Chapter 4

I wasn’t afraid at all. I turned and went back to Mother’s house.

Mother, my brother, and his wife all looked alarmed when they saw me.

Before they could speak, I knelt down, crying.

“Mother, I was wrong.”

“Fan Erzhu really doesn’t want me this time.”

“But he beat me in front of the whole village, and there’s something going on with his widowed sister-in-law. His family is in the wrong.”

“Even if we divorce, they can’t ask for the bride money back.”

My sister-in-law’s eyes shifted.

I went on, “I’m still young. If I really divorce him, I could marry again.”

“And as for the bride money…”

I scratched my head shyly. “You can keep it safe for me. If things go badly again, I’ll still need my brother to stand up for me.”

The three of them exchanged glances. They didn’t throw me out again.

That night, for the first time, Mother made up a bed for me.

I lay there with my eyes open, waiting until well after midnight.

When everyone was sound asleep, I got up quietly and felt my way into the cabinet where Mother hid her money.

Of the six thousand yuan Fan Erzhu had paid, they’d spent all but a little over a hundred.

I put every bit of it in my pocket and walked out without looking back.

The night at the village entrance was pitch-black.

But I wasn’t afraid at all.

After a whole night on an old green train, I arrived in Shanghai.

People holding recruitment signs were everywhere.

“Litai Textile Mill is hiring women!”

“Meals and accommodation included!”

“No skills needed. Start work as soon as you arrive!”

Standing in the crowd, I heard those words and my eyes lit up.

The middle-aged woman holding the sign noticed me and looked me over.

“Looking for work, girl?”

I nodded.

“Can you handle hard work?”

I nodded hard. “Yes.”

There was only one thought in my mind.

If it let me stay alive, I could bear any hardship.

I followed her onto the vehicle and traveled all the way to Shaxi, a town in Taicang.

Outside the window, the tall buildings grew fewer. There were more rice paddies, little waterways, and houses with white walls and black tiles.

Litai Textile Mill was larger than I’d imagined.

The machinery roared day and night, loud enough to numb your ears.

The smell of cotton fluff and yarn hung in the air. Fans whirred, unable to dispel the stifling heat.

I was assigned to the preparatory spinning workshop.

We worked in three rotating shifts.

At first, standing for more than ten hours left my legs swollen and heavy as lead.

The yarn rubbed my fingers raw. My back ached so badly I couldn’t straighten it.

Ah Xiang, a worker in my dormitory, told me, “Xiaochun, don’t push yourself so hard.”

“It isn’t your factory.”

I smiled and said nothing.

They didn’t know.

Compared with Fan Erzhu’s fists, what was a little hard work?

When others hated the exhausting night shifts, I volunteered for them.

When they didn’t want overtime, I took it.

An experienced worker taught me to identify yarn, inspect the cloth, and spot flaws. I wrote it all down in a little notebook.

Which yarn broke easily, which machines were temperamental, where flaws most often appeared in the fabric—I learned it all, bit by bit.

A month later, the workshop supervisor praised me in front of everyone.

“Zhang Xiaochun’s batch has the fewest defective pieces.”

“From now on, everyone should follow her standard.”

“Well done, Xiaochun! You’re amazing!”

My coworkers applauded enthusiastically.

I stood among them, my face burning red.

Zhang Xiaochun, you can do this.