for jobs was no less intense than taking the civil service exam in modern times.
Since she wasn’t the child of an employee, it was clearly difficult for her to get into these factories. As for the Eighth Food Factory in North City, where her parents worked, it had already been confirmed that no new workers would be hired this year.
Although she had mentally prepared herself, He Yuyan was still quite disappointed. But disappointment aside, there were always more solutions than problems. She pulled herself together and decided to take a walk to familiarize herself with the surroundings and lift her spirits. Then, she was suddenly grabbed by a familiar-looking girl.
“Yanzi, you’re feeling better!”
He Yuyan recognized the girl as Li Lili, Auntie Jin’s daughter from next door and also her classmate. In her memories, the two weren’t particularly close.
“I’m fine.”
Li Lili, either not noticing or ignoring He Yuyan’s cool demeanor, said excitedly, “I heard from my mom that you’re going on a blind date! That’s great. Aunt Wu is close with your mom—she’ll definitely find you a good match.”
Hearing such words spoken with a look of jealousy left He Yuyan speechless. She couldn’t be bothered to exchange pleasantries with Li Lili, so instead of continuing her walk, she turned and headed straight home.
Li Lili, seeing this, stamped her foot in frustration but followed anyway. Her mother had told her to stick close to He Yuyan—no matter what.
——
“Let me tell you, I think this one might actually work out. Hehe. Gotta say, Auntie Jin, you’re the one with the inside scoop.”
“Da Ni, I just heard this through the grapevine—don’t take it as fact. Listen if you want, but I don’t mean anything by it.”
He Yuyan had just stepped onto the staircase when she overheard this conversation. Looking up through the gaps in the stairs, she could vaguely see her eldest sister-in-law, Xu Da Ni, whispering with Auntie Jin from next door.
“I know. But honestly, the best fit for this would be my Yanzi. Your Lili is too flighty.”
Hearing Xu Da Ni badmouth her daughter, Auntie Jin had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
He Yuyan was just wondering what exactly the two of them were scheming about when she heard hurried footsteps behind her.
She didn’t need to turn around—it was definitely Li Lili, chasing after her from outside. Earlier, He Yuyan hadn’t wanted to deal with her, so she’d shaken her off and hurried back. Who knew she’d end up overhearing something like this?
She turned to look at Li Lili, who was running toward her out of breath, and an idea popped into her head.
“Yanzi, why are you running so fast…”
The two women whispering upstairs immediately fell silent at the sound of the name “Yanzi.”
Hearing this, He Yuyan walked boldly up the stairs. “Sister-in-law, what are you and Auntie Jin doing on the stairs? If you want to chat, don’t block the way!”
Normally, speaking like this would earn her a grumble from her sister-in-law. But today, whether out of guilt or something else, Xu Da Ni just shrank back and looked like she didn’t want to say a word.
He Yuyan didn’t mind. Instead, she turned and warmly grabbed Li Lili’s arm—the same Li Lili who had been complaining just moments ago. “Lili, come on, let’s go inside and talk.”
Seeing her daughter being so chummy with He Yuyan, Auntie Jin felt that something was off.
——
Once she actually got Li Lili inside, He Yuyan put on an expression that suggested she had something to say but was afraid to say it.
“Lili, did you hear that?”
Li Lili, who had been about to complain, immediately asked, “Hear what?”
He Yuyan looked at her with sympathy. “You don’t know yet, do you? I just heard your mom talking to my sister-in-law on the stairs…”
“Talking about what?” Li Lili was impatient by nature. Seeing He Yuyan’s expression and thinking about what her mother had been saying at home lately, she felt a vague sense of unease.
Her family had four people. Her father was a factory worker, her mother didn’t have a job. Her older brother had just started working a year ago as a temporary worker at the factory. On the surface, these circumstances seemed alright. But Li Lili knew that her family didn’t have the money to find a wife for her brother.
In one month, she would graduate. Her mother would definitely not let her go to the countryside. Instead, she would find her a match before that deadline to secure a bride price.
Li Lili was fine with this. She didn’t want to go to the countryside either. There were already two older sisters in the tenement building who had been sent to the countryside and had returned withered and gaunt. Li Lili cared about her appearance—she didn’t want to end up like that.
This was also why she’d been keeping an eye on He Yuyan. The He family would surely be able to find a decent match for her. When they did, Li Lili could just swoop in and take it.
But now, with what He Yuyan was implying… Could it be…
Remembering what her mother had said at lunch that very day, Li Lili couldn’t help but ask, “Did my mom say something about the workshop director…?”
So that was it.
After hearing what her sister-in-law and Auntie Jin had said, the sharp-witted He Yuyan immediately sensed that something was going on between them. She had only wanted to test whether Li Lili knew anything. She hadn’t expected the girl to take the bait so quickly.
So He Yuyan pretended to be surprised. “So you already know too!”
Li Lili saw He Yuyan’s expression and began filling in the blanks in her mind. At lunch that day, her mother had mentioned that the wife of the factory’s workshop director had died in childbirth. The man had a baby at home and urgently needed a woman to take care of it.
At the time, Li Lili had said she didn’t want to become someone’s stepmother. Her mother had replied that the workshop director was looking for a steady, gentle woman. She planned to introduce a good match for him, and in return, her brother’s temporary job could be made permanent.
At the time, Li Lili had secretly gloated, wondering who her mother had set her sights on. But now, from what He Yuyan was implying, the unlucky person was actually her?
With that thought, Li Lili immediately rushed out of He Yuyan’s home to confront Auntie Jin.
Soon, He Yuyan heard the sounds of Li Lili shouting and arguing, interspersed with Auntie Jin’s loud curses and her sister-in-law’s cries of “Aiyo, aiyo” as she tried to mediate.
——
The commotion was so loud that the entire tenement building found out about it.
Soon, He Yuyan’s mother, who had been chatting with her old lady friends at the small square, hurried back.
As soon as she arrived, she saw her daughter leisurely leaning against the doorframe, watching the drama unfold at the other end of the hallway.
“I already know, Mom. You were going to introduce me to that man whose wife just died.”
The factory had several workshop directors, but only one had recently lost his wife—Director Wu of the sorting workshop. Although Director Wu’s wife had died in childbirth, this had been her third pregnancy. And Director Wu himself was nearly forty years old.
As an eighteen-year-old girl, Li Lili understood that her future bride price was meant to help her brother find a wife. But she wasn’t willing to marry a forty-year-old widower with three children just for that.
Her mother favored sons over daughters. Her father, at least, cared a little more about her. That was why Li Lili dared to make such a scene.
But now, seeing so many neighbors coming out to watch, she started to feel a bit uneasy.
“Lili, when did I ever say that? Who’s been putting these ideas in your head?”
“Exactly, Lili. You want to marry Director Wu? Director Wu wouldn’t want you anyway. Our Yanzi…”
——
“Xu Da Ni, shut your mouth!”
He Yuyan’s mother had come back and seen her daughter, but before she could say anything, she heard her eldest daughter-in-law’s words. Forgetting everything else, she took a deep breath and bellowed.
Her shout made the arguing mother and daughter pause for a moment.
Then they saw He Yuyan standing there with a smile on her face.
In an instant, Li Lili realized she had been tricked.
“He Yuyan, it was you! You lied…”
He Yuyan answered lazily, “What did I say?”
Li Lili was momentarily speechless. The truth was, He Yuyan hadn’t actually said anything specific—it was all Li Lili’s own assumptions.
“You deliberately led me on.”
Just then, the neighbors who had gathered to watch got curious. “So after all this back and forth, Lili, are you going to marry Director Wu or not?”
“No, no. My mom said He Yuyan’s sister-in-law wanted her to…”
Hearing this, Xu Da Ni glanced at her mother-in-law. Seeing the furious look on her face, she jumped up and said, “When did I ever say that? You said you wanted Yanzi to marry Director Wu, and that Director Wu would get me a job!”
“Bullshit!”
Auntie Jin couldn’t sit still after hearing that either. She had been neighbors with the He family for years and had always maintained a decent surface relationship. There were many things in the future she might need the He family for. Behind their backs, she could stir up trouble, but out in the open, she couldn’t afford to offend them completely.
“You were the one who heard that Director Wu’s wife had died and secretly thought about marrying Yanzi off to him. Didn’t I try to talk you out of it?”
Auntie Jin then turned to He Yuyan’s mother.
“Yanzi’s mother, I don’t have any bad intentions. It was your eldest daughter-in-law who overheard us chatting by the sink and cooked up these ideas herself. I tried to dissuade her many times. Director Wu’s family circumstances are good, but he’s just not a good match for Yanzi. Even for my Lili, I wouldn’t let her marry him…”
With that, and given Auntie Jin’s usual reputation as a reasonable and warm-hearted person, some neighbors immediately began to chime in.
“Yanzi’s mother, your eldest daughter-in-law is really out of line.”
“Exactly. You see, this is why you shouldn’t find a daughter-in-law from the countryside…”
“Sigh, poor Yanzi. Having a sister-in-law like that. At such a critical time too, if she’s not careful…”
Seeing how things had developed, He Yuyan decided to fan the flames. “But I heard from Lili that Auntie Jin wanted to make this match so her older brother’s job could become permanent. Oh, was I mistaken? Sorry, Auntie Jin. I misunderstood you.”
This was a conclusion He Yuyan had drawn based on the Li family’s situation. As soon as she said it, Li Lili’s expression flickered.
The neighbors who had been trying to mediate moments before looked at each other in bewilderment.
They weren’t stupid. Auntie Jin, being an old fox, had decent control over her expression. But young Li Lili couldn’t hide her feelings very well. Everyone immediately saw the truth.
For a moment, no one spoke.
“Oho! What’s going on here?”
He Yuyan looked toward the newcomer. It was Aunt Wu, her mother’s friend and the matchmaker who had been looking for a potential spouse for her.
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